By Adolfo Quizon Paglinawan

 

Part 7: An old order gives way to a new one, reshaping local politics

Leyte Representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez only broke his silence on the 2025 budget issue and allegations of corruption in infrastructure projects, when Ombudsman Crispin “Boying” Remulla lowered the boom on him.

In a press briefing last April 21, 2026, the Office of the Ombudsman announced the endorsement of a complaint to the AMLC and was waiting for it to seek a freeze order on the former speaker.

The next day, the Court of Appeals ordered a 20-day freeze on a luxury property at a posh subdivision in Makati City and dozens of bank accounts linked to former speaker Martin Romualdez and a businessman in connection with an expanding probe into alleged corruption tied to public infrastructure spending.

“Tambaloslos”, or a useless individual as Vice President Sara Duterte christened him as alias, finally underwent a moment of denial:

“How can I be mastermind if Congress doesn’t build projects?” the former speaker quipped . stressing that Congress does not implement projects, conduct procurement, or inspect their completion.

He explained that the budget process begins in the executive branch through the National Expenditure Program (NEP), which is then submitted to Congress for deliberation and approval.

Well, this what I have been pointing at since the first day I started writing about this topic.

This monumental crime in our history rampaging the people’s money could not have been perfected, without the plunderous collusion of the executive and legislative branches of our government.

Plunder galore

Under Philippine law, specifically Republic Act No. 7080(the Anti-Plunder Act), plunder is defined as the act of a public officer who, by themselves or in connivance with family, subordinates, or business associates, amasses ill-gotten wealth through a series of overt criminal acts totaling an aggregate value of at least Php56 million.

Only in this case, the total loot was around was 30,000 times more!

This indeed started as a family affair, or if you may, from a greed of a dynasty which at the slightest taste power regained, move for its perpetuity.

We had a taste of this hegemon before in Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Sr, who after two four-year terms as president, ate twelve years more as a dictator.

Apo Ferdie had planned for an egalitarian regime – a new society powered by cheap energy for an industrialized Philippines. The people bought his narrative of prosperity in exchange for democracy.

But only for a while. When he became too ill to protect his dream, insisting to prolong his regime, the people became weary.

I have always been of the opinion that if he turned over power in 1982 to a competent successor whom he had all the time to train, he would have still finished ahead of his detractors.

But a Romualdez, his wife Imelda, wanted to stay. And the people no longer wanted to join that ride.

Devoid of energy and enthusiasm that comes from the people, power grows its own poverty, that poverty restores power back to the people.

The late Jaime Cardinal Sin interpreted the prophecy as the Epiphany of Saints, because “People Power” in Manila manifested at Epifanio de Los Santos Avenue.

An epiphany is a moment of sudden, profound realization, insight, or comprehension that clarifies a complex situation or reveals something essential. It is often described as a “eureka” moment or a flash of understanding.

The rest is history. The people eventually valued their democracy more than an economic prosperity.

History repeats itself

Some diseases are however viral.

It only took a smell of another Marcos returning to power that a Romualdez ambitions to perpetuate the once discredited dynasty rising from oblivion.

This plan must have been hatched even before Bongbong Marcos took his oath as elected president.

The victory party hosted by Enrique Razon at his Solaire Resort and Casino in Paranaque City reeked of the presence of tycoons. BBM appointees to key positions and senatorial bets reflect proxies of oligarchic influence. Foremost of whom is Panfilo Lacson, a former “general” of Razon himself, who now serves as a Marcos pitbull in the senate.

Signs of plunder and political fundraising dominated even the first month of BBM in office causing the termination of his executive secretary, Vic Rodriguez, in the following ten days of August 2022.

That was obvious. The brother of the First Lady, Liza Araneta, was rumored to broker technical smuggling at the Bureau of Customs starting with agricultural imports as the president took over the department as concurrent secretary.

But what would two years later release its stench, was as early as the budgeting process for fiscal year 2023, BBM’s first full year, congressional insertions to the national budget were already rampant for flood-control projects, that estimates of looting trebled anywhere between Php 1.2 to 1.7 trillion by 2025.

Narrow path

Martin “tambalostic” pitch, however, becomes dingy and a bit tardy because it has been triggered only by self-preservation and material considerations.

Central to the freeze order of the Court of Appeals, is a 3,196-square-meter estate on Tamarind Road in South Forbes Park, Makati, acquired in 2023 for Php1.665 billion by Golden Pheasant Holdings Corp., a company wholly owned by Jose Raulito Enoy Paras. The property had previously been owned by shipping executive Doris Magsaysay-Ho.

The order also covers 35 bank accounts linked to Romualdez across major financial institutions, some jointly held with family members. Paras, for his part, is associated with 38 accounts in several banks, along with assets under his holding firm, including deposits and seven high-end condominium units in Bonifacio Global City.

The court said a summary hearing would be conducted before the 20-day period lapses to determine whether the freeze order should be extended or lifted.

The action stemmed from findings by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), which initiated a financial investigation following a complaint filed by the Ombudsman.

The complaint accuses Romualdez and others of plunder, bribery, and graft in connection with an alleged Php56-billion kickback scheme tied to flood control projects.

Testimonies cited in the court order were drawn from hearings of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, where Orly Guteza and other witnesses claimed that cash-filled suitcases were delivered to residences associated with Romualdez and former lawmaker Elizaldy Co, who has reportedly gone into hiding. Other accounts pointed to intermediaries allegedly tasked with handling funds linked to public works contracts.

The Ombudsman said the complaints involved “the alleged kickback scheme tied to flood control projects, purportedly masterminded by the respondent.

Martin Romualdez has denied any wrongdoing.

“I have never authorized, instructed, or allowed anyone to engage in any conduct that would betray the people or taint my name,” he said.

He has reiterated that he never received any alleged kickback in any infrastructure project.

In a video message issued on April 21, Romualdez said that he would defend himself fully and not let himself be turned into the scapegoat in connection with the flood control mess.

Romualdez said  he initially chose to remain silent out of respect for the legal process, but decided to speak out after his silence was allegedly used to build a false narrative against him:

“I want to make this simple and clear. The national budget does not depend on just one person. The budget does not begin in the House. It begins in the Executive.

“The agencies prepare their proposals, the Executive consolidates them into the National Expenditure Program, and that program is then submitted to Congress.”

Obviously, he now struggles to ward off blame by throwing the onus or unpleasant task of accountability to the ballpark of his first cousin who is the chief executive of the executive branch.

Of course, that carries a lot of heavy-lifting as indeed no public fund can be generated as in general appropriations and no release can be authorized without the president’s signature.

In that sense indeed, Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr cannot escape being the mastermind.

But that might be an oversimplification because that middle name has tricky implications.

The presidency maybe the source initiator and the releasing office, but Congress, specifically the House of Representatives serves as the purse of the government.

The “power of the purse” refers to the authority to control, authorize, and allocate public funds. It is the legislative branch’s power to control government spending, limiting executive power by controlling the budget and taxation, ensuring public funds are used legally and responsibly. 

Romualdez served as the speaker of the House at the time the crime was committed.

This is to say that Marcos or Romualdez, in their official capacities, could not have acted alone, or specifically without the complicity of the other, especially the works completing the budget process is a very intricate and complex process.

That is why plunder  is considered one of the gravest crimes a public official can commit, acting as a catch-all statute for systemic corruption rather than isolated acts of bribery or graft.

In this case, the criminal act could not have been solidified, without the collusion of the Presidency and the Speaker acting necessarily in unison of purpose and motive.

The legalese of how the plot was perfected may be a labyrinth for the judicial system to waze, but the deliveries of hundreds of luggage full of billions to Romualdez’ addresses in Forbes Park and Bonifacio Global City and to Aguado Street intended for Malacañang is too graphic and damning to deny.

Panfilo Lacson’s attempted discredit of Orly Guteza may have confused a lot of the public, but with 18 other Marines corroborating his testimony, with notes, photos, videos, chats and personal accounts, is more than gold currency for conviction.

Conclusion

In my mind, the orange garb already awaits Marcos and Romualdez in incarceration, as the final resolution of this plunder case would most likely happen during another Duterte presidency.

If I were Bongbong or Martin, I would be tempted by reflecting on how to negotiate an “out-of-jail” card using the precedence of Gloria Arroyo’s presidential pardon of Erap Estrada, if and when popular anger subsides.

They are better off dealing with Sara Duterte who as a lawyer is an officer of the court. She might be a milder mouth than her father but a bigger heart.

But no light can be served by impeaching, kidnapping or assassinating Sara, without rebirthing another Duterte, down to a choice between a crass mayor or a dingy congressman.

No Aquino or Marcos surrogate can win the next elections. No hook or crook, will also work. The people’s rage is self-explanatory and no commissioner will exchange their lives for a cheater.

The surveys leave no margin for any opposition, as the people, tired of being “budoled” or scammed will definitely elect a Duterte to be our next president, as the real change their father PRRD pledged the people, has been hijacked by plunderers.

Marcos and Romualdez should rather deal with reason and appeal to Inday’s matriarchal instincts rather than the brute force of her brothers. #

READ: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DE2wigh4s/

THE MELTDOWN OF THE CENTURY: HOW SARA DUTERTE’S TWO SENTENCES BROKE THE MALACAÑANG, KAKAMPINKS, LIBERALS, THE FAKE LEFT, AND WHAT’S LEFT OF THEIR SANITY

On February 18, Sara Duterte walked up to a podium, removed the OVP seal like she was unsubscribing from a bad streaming service, and said two sentences.

“Ako si Sara Duterte. Tatakbo ako bilang Pangulo ng Pilipinas.”

   

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