Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez pleaded not guilty on September 16 to a ₱7.44-billion plunder charge, appearing by videoconference from the infirmary of New Quezon City Jail more than a week after his arrest in the flood-control kickback scandal. Hours later, the Sandiganbayan Third Division, chaired by Associate Justice Karl Miranda, gave him 10 days to explain why he should not be preventively suspended from his post as Leyte 1st District Representative under the Anti-Plunder Act — a second legal front that opened the same day as his arraignment.
The case accuses Romualdez, President Marcos' first cousin and twice House Speaker, of receiving kickbacks from contractors on government flood-control and infrastructure projects covering fiscal years 2022 to 2025. He was charged along with former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co and two others, according to GMA News and the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Romualdez's lawyer, Rachel Ann Pomoy, confirmed to the court that the defense will file a petition for bail — a request that only makes sense because plunder is a non-bailable offense unless the defense can first convince the court that the prosecution's evidence of guilt "is not strong." That is a threshold the defense itself will have to clear at a dedicated hearing, not a formality. "We confirm, we will file [a petition for bail], Your Honor, which is why we want the pretrial to be completed," Pomoy told the court, according to the Inquirer.
Romualdez had spent the days after his arrest hospitalized at Cardinal Santos Medical Center and later the Philippine General Hospital for heart- and brain-related ailments before Sandiganbayan-vetted medical findings cleared him as "clinically stable" for ordinary detention. At Wednesday's hearing, Justice Miranda pointedly noted that many other detainees have worse medical conditions than Romualdez — an implicit pushback on any suggestion that his health record entitles him to different treatment than the rest of the jail's population.
The preventive-suspension question carries higher stakes than the arraignment itself. Under Republic Act No. 7080, a public official facing plunder charges can be suspended from office once a strong case is established — meaning the same chamber that controls the pork-heavy budget insertions at the center of the flood-control scandal could, within weeks, be voting on the floor without one of its most powerful members. Romualdez now has until roughly September 26 to argue against that outcome.
Neither the prosecution nor Romualdez's office offered additional on-record comment beyond the court proceedings as of this report, and no next hearing date for the bail petition had been set.
Context
Romualdez's arrest came amid a wider crackdown on the flood-control kickback scandal that has consumed Philippine politics for much of 2026. Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters on September 13 that his office has filed 31 plunder-related cases in the Sandiganbayan and four more in regional trial courts, with 166 additional cases still under investigation. The Independent Commission for Infrastructure, created by President Marcos in 2026 to probe anomalous flood-control spending, has fed evidence into several of the resulting Ombudsman and Sandiganbayan cases, including the one now against Romualdez.
Sources
- Romualdez pleads not guilty in P7.4 billion plunder case — GMA News, Llanesca T. Panti
- Romualdez to seek bail as Sandiganbayan weighs suspension — Philippine Daily Inquirer, John Eric Mendoza