Sandiganbayan orders Romualdez held on a P7.44 billion plunder charge

The Sandiganbayan Third Division issued a warrant on 7 September for former House Speaker Martin Romualdez on a plunder charge of at least P7.44 billion, about $118 million. Officers served the paper that night in a room at Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla and Philippine National Police chief Gen. Jose Melecio Nartatez were present. Romualdez was read the warrant and his rights in front of counsel and then booked in the hospital.

The court recommended no bail and issued hold-departure orders against all four accused. Remulla said Romualdez would move to a city jail once doctors cleared him. The interior secretary told reporters the former speaker was being treated for cardiovascular problems, unstable blood pressure and an anxiety attack after going to the hospital on Monday afternoon, hours after Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla confirmed the filing.

The information names Romualdez, former Ako Bicol representative Zaldy Co, private individual Joselyn Tragua Serenio and Samchan Foreign Exchange Corp. president Felicito Cristobal Guevarra. Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano brought the charge to the anti-graft court around noon under Republic Act 7080. The pleading says Romualdez and Co received, directly or indirectly, commissions, shares, percentages, kickbacks, "commitments" and other payments on at least 15 occasions from contractors on flood-control and other projects funded in the General Appropriations Acts for 2022 to 2025. The money, prosecutors say, was delivered to properties owned by, occupied by, or linked to Romualdez and received by Serenio and others acting for him.

Romualdez is a first cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. He was Speaker from 2022 until he resigned in 2025 and still sits as representative for Leyte's first district. He has denied taking money from the flood-control programme, a $9.8 billion public works effort. Counsel Ade Fajardo said his client would answer in court and asked only for the same process given to any Filipino.

Marcos said in this year's State of the Nation Address that he was not the president of his family and that cases would be filed. The arrest came more than a month after that speech. Ombudsman Remulla called Romualdez the "biggest fish" so far in the flood-control files and said more plunder and money-laundering cases would follow. Former public works secretary Manuel Bonoan is listed as a prospective witness. Bonoan had himself been dropped from a separate P573 million plunder and graft case days earlier.

The Third Division said the warrant means only that the justices found probable cause on the record before them. Conviction still requires proof beyond reasonable doubt that the accused amassed at least P50 million through a combination or series of overt criminal acts. The P7.44 billion figure in the information is many times that floor.

Co remains a fugitive. Serenio and Guevarra were also ordered arrested. The political cost inside the ruling coalition is already visible: the president's cousin is in a hospital under warrant, the former public works secretary is a witness, and the ombudsman is promising a longer list. The legal cost will be measured in the First Division's later trial calendar, not in Monday night's booking sheet.