Court orders jail authorities to submit detailed report on Romualdez's whereabouts

The Sandiganbayan Third Division has ordered the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) to submit a detailed report on the whereabouts of former Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez since the lawmaker’s detention in New Quezon City jail in Payatas last September.

The anti-graft court issued the order on November 5 in light of the allegations of columnist Ramon Tulfo that Romualdez, who is facing a P7.4 billion plunder case over his alleged involvement in the flood control scam, has been going in and out of his detention as he pleases.

Tulfo has since retracted his report, saying a source provided him false information.

“Considering the materiality of the allegations in the aforementioned Facebook post which raise concerns on the court's effective custody over accused Romualdez, the BJMP QC Jail - Male Dormitory, through Jail Superintendent [Lourdes] Pacion, is ordered to examine all CCTV footage from the time of accused Romualdez's transfer to the facility on September 14, 2026, up to yesterday, November 4, 2026 and to submit a notarized report detailing the whereabouts of accused Romualdez per the CCTV surveillance system,” the anti-graft court said.

The report, the anti-graft court said, should include specific places where accused Romualdez was and is confined since his detention, as well as the common areas used by the lawmaker which covers the following:

• CCTV surveillance system operating logs, system status reports, and maintenance records.
• Records identifying the persons authorized to operate, control, maintain, disable, or restore the CCTV system.
• CCTV system's access logs, audit trails, and records of any deletion, alteration, copying, or retrieval of CCTV recordings.
• Records of power interruptions in the BJMP QC Jail - Male Dormitory, indicating therein how long the power interruption lasted, if any, and what remedies were taken.
• Operating logs of BJMP QC Jail - Male Dormitory's backup power supply.
• Vehicle entry and exit logbooks, gate pass records, and/or vehicle movement registers;
Records of BJMP QC Jail - Male Dormitory's ambulance use, indicating therein the exact departure time, driver's name, medical report, destination, PDL concerned, and other passengers; and roster of jail guards, gatekeepers, medical staff on shift, indicating therein the specific post they assumed, as well as the names of persons allowed to assist Romualdez and stay with him in the facility.
• Latest medical report of accused Romualdez, including information of any medical examination conducted upon accused Romualdez inside and outside the facility.

In addition, the Sandiganbayan said the report must state the inadequacies of the CCTV surveillance system as told by Pacion before the anti-graft court on November 5 for the updates.

Further, the Sandiganbayan ordered Jail Superintendent Pacion and Dr. Henry Fabro, as well as the IT personnel of the BJMP QC Jail - Male Dormitory to appear on November 9, 2026, at 8:30 in the morning for another hearing.

Pacion earlier told the anti-graft court that Romualdez has a personal staff with his cell to attend to his daily needs amid an unstable mental health condition.

Pacion, however, stressed that Romualdez has never left the detention premises. —VAL, GMA News