Ombudsman: House panel hampering Romualdez fund scam probe

The House appropriations panel is making it difficult for the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate former Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez over an alleged conspiracy to defraud the national treasury, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Tuesday.

In a press conference, Remulla said Ombudsman investigators have been seeking records of the House small committee proceedings on the proposed 2024 and 2025 budgets—covering Romualdez’s tenure as Speaker—but have yet to obtain them.

The House small committee collates proposed amendments from House members after the national budget is approved by the House on third and final reading.

“We have a problem with the House again, and this time it is the refusal to cooperate of the Committee Secretariat of the [House] Committee on Appropriations because we are trying to get to the bottom of the [budget] insertions,” Remulla said.

“They are not obeying our subpoena. It has become a little difficult, to say the least, but we intend to do something about it,” he added.

Remulla said that while lawmakers are tasked to propose amendments to the national budget, not all of these are formally recorded, making so-called off-the-record insertions—such as those allegedly made during small committee deliberations—suspect.

“There’s a period of amendments in the [House and Senate] rules. What you’re looking for here are the amendments that are not on the record—the ones inserted in the final version of the budget, not included in plenary deliberations but suddenly there," Remulla said.

"Biglang nag-milagro [na kasama na sa budget]. This is what happens in the small committee. They’re trying to stop us from getting the information,” he added.

He said the alleged conspiracy to defraud the national treasury involves multiple stages and accused some House “hardliners” of blocking efforts to fully uncover the matter.

“The conspiracy to defraud [the treasury] comes in different phases and different parts of the narration. The hardliners who do not want us to get to the bottom of things… many of them are in the House right now,” he added.

Remulla, however, clarified that the conspiracy-to-defraud-the-treasury case against Romualdez is still a working theory at this point.

“The grandest case of them all, the biggest case, is the conspiracy to defraud the treasury. That’s really it, committed through the national budget. So we’re being very careful about every premise that we make,” he said.

He said that the technical aspects—such as the specific provisions involved and the terminology to be used in defining the crime—will be addressed later.

"We’re just saying that’s the big case that needs to be finished because this is the first time in the history of the Philippines that we will have this kind of case,” he added.

GMA News Online has reached out to the offices of House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III and Romualdez for comment and will publish their responses once available.—MCG, GMA News