Romualdez had no control over national budget amid flood control mess —camp

The camp of Leyte Representative and former Speaker Martin Romualdez on Friday denied being a mastermind of the flood control mess, saying he has no control over which gets to be included or excluded in the national budget.

“We take exception to the recent public pronouncement suggesting that Rep. Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez was the mastermind of the flood control scheme because he, as Speaker of the House at the time, supposedly had 'functional control.' There is no such thing as 'functional control' over the budget process,” lawyer Elaine Atienza, spokesperson for Romualdez, said in a statement.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, just three days ago, alleged that House appropriations panel is making it difficult for the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate Romualdez over an alleged conspiracy to defraud the national treasury involving the 2024 and 2025 national budget.

“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.

Romualdez’s camp, however, maintained that the national budget is not based on the decision of the House speaker alone because the President’s proposed budget is subject to amendments of the members of the House and the Senate, and ultimately, the approval of both chambers.

It said the versions of the House and the Senate will be reconciled and approved by the bicameral conference committee. The proposed budget will them be ratified by both the House and the Senate before it is sent to the President for veto or approval.

“The budget is not drafted by one person, one office, and cannot be controlled by the Office of the Speaker. Let’s us not twist the facts here. The Speaker cannot dictate upon the President, the Senators, or anybody when it comes to the budget process,” Atienza said.

“Likewise, the lawmakers are not the ones releasing the budget for these projects. They don’t implement it, and they don’t certify to their completeness which turned out to be ghosts. These are all under the Executive agencies’ jurisdiction,” she added.

Aitenza then said accountability must be based on evidence, not theory nor opinion.

“It must be based on what a person actually did, not what people assume his title allowed him to do. Sweeping public pronouncements that point to Rep. Romualdez as the grand architect of a collegial and multi-faceted process involving the Executive, the House and the Senate do not help the search for truth,” she said.

“Representative Romualdez remains ready to answer all allegations through the proper legal process,” she added.

Remulla had 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," he 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. —AOL, GMA News