THE Office of the Ombudsman’s investigation of Sen. Francis Escudero and former House speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez was at the preliminary stage, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said on Thursday.
In a radio interview, Clavano said an order to submit a counter-affidavit has been received by the office of Escudero. “I believe... our panel is just waiting for his counter-affidavit so that the preliminary investigation can proceed,” he said.
The probe of Romualdez’s money laundering cases is “also at the preliminary investigation stage,” Clavano said.
Last April, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said cases of plunder related to flood control projects are being prepared against Romualdez and Escudero, who is a former Senate president.
The cases touch on “the way that the budget was passed by the two houses and how many things happened to have been implemented because of that,” Clavano said.
Romualdez has denied taking part in bicameral and small committee budget deliberations. “I have never authorized, instructed or allowed anyone to engage in any conduct that would betray the people or taint my name,” he said.
Last year, former Public Works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo alleged that Escudero was a bagman for kickbacks to senators related to public works projects. Escudero has denied Bernardo’s allegations.
Romualdez said he welcomed the investigation as a chance to clear his name. “I personally appeared before the proper authorities. I voluntarily submitted my affidavit to the ICI (Independent Commission for Infrastructure). I provided the information and documents asked of me. I did not hide. I did not run. I did not evade scrutiny. I faced it head-on, within the proper channel, because I know there is no evidence that proves I committed plunder, conspiracy to commit plunder or any similar offense”, he said.
“If I were truly involved in a fraudulent scheme of this nature, then the first place one would expect to see that pattern would be in my own district, in the projects most easily associated with me. You would have seen it in Tacloban. But I say this with absolute certainty: you won’t see it in my district. My district has zero ghost and zero substandard flood control projects. Zero. And that is verifiable,” he said.
Romualdez said he has authorized his staff to share with the public the list of projects in his district that authorities “may deem attributable to” him.
Romualdez stepped down as speaker on Sept. 17, 2025, calling it a duty to restore public trust.
The crafting of the 2026 national budget was marked with reforms in the budget process that included the livestreaming of the deliberations of the bicameral conference committee that finalized the budget measure.
