𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝗡𝗼𝘁—𝗥𝗼𝗺𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗱𝗲𝘇 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘀, 𝗡𝗮𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗴 𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗴𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻

Ferdinand Martin Romualdez is no longer staying quiet. The former House Speaker broke his silence on the flood control scandal, warning he won’t let himself be turned into a “scapegoat” while bigger players walk away untouched. He says his silence was meant to respect the legal process—but claims it got twisted into a public narrative that paints him as the convenient villain.

Romualdez directly challenged the Office of the Ombudsman to “follow the evidence,” not the optics—arguing this case is too serious for shortcuts, theatrics, or selective accountability. He’s also allowing his affidavit submitted to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure to be made public, positioning it as his counterpunch to what he calls a political demolition job.

His core defense: the national budget isn’t controlled by one person, and flood control corruption doesn’t happen just because a line item exists. He stressed that once the budget becomes law, implementation—bidding, procurement, disbursement, supervision—falls under the Executive branch and agencies like DPWH, not legislators. And when it comes to the closed-door budget wrangling, he says he wasn’t part of the Bicameral Conference Committee and “small committee” deliberations where specific insertions get hashed out.

Then came the name-drop. Romualdez pointed to two figures he says were “instrumental” in those budget decisions: Senate President Chiz Escudero and fugitive ex-lawmaker Zaldy Co—both of whom have denied wrongdoing and traded accusations in the wider scandal. Romualdez also claimed his own district has “zero ghost” and “zero substandard” flood control projects—and says that claim is verifiable, backed by a list his team is prepared to release.

Screenshot from Martin Romualdez