FORMER House Speaker and Leyte Representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez was formally served an arrest warrant on Monday night, September 7, while confined at Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla confirmed that Romualdez is now classified as a “person deprived of liberty.”
Remulla, accompanied by Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. and CIDG Director Maj. Gen. Alexander Morico II, served the warrant pursuant to an order from the Sandiganbayan Third Division.
The warrant is linked to a ₱7.4-billion plunder case filed earlier that day by the Office of the Ombudsman over alleged irregularities and kickbacks involving government flood control projects from 2022 to 2025.
Former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co and executives of Samchan Foreign Exchange Corp. were also named in the case.
Romualdez was admitted to the hospital at around 4 p.m. after reportedly experiencing a “cardiovascular event,” with doctors citing unstable blood pressure and panic attacks.
Remulla said armed police personnel have been deployed outside Romualdez’s hospital room and elsewhere on the premises.
Government physicians will conduct daily assessments with his attending doctors to determine when he is medically fit to appear in court.
“We will check every day until he is well enough to be presented to court,” Remulla said, adding that Romualdez will be transferred to the Quezon City Jail in Payatas once cleared by doctors. He also stressed that “there will be no special treatment.”
Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla and Malacañang maintained that accountability should apply regardless of political affiliations, noting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s support for equal enforcement of the law.
Romualdez’s legal counsel, Ade Fajardo, meanwhile, said his client is prepared to face the allegations through legal proceedings and is asking only for due process.
Romualdez has previously denied the allegations, saying he was not involved in the bicameral budget deliberations and should not be made a scapegoat in the ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in flood control projects.
