The body tasked to investigate anomalies in government flood control projects made no finding of guilt against former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a party-list lawmaker said Friday, citing the commission’s own written language in its referral to the Ombudsman.
Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre made the claim while rebutting Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, who had accused Romualdez of involvement in the flood control scandal that has roiled Philippine politics since mid-2025.
“The ICI referral itself, signed by retired Supreme Court justice Andres Reyes, explicitly states: ‘This referral is issued without any finding or conclusion of guilt or liability on the part of former speaker Martin Romualdez,'” Acidre said. “That is not interpretation. That is the Commission’s own language.”
The Independent Commission for Infrastructure was created through executive order in September 2025, days after Romualdez stepped down from the speakership amid mounting pressure from congressional investigations into ghost projects and substandard flood control works worth hundreds of billions of pesos.
Acidre’s access to the ICI document raised questions. The referral was submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman and has not been released to the public, leaving it unclear how the lawmaker obtained a copy.
The statement came from a politically proximate source — Acidre belongs to the same Tingog party-list bloc as Romualdez’s wife, Yedda Marie.
Romualdez has denied all allegations against him throughout the investigation. Contractor couple Sarah and Curlee Discaya, former Co security aide Orly Guteza, and a group of 18 individuals claiming to be ex-Marines have each, in separate testimonies and affidavits, alleged that cash kickbacks from flood control contracts were delivered to the former speaker’s residence. Romualdez dismissed those accounts as “false, malicious and nothing more than name-dropping.”
Acidre also took aim at Tiangco over a separate controversy, urging him to “stop misleading the public” on impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte, after Tiangco alleged that some colleagues received financial aid and project allocations in exchange for supporting the impeachment.
