Detained inside the infirmary of a Quezon City jail, former House Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez rejected the plunder charge against him on Tuesday, September 16, 2026, telling the Sandiganbayan he is not guilty in a case that accuses him of pocketing billions in kickbacks linked to the country’s flood control program.
The arraignment did not take place in a courtroom. Romualdez appeared before the anti-graft court’s Third Division through a video link from his detention facility in New Quezon City, where he entered his plea remotely rather than being physically brought before the justices.
Alongside Romualdez, three other accused are named in the P7.4-billion complaint, which centers on what prosecutors describe as his involvement in the sprawling flood control anomaly that has dominated national attention. The Office of the Ombudsman, in charges filed earlier this month, alleged that Romualdez and his co-accused collected commissions, shares, and other financial benefits on at least 15 separate occasions, with the money allegedly sourced from contractors and firms angling for flood control and infrastructure contracts funded under national budgets from 2022 to 2025, as reported by Rappler and Philstar. Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla has said the figure amounts to roughly P7.44 billion. Romualdez has consistently maintained he did nothing wrong.
His health has been a recurring point in the proceedings. Before landing in his cell, Romualdez had been admitted at Cardinal Santos Medical Center and later Philippine General Hospital for heart and brain-related conditions. But Sandiganbayan Third Division chairperson and Associate Justice Karl Miranda, speaking before the plea was taken, pushed back against any notion that Romualdez’s situation warranted special handling, noting that numerous other detainees are coping with medical problems more severe than his.
The two co-accused named in the wider case include Joselyn Serenio, described by investigators as Romualdez’s close personal aide, and businessman Felicito Cristobal Guevarra, who heads Samchan Foreign Exchange Corporation, according to Bilyonaryo. Former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, who chaired the House Committee on Appropriations during the period under review, is also implicated but has evaded arrest and was reported to be seeking asylum in Europe.
Because plunder carries no bail, Romualdez has remained in custody since his arrest, and as of his arraignment he was still being held in the jail’s infirmary.
