Former House speaker Martin Romualdez must personally appear before the Sandiganbayan on October 12, when the anti-graft court begins hearing the bail petition his lawyers said they would file today.
In an order laying out the case timetable, the court’s Third Division said Romualdez is “required to be present and sign the pre-trial order during the initial bail hearing on Oct. 12.” The same order noted that the defense “manifested his intent to file his petition for bail on Monday, Sept. 28, 2026.”
The petition covers charges tied to an alleged P7.4 billion in kickbacks from flood control projects. The Leyte first district representative faces counts of plunder, malversation and graft, the first two of which ordinarily bar an accused from posting bail. He has entered a not guilty plea on the plunder count.
None of the three people charged with him are in custody. They are Joselyn Serenio, a member of his household staff; former congressman Zaldy Co, who remains a fugitive; and Felicito Guevarra, a foreign exchange executive.
Hearings on the bail request will run until November 12, with sessions every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Prosecutors plan to call 23 witnesses to oppose it, while the defense expects to present three or four.
Trial on all three charges opens November 23 and will follow the same three-day weekly schedule. The court gave the prosecution 74 trial dates to present its case and the defense 41, and warned that “the trial dates are final and non-transferable,” and that “no motions for postponement that are dilatory in character shall be entertained by the court.”
The Sandiganbayan recently allowed former senator Bong Revilla to post bail in his own plunder case.
