Malacañang on Romualdez's health: Give doctors benefit of the doubt

Malacañang on Wednesday said physicians assessing the condition of former speaker and Leyte 1st District Representative Martin Romualdez should be given the benefit of the doubt amid his reported health issues. In a press briefing, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro expressed belief that Romualdez will not be able to escape and evade the plunder charges against him if he is in the hospital. "Sa mga kritiko, hindi mawawala ang kritisismo. Pero hindi natin mapipigil ang mga doktor kung ano ang nakikita nilang health condition ng isang akusado. Hindi rin naman maipipilit ng PNP o ng pamunuan ng DILG na dalhin agad ang isang akusado na mayroong nasertipikahan na hindi pa nararapat na tanggalin or i-remove from the hospital," Castro said. (For critics, criticisms will always be there. But we cannot stop doctors from seeing what they see as the health condition of an accused. Nor can the PNP or the DILG leadership force them to immediately bring an accused who has been certified as not yet eligible for removal from the hospital.) "At kung nasa hospital naman po 'yan, hindi naman po siguro 'yan makakatakas," she added. (If he's in the hospital, he probably won't be able to escape.) Castro also emphasized that doctors would tell the truth regarding the health condition of a person. "Wala po tayong masasabi kung ano 'yan. Nandiyan po 'yan sa pagtingin ng kanilang mga doktor at ang doktor naman ay dapat nagsasabi ng katotohanan. So we will just give them the benefit of the doubt," she said. (We cannot say what that is. That is up to the assessment of the doctors and the doctors should tell the truth. So we will just give them the benefit of the doubt.) Romualdez was confined at a private hospital in San Juan City when authorities served his arrest warrant there on Monday evening. The Office of the Ombudsman filed a P7.4-billion plunder case against Romualdez, former Ako Bicol party-list Representative Zaldy Co, and several others in connection with the flood control scam. It has also said it would "strongly oppose" Romualdez's motion seeking hospital detention. — VDV, GMA News