Palace Denies Special Treatment for Former Speaker Romualdez Amid Arrest

MALACAÑANG on Wednesday pushed back against claims that former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez received special treatment following his arrest, saying his hospital confinement was based on doctors’ medical findings, not political consideration. Mr. Romualdez, a cousin of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., was served an arrest warrant at a hospital in relation to his alleged links to the flood control corruption scandal. Asked about online criticism alleging a two-tiered justice system that allows politicians to seek hospital custody, Palace Press Officer Clarissa A. Castro said the government could not overrule medical assessments. “Criticism will not go away, but we cannot stop doctors from saying what they see as an accused’s health condition. Neither can the PNP (Philippine National Police) or the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) force the immediate transfer of an accused who has been certified as not yet fit to be moved from the hospital,” she said in Filipino. The Sandiganbayan Third Division had issued the warrant of arrest over a P7.44-billion plunder case tied to an alleged flood control kickback scheme, which Mr. Romualdez’s lawyer, Abdiel Dan Elijah S. Fajardo, said his client would contest in court. The congressman, confined for cardiovascular disease, unstable blood pressure, and an anxiety attack, among other conditions, had asked the anti-graft court to let him remain under hospital custody until medically cleared, with the court set to hear his physicians on Sept. 10. Ms. Castro said the Palace would “give the benefit of the doubt” to the doctors attesting that Mr. Romualdez’s condition was poor, adding that his stay at the hospital did not mean he could evade prosecution. Ms. Castro added that she had yet to receive word on whether Mr. Marcos planned to visit his cousin at the hospital. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking