Romualdez Camp Denies Ex-Speaker Masterminded Flood Control Graft

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of former Speaker Martin Romualdez insisted that he is not the so-called mastermind of the flood control corruption scheme, saying he only did his part to get the budget approved and has no control over individual projects. Romualdez’s counsel, Atty. Jose Roy III, said the Leyte lawmaker is confounded on being tagged as a central figure in the flood control kickback scheme, considering that the corruption scandal involves individual projects, over which he has no control. Roy explained that Romualdez was only involved in the budget process and had no control over individual projects. “As far as he knows, he was doing his share to get the budget approved. Now he’s being made to account for all those acts. He can’t understand why this is happening, when in fact, the same functions are performed on the Senate level,” he said. Roy insisted that the flood control scheme worked on a “per-project basis” and it’s not possible for a mastermind behind it. “It’s like we pass the budget and we take a whole chunk and this is ours. I don’t think that’s possible,” he said, explaining that after the budget is passed, it goes back to the executive, which implements the individual projects. Moreover, Roy said it is “unthinkable” to put all this all on one person and say he handled all the anomalous projects, pointing out that each district has its own favored contracts. “No matter how you look at it, those issues involving contracts, document tampering, questionable bids and ghost projects – those things happen at the lower level, not at the budget stage,” he said. Corruption allegations in public works have been a persistent issue in the Philippines, with infrastructure development projects often cited as potential breeding grounds for irregularities. When high-ranking politicians like Romualdez are implicated, the implications are significant, potentially fueling public distrust in governance. The claim that the former speaker was solely involved in the budget approval process, without direct influence over project implementation or contracts, highlights the complexities of power delegation in the Philippines' budget execution. Source: Philstar Nation