Romualdez: Witness ‘coached’; cash deliveries ‘impossible’
Former Speaker Martin Romualdez on Thursday belied allegations made by a witness at the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing that he received kickbacks from flood-control projects at his Taguig City residence.
He dismissed the testimony of Orly Regala Guteza as a contrived fabrication, starting with what the latter narrated about the trips he supposedly made to deliver money to the Leyte congressman’s house.
For one, he said, the house mentioned by Guteza had been under renovation since January 2024.
“The so-called testimony of Sen. (Rodante) Marcoleta’s witness is an outright and complete fabrication—nothing more than a desperate attempt to link me to supposed kickbacks where none exist. Pilit na pilit (Extremely forced),” he noted.
“The most telling flaw is the witness’ claim that deliveries were made to McKinley beginning December 2024. Imposible iyan. That property has been under renovation since January 2024 and was unoccupied except for construction workers,” he said in a statement issued hours after Guteza’s appearance at the Senate.
“Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus—false in one thing, false in everything,” the former House leader added.
‘Coached testimony’
“This is clearly political and the product of coaching. I will not allow these perjurious statements to pass unchallenged,” he said.
He maintained that “I have never received or benefited from kickbacks in any infrastructure project. I have never authorized, instructed, or allowed anyone to engage in any conduct that would betray the people or taint my name.”
Romualdez resigned the Speakership on Sept. 17 amid mounting public pressure to have House members like himself investigated for alleged corruption in public works and questionable insertions in the national budget.
“I welcome a fair, transparent, and impartial investigation to expose these falsehoods,” he said on Thursday, echoing his resignation speech.
“I voluntarily resigned as Speaker of the House of Representatives precisely to demonstrate my full support for the inquiry into flood-control issues,” he added.
He was referring the investigation being conducted by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, a body created by President Marcos, a cousin of the ex-Speaker.
“But now that my has been maliciously dragged into this controversy, I will fight back— not with rhetoric, but with evidence,” Romualdez said.
“Never have I stolen public funds. I don’t money illegally obtained,” he stressed.
