Preventive suspension of Romualdez, others sought amid graft rap over 2025 budget

(L-R) Ret. Gen. Virgilio Garcia, Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, Atty. Ferdie Topacio, senatorial aspirant Jimmy Bondoc, and Citizens Crime Watch’s Diego Magpantay file criminal and graft complaints against House Speaker Martin Romualdez, House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, former appropriations chair Rep. Zaldy Co, and acting chair Rep. Stella Quimbo for the alleged illegal P241 billion budget insertions before the Office of the Ombudsman on February 10, 2025. The complainants claim the budget signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. contained blank sections, with insertions made post-bicam ratification. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — Davao del Norte 1st District Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez and the other complainants are asking the Office of the Ombudsman to put House Speaker Martin Romualdez and other House leaders in preventive suspension in relation to a graft complaint filed against them over alleged “insertions” in the enrolled bill for the 2025 national budget.

They filed on Wednesday a motion for preventive suspension, citing the respondents' "high positions, power and influence" and the risk that they would interfere in a potential investigation.

Romualdez, House leaders face graft, falsification raps over 2025 budget

Apart from Romualdez, also named as respondents in the complaint are House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe of Zamboanga City, House Committee on Appropriations acting chairperson Stella Quimbo of Marikina, and the panel’s former chairperson Elizaldy Co of Ako Bicol party-list.

Alvarez, an ally of the Duterte family, filed the complaint on February 10, alleging that P241 billion was “inserted” in the 2025 enrolled General Appropriations Bill (GAB) that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law last December.

Marcos Jr. and the Palace have said the version that was signed had been reviewed and did not contain any blank entries.

House members earlier said that the bicameral conference committee report that the chamber ratified had blank entries for certain allocations.

Another House member says there were ‘blank’ entries in bicam budget report

Quimbo and Senate President Francis Escudero had explained that the ratified bicameral conference committee report contained an omnibus motion, which states that if there are changes between the report and the printed copy, the latter will prevail.

Quimbo also stressed that the values for the blanks in the bicam report were already determined by the bicameral conference committee and were part of existing documents.

Other complainants in the falsification of legislative documents and graft complaitns are lawyer Ferdinand Topacio of Citizen's Crime Watch, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino senatorial candidates Jimmy Bondoc and Raul Lambino and lawyer Virgilio Garcia.