MANILA — The Ombudsman’s complaint against Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez was not rushed to coincide with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address on Monday, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said.
The Ombudsman’s investigators have filed a supplemental complaint seeking a preliminary probe against the former House Speaker and former congressman Zaldy Co for plunder, graft, bribery, and money laundering in connection with funds for flood control projects.
Appearing on ANC’s Headstart, Dizon was asked to respond to speculation that the Ombudsman had filed the complaint simply so the President could claim it as an accomplishment in his fifth SONA. He said the process had been underway for months. As early as November last year, he explained, they had filed a referral recommending charges of plunder, bribery, and other crimes against the former Speaker and former congressman Co. It was not true that the move happened only last week, he said, adding that the process had been running for a long time, but that both the President and the Ombudsman had repeatedly stressed the need to build up the evidence. Cases could not simply be filed at random, he said; the evidence had to be solid.
Dizon said he believed Marcos would hold to his word that individuals, whether family or friends, would be arrested if proven to be involved in the flood control anomalies. He said he had strong confidence in the President’s pledge to follow the evidence wherever it leads, regardless of who is implicated.
Romualdez’s camp has earlier said he is ready to face the complaint against him. Co’s counsel, meanwhile, declined to comment pending receipt of a copy of the complaint.
