Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez. Photo courtesy of PNP.
The debate over where former House Speaker Martin Romualdez should remain confined intensified Friday after a Cardinal Santos Medical Center physician warned the Sandiganbayan that moving him to another hospital could carry a “big risk.”
The assessment came as the Sandiganbayan Third Division weighed Romualdez’s request to continue staying at the private hospital instead of being transferred to a detention facility.
Dr. Rosalio Torres, Cardinal Santos’ overall coordinator, acknowledged during questioning that Romualdez had not been scheduled for emergency surgery or any invasive procedure since entering the hospital on Sept. 7.
Rather than undergoing an operation, the former speaker has been kept under close medical observation, according to testimony presented during the hearing.
Torres, however, qualified the scope of his assessment, explaining that his specialty is hematology and declining to make a categorical judgment about Romualdez’s heart and neurological conditions.
Romualdez is now under the custody of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, although he remains physically confined at Cardinal Santos while the court determines whether his medical condition warrants a continued hospital stay.
The Sandiganbayan has ordered his detention at the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas, but his transfer has been held in abeyance while the court considers the medical evidence presented by his camp.
Romualdez faces a plunder charge alleging that he and his co-accused obtained at least Php 7.44 billion in commissions, kickbacks and other financial benefits connected to government projects, accusations he has denied and which remain subject to trial.
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