Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez. Photo courtesy of PNP.
The Sandiganbayan has ordered an independent medical evaluation of former House Speaker Martin Romualdez at the Philippine General Hospital as it weighs whether he still needs hospital confinement while facing a Php 7.44-billion plunder case.
Romualdez is set to leave Cardinal Santos Medical Center on Saturday and be brought to PGH, where he will remain until the anti-graft court issues further instructions.
The Third Division sought the government hospital’s assessment after hearing testimony from Romualdez’s doctors about his cardiovascular, neurological and psychiatric condition.
One of his admitting physicians earlier acknowledged in court that he had not been allowed to personally examine Romualdez when the lawmaker arrived at Cardinal Santos on Sept. 7, an arrangement the doctor described as unusual.
Romualdez was served an arrest warrant at the hospital hours after the Office of the Ombudsman filed the plunder case against him and three others.
The case also names former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, Joselyn Tragua Serenio and Samchan Foreign Exchange Corp. president Felicito Cristobal Guevarra.
Prosecutors alleged that Romualdez and Co received at least Php 7.44 billion in commissions, kickbacks and other financial benefits on at least 15 occasions from contractors and entities with interests in flood control, infrastructure and other government projects funded from 2022 to 2025.
The Sandiganbayan has stressed that issuing an arrest warrant only reflects a finding of probable cause to proceed with the case and does not establish guilt, with Romualdez and the other accused remaining presumed innocent unless proven otherwise.