Suspend Speaker over budget insertions, Ombudsman urged

MANILA, Philippines — Davao del Norte 1st District Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez has asked the Office of the Ombudsman to order the preventive suspension of Speaker Martin Romualdez and three other lawmakers pending its investigation of the graft complaint filed against them last week over alleged irregularities in the 2025 national budget.

Alvarez filed the motion against Romualdez, House majority leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, former House appropriations committee chair Zaldy Co and acting appropriations chairperson Stella Quimbo before the Office of the Ombudsman to prevent the House officials from using their positions in frustrating the investigation.

“Considering their high positions, power and influence, it does not take a superbly imaginative mind to know that respondents will do or cause to be done any and all acts, either directly or through their subordinates/subalterns in office who are all under their control and influence, to suborn witnesses, tamper with evidence and perjure testimony to escape penalty,” the four-page motion read.

“The evidence of guilt against the respondents are not only strong but overwhelming and cannot be overemphasized. They are borne out clearly and unmistakably by the records in the passage of the GAA (General Appropriations Act) 2025,” it added.

Alvarez was accompanied by lawyers Ferdinand Topacio and Virgilio Garcia, PDP-Laban senatorial candidate Jimmy Bondoc and Citizens Crime Watch president Diego Magpantay.

Last week, Alvarez, Magpantay, Topacio and Garcia filed a criminal complaint before the ombudsman against Romualdez, Dalipe, Co and Quimbo, saying that they must be held liable for 12 counts of falsification of legislative documents.

Oral arguments in April

The Supreme Court (SC) has scheduled oral arguments in April for petitions challenging the constitutionality of the 2025 GAA and the Maharlika Investment Fund.

In a press briefing on Feb. 18, SC spokesperson Camille Sue Mae Ting announced that the oral arguments for the petition filed by former executive secretary and senatorial aspirant Vic Rodriguez against the 2025 national budget will be held on April 1 at the session hall of the SC Baguio compound.

The petitioners argue that the GAA is unconstitutional for failing to allocate mandatory funding for the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), unlawfully increasing appropriations beyond the President’s recommendations, and prioritizing infrastructure spending over education.

They also cited alleged irregularities and supposed blank items in the bicameral conference committee report. — Daphne Galvez, Elizabeth Marcelo