Sandiganbayan allows Romualdez to sign pre-trial order at QC Payatas Jail on Oct. 12

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The Sandiganbayan Third Division granted the motion of former Speaker and incumbent Leyte 1st District Representative Martin Romualdez to sign the pre-trial order at the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas on Monday, October 12.

The anti-graft court earlier ordered Romualdez to appear before it on October 12 for the first day of his bail hearing.

A pre-trial order is issued after the pre-trial conference or the court process where the evidence for both parties are marked, read.

The Office of the Ombudsman filed last September 7 a P7.4-billion plunder charge against Romualdez and three others over their alleged involvement in a kickback scheme on flood control projects.

The former speaker was arrested and underwent booking procedures on the same day while confined at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City.

He was brought to the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas, Quezon City on September 14 where he has since been detained.

Romualdez, in a videoconference on September 16, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

He filed a petition for bail on September 28, and said the Ombudsman’s evidence against him are only enough to raise suspicions, rather than certainty, and not enough to keep him detained

These insufficient evidence, Romualdez said, include:

• the accounts of former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo and former Bulacan First District Engineer Henry Alcantara ("Alcantara") concerning alleged dealings with his co-accused and former House appropriations panel chaiperson Elizaldy "Zaldy" Co of Ako Bicol party-list over contractor "commitments"
• the statements of eight security aides of accused Co, three of whom have since recanted, describing the transport of luggage to properties said to be associated with accused Romualdez
• accusing Romualdez of involvement by virtue of his office as Speaker of the House of Representatives and the passage of appropriations measures in the ordinary course of legislation; and
• the corporate and financial transactions of a certain Jose Paras and of companies in which Paras is the principal shareholder.

“None of them strongly establishes accused Romualdez’s knowing participation in the alleged scheme or his acquisition of its proceeds. Bernardo and Alcantara describe dealings with accused Co. The security aides describe the movement of luggage and, on a few occasions, the sight of cash, but not its source, its amount, or its receipt by accused Romualdez,” the bail petition read.

In addition, Romualdez said that the prosecution’s evidence does not show his knowledge, direction, or benefit as with his participation in the racketeering scheme.

Romualdez’s petition also asked the Sandiganbayan to fix a reasonable amount of bail, with such sureties as the anti-graft court may require. —KG, GMA News