Allies of former president Rodrigo Duterte petitioned the Ombudsman on Wednesday to temporarily suspend Speaker Martin Romualdez and three key House members pending the investigation into the criminal case they lodged against the four alleging the unlawful insertion of P241 billion in this year’s budget.

In a four-page motion, former speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, lawyers Ferdinand Topacio and Virgilio Garcia, and Citizen’s Crime Watch president Diego Magpantay asserted that the House leaders must be placed under preventive suspension to prevent them from exploiting their positions and influence that could prejudice the investigation of the case.

Aside from Romualdez, the petitioners also sought the suspension of House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, former appropriations committee chairperson Elizaldy Co, acting chair Stella Quimbo, and John Does and Jane Does representing the House’s technical staff whose identities have yet to be ascertained.

“The respondents herein are some of the more powerful and influential officials in the government, particularly in the legislature,” the motion read.

It added, “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 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 Ombudsman has the authority to preventively suspend without pay a public officer under investigation, especially if the evidence of guilt is strong and the charge involves dishonesty, oppression or gross misconduct, or gross neglect in the performance of duty.

The respondents have yet to respond to the media’s queries as of press time.

The call for their suspension followed the filing of 12 counts each of falsification of legislative documents and graft against the lawmakers last week in relation to the alleged insertion of P241 billion in the ratified bicameral conference committee report on the 2025 national budget.

The counts represent the supposed 12 blank items in the bicam report that were purportedly later filled in with appropriations despite the same having been already ratified by both the House and the Senate, in violation of Article 170 of the Revised Penal Code.

The bicam report was the outcome of the harmonized House and Senate versions of the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

The complainants argued that the alleged insertion of the P241 billion defeated the reason for Congress holding a bicam conference to reconcile the conflicting provisions in the two versions of the national budget.

Earlier, Quimbo admitted that there were blank items in the bicam report but insisted that funding for the items was already identified before the members of the bicam signed the report.

She said anyone could scrutinize the enrolled bill, which was publicly available on the House’s website, to see for themselves its “completeness [and] compliance with due process.”

Citing the suspicious timing, Dalipe dismissed the criminal charges as politically motivated and in retaliation for the House impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.

He also took issue with Alvarez and the other petitioners for only suing House members when the bicam committee is a collegial body.

“The mere fact that only the House has been impleaded in the complaint raises serious questions about the true intent behind these allegations. The budget process is a shared responsibility, yet the focus on one chamber alone suggests a deliberate effort to mislead the public and cast doubt on the integrity of the House’s work,” he noted.

The controversy surrounding the so-called blank items in the bicameral report on the 2025 budget was first highlighted by former president Duterte and Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, the erstwhile appropriations panel chair.

Ungab and other Duterte allies have questioned the constitutionality of this year’s GAA before the Supreme Court.

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