Deputy Speaker and Antipolo City Representative Ronaldo “Ronnie” Puno on Monday warned that a "demolition job" may be underway against former Speaker Martin Romualdez, coinciding with his scheduled appearance before the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).

Puno called the timing of recent allegations linking Romualdez to allegedly overpriced and misused funds for farm-to-market road projects in Leyte "terribly unfair."

"I think the timing is unfortunate because the former Speaker is going to speak before the Independent Commission tomorrow, so it seems there is a little demolition happening here," Puno disclosed in an interview.

The lawmaker issued the statement amid reports that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee may investigate alleged anomalies within the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) related to the projects.

Puno dismissed the allegations, asserting the projects in question were not large undertakings and had already passed the scrutiny of the concerned departments, including the DA secretary.

"First of all, these were not very big projects. I think that these things came about because of the DPWH and Department of Agriculture, and it even passed the initial scrutiny of the secretary of the Department of Agriculture," he said.

He further cited that the DA secretary had previously flagged "ghost" and "substandard" projects elsewhere but "none of those were in Leyte."

Puno lamented the issue's sudden resurfacing, calling it "negative propaganda" and sensing a "lynch-mob mentality" trying to pin the blame on Romualdez alone.

"There is scapegoating that is going on, people are pointing to other people so that they will be able to escape their responsibility," he added.

The deputy speaker also questioned the media reporting on the story, citing a lack of effort to get the side of those accused.

"Normally if there are things like that, you will be asked for a reply or to comment," Puno said. "I did not see that there was any request from the accused party to reply."

He urged the public to "critically evaluate" the claims, stressing that all people directly involved are now saying there was "nothing wrong with these projects," even as the damage from the initial reports has been done.