Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez should have come clean by appearing in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to debunk allegations linking him to the “mangling” of the 2025 budget, but failed to appear despite invitations, panel chair Ping Lacson said Wednesday. 

The committee invited Romualdez in November last year and January to testify on the alleged budget anomalies tied to the kickback scheme in the flood control projects. The invitations were coursed through the Office of Speaker Bojie Dy, but to no avail, according to Lacson. 

“The Blue Ribbon Committee gave the former speaker at least two chances through official invitations to testify under oath and public scrutiny to what may be his strong argument against allegations of masterminding the ‘mangling beyond recognition’ of the 2025 national budget during the bicameral conference, which he now claims to have been made by only two people—SP (Senate President) Chiz Escudero and ex. Cong and House Appropriations Chairman Zaldy Co," Lacson said in a post on X.

DAILY TRIBUNE has reached out to Romualdez’s office, but has yet to receive a response as of press time.

An inter-parliamentary courtesy has been a longstanding practice in Congress, where members of the House and the Senate accord each other respect and do not meddle in each other's affairs. Though it remains unclear whether Romualdez’s camp invoked this tradition to justify his no-show. 

Lacson’s statement came a day after Romualdez broke his months-long silence by releasing an 11-minute-long video statement, denying involvement in the supposed insertions in the 2025 General Appropriations Act, which critics had derided as the “most corrupt” budget in Philippine history. 

Romualdez asserted that, while he was the Speaker when the previous Congress passed the 2025 budget, he was neither part of the bicameral conference committee nor the so-called “small committee.”

Instead, he explicitly tagged Escudero and Co as “instrumental” in making budget decisions, as they were part of the small committee allegedly responsible for last-minute revisions to the 2025 General Appropriations Bill after it was approved by the House and the Senate.

Romualdez claimed that he would not let himself be a “scapegoat” or “fall guy for other people’s corruption.” 

Both Escudero and Co’s camp have yet to respond to the allegations. Although recall that it was Co who was first to point an accusing finger, naming President Marcos Jr. and Romualdez as “masterminding” the insertion of P100 billion worth of projects into the 2025 budget. 

Co, who was reportedly arrested in Prague, denied receiving a cent from the alleged insertions and claimed he was only made to do the insertions in his capacity as the former chair of the House committee on appropriations.

Earlier this week, Lacson said the committee cannot compel Marcos’ attendance at the next BRC hearing, citing the principle of separation of powers, though he added that the panel can invite Romualdez anew.

In a chance interview on Wednesday, Senator JV Ejercito stressed that it would be best for Romualdez to come forward with all relevant details to end the budget saga and determine the “real culprits” behind the corruption scheme.

The 2025 GAA has been widely criticized for allegedly featuring bloated unprogrammed appropriations (UA), the so-called standby funds, where flood control projects were reportedly charged.

Funds worth a staggering P141 billion to bankroll flood control projects in 2023 and 2024 were allegedly drawn from the UA, which has been at the center of a sweeping corruption probe involving members of Congress, DPWH officials, and private contractors.

The UA, deemed by opposition lawmakers a conduit for corruption, has allegedly swelled to unprecedented levels since 2023—Marcos’ first full year in office—reaching nearly P2 trillion, though P168.2 billion was reportedly part of the vetoed items in the 2025 GAA. 

The 2025 GAA was initially pegged at P6.352 trillion but was subsequently reduced to P6.326 trillion after President Marcos vetoed P194 billion worth of line items deemed inconsistent with his administration's priority programs, including P16.7 billion for flood control.