With the Office of the Ombudsman starting to crack down on cases related to flood control, it has ordered Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero to respond to allegations over his supposed involvement through a counter-affidavit.

The development was announced by Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano who also stated that investigations into Escudero were already in the preliminary stage.

“Yung kay Sen. Chiz Escudero ay nasa preliminary investigation stage na. There was an order to submit counter-affidavit na na-receive po ng opisina ni Senator Chiz Escudero,” he said during an interview on DZBB.

(The investigation on Sen. Chiz Escudero is already in the preliminary stage. There was an order to submit a counter-affidavit that was already received by the office of Senator Chiz Escudero)

“I believe the prosecutor o yung panel po natin ay naghihintay na lang po sa kanyang counter-affidavit para umusad na po yung preliminary investigation,” he added.

(I believe the prosecutor or the panel is just waiting on the counter-affidavit for the preliminary investigation to proceed)

The counter-affidavit marked the latest development in the anti-graft body’s probe into the senator after the precautionary hold departure order (PHDO) it had obtained from Sandiganbayan on both him and businessman Maynard Ngu.

Escudero’s involvement in the flood control scandal stemmed from circulating reports that one of his sponsors during the 2022 national elections was from Lawrence Lubiano, owner of Centerways Construction and Development Inc.

The construction company was implicated in the issue as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. cited it as one of the top 15 flood control contractors in the country.

Another supposed link that Escudero had was for his participation in the bi-cameral meeting that approves the final version of the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) that was regarded as the most corrupt budget in Philippine history.

The senator was not the only bicam member that has an ongoing probe at the Ombudsman, however, as former House Speaker and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez is also currently being investigated.

Clavano said that the leading case against Romualdez was for a money laundering charge. One of the pieces of evidence he said they considered were the affidavits of Orly Guteza, the 18 marines, and the video of Zaldy Co.

“Ginamit po ng team natin yung affidavits nung 18 marines, although yung 18 marines ginawa ho natin dun, pinaisa-isa natin yung affidavits nila, kasi mahirap naman po paniwalaan na yung 18 nagsama sama buong time,” he said.

(We used the affidavits of the 18 marines, although what we did was we asked them to submit individual affidavits because it is hard to believe that all 18 were together the whole time)

“Yung kay Orly Guteza ginamit din po yun, tyaka yung video ni Zaldy Co, yes we can consider them evidence, pwede din i-raise as defense ng mga abogado ni former house speaker na hindi credible,” he added.

(We also used Orly Guteza’s affidavit, and the video of Zaldy Co, yes we can consider them evidence, it could also be used as a defense of the lawyers of the former house speaker for lack of credibility)

Probe on House lawmakers

Aside from Escudero and Romualdez, Clavano noted that they were also in the stage of heightening investigations into some lawmakers at the House of Representatives.

As part of the investigation, he said that they have conducted lifestyle checks on solons after gathering their respective Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).

“Etong mga ‘to, actually pinapalakas nga natin yung lifestyle checks natin sa Office of the Ombudsman eh, kasi ang nangyayari dun, kapag nakuha natin yung SALN…yung mga SALN na yun, ibabangga sa lahat ng registries, LRA, LTO, may ibang mga registries pa,” he stated.

(With these cases, we actually strengthened our lifestyle checks at the Office of the Ombudsman, when we get the SALNs, we compare it to registries, LRA, LTO, and other registries)

Clavano noted that they had noticed irregularities in the SALNs they obtained which will then be used as leads for any further probe they will conduct.