Leyte 1st District Representative and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez was transferred from Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City to the state-run Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila on Saturday morning, 12 September.

A convoy of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) transport vehicles and ambulances arrived at Cardinal Santos before 7 a.m. and departed shortly after 8 a.m. It arrived at the PGH compound at about 8:35 a.m., with personnel from the Manila Police District and BJMP securing the premises.

The transfer followed an order issued Friday by the Sandiganbayan Third Division directing PGH to conduct an independent medical examination on Romualdez. The assessment will verify the medical findings previously submitted by his private doctors at Cardinal Santos, where he had been confined since his arrest on 7 September.

According to BJMP spokesperson Jail Supt. Jayrex Joseph Bustinera, Romualdez was transferred from Cardinal Santos to PGH in compliance with the Sandiganbayan Third Division’s directive.

Romualdez’s legal team and attending physicians earlier maintained that he required continued confinement in a medical facility due to fluctuating blood pressure, a high risk of stroke and heart attack, and symptoms of depressive disorder with anxiety. State prosecutors, however, opposed his continued stay at the private hospital, prompting the anti-graft court to order an evaluation by government doctors at PGH.

“The BJMP will await further court orders and will implement his transfer to the Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory in Payatas, Quezon City, upon order of the court,” Bustinera said.

Under the Sandiganbayan’s directive, PGH doctors are tasked with determining whether Romualdez’s condition warrants prolonged medical confinement. If PGH determines that he does not require hospitalization, he could be transferred to the New Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory in Payatas.

The PGH medical panel is required to submit its formal health assessment to the court by 13 September, with PGH Director Dr. Gerardo D. Legaspi or a representative to deliver the assessment to the court the following day. The BJMP said it remains on standby to enforce subsequent court orders regarding Romualdez’s custody and eventual detention facility.

The legal proceedings stem from a P7.4-billion plunder case filed against Romualdez by the Office of the Ombudsman on 7 September in connection with a multibillion-peso flood control scam. Also named as co-accused are former House appropriations panel chairperson Zaldy Co, Romualdez’s personal assistant Joselyn Tragua Serenio, and Samchan Foreign Exchange Corporation president Felicito Cristobal Guevarra.