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‘Humiliating’: Mon Tulfo retracts Romualdez claim
It means I was fed the wrong information and accepted it as gospel truth.
In a rather humbling twist, veteran journalist Ramon Tulfo has retracted his claim that former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, currently detained at the Quezon City Jail, was able to leave and re-enter the facility freely.
In a statement released online this Thursday, 5 November, the veteran journalist admitted his mistake and called it a major disgrace.
“One of the most embarrassing and humiliating experiences as a journalist is to admit that nakuryente ako (I was fooled),” he said.
“It means I was fed the wrong information and accepted it as gospel truth,” Tulfo explained, acknowledging his mistake in not verifying it before publishing.
“I was fed the wrong report that former speaker Martin Romualdez could go in and out of jail. Complete with all the details like riding in an ambulance and the brownouts taking place so he would not be seen going out and coming back in,” he added.
“No such thing happened when the facts started coming in yesterday.
“It was fiction.”
“I goofed.”
“No excuses.”
According to the earlier claim, the former House Speaker was allegedly taken out via an ambulance during a power outage to evade the CCTV.
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla strongly denied the allegation. The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) also released CCTV footage showing Romualdez guarded by a police officer inside the detention facility on 4 November.
The Sandiganbayan Third Division still ordered the BJMP to submit a notarized report and review CCTV footage regarding Romualdez’s whereabouts, along with other documents such as vehicle logbooks, power interruption records, medical records, and visitors who may have approached Romualdez. The BJMP was also directed to appear at a hearing on Thursday to clarify Romualdez’s current status.
He never left the facility.
“We have all the footage showing that he never left the facility. However, we cannot make it public. I invite all of you to come with me to the BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology) so you can review the footage and see for yourselves that he never left and that Speaker Romualdez was not given any special treatment or allowed to violate any regulations,” Remulla told reporters at Camp Crame on the sidelines of the Lupong Tagapamayapa Incentives Awards.
Remulla said the viral social media post made by a veteran news writer was just hearsay.
According to him, Romualdez remained in medical confinement like jailed senator Rodante Marcoleta.
“But again, the special treatment goes only as far as the medical condition allows, but he does not leave the BJMP; he does not receive visitors outside the area. In fact, he receives very few visitors. Only his legal counsel and family members come to see him,” Remulla said.
One of Romualdez’s staff has been accompanying him in detention at the New Quezon City Jail — Male Dormitory in Payatas to provide the lawmaker with around-the-clock medical support, the prison’s warden said.
Jail Superintendent Maria Lourdes Pacion, who testified in a hearing at the Sandiganbayan Third Division, said Romualdez’s “personal staff” has stayed at the facility since his transfer on 14 September.
Pacion said allowing persons deprived of liberty to have staff or their relatives with them while in detention was generally allowed as a form of “human consideration,” granted on a case-to-case basis.
In the case of Romualdez, the officer said that it was a “need” of the former House Speaker based on his ongoing medical condition, citing that his mental state was “still not stable.”