Romualdez staff stays with him in jail for medical support

A staff member of former House Speaker Martin Romualdez has been staying with him at the New Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory in Payatas to provide round-the-clock medical support, the facility’s warden told the Sandiganbayan.

Jail Superintendent Maria Lourdes Pacion, who testified before the Sandiganbayan Third Division on Thursday, said Romualdez’s personal staff member had been staying at the facility since his transfer on 14 September.

Pacion said allowing persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) to have staff members or relatives accompany them in detention was generally permitted as a form of “human consideration,” subject to case-by-case assessment.

In Romualdez’s case, she said the arrangement was necessary because of his medical condition, adding that his mental state was “still not stable.”

Pacion admitted that the facility’s 24 nurses, distributed across four shifts, could not fully attend to Romualdez’s needs because they also handled administrative duties, including submitting reports to superiors.

“We cannot hire anymore persons to put for the personal needs for congressman Martin,” she said.

“My assessment, your honor, his mental state is not yet that stable,” Pacion said when asked how she determined Romualdez’s condition.

No exits for Romualdez

The hearing focused on allegations that Romualdez had been allowed to leave his detention facility with the assistance of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) officials.

Veteran columnist Ramon Tulfo first made the claims public in a social media post, which drew widespread attention.

Pacion, who was directly named in the post, categorically denied the allegations, telling the court that Romualdez had neither been transferred to another facility nor allowed to leave the jail.

“I categorically deny the information, your Honor...he did not go out riding an ambulance or any other vehicle,” she said.

The warden also disclosed that Romualdez was detained in Sector 5 of the Quezon City Jail, the same area where former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla was held.

Romualdez camp raises concerns

Romualdez’s lawyers told the court they were also “disturbed” by the allegations against their client, saying the claims could damage his reputation.

The defense acknowledged that Tulfo had since retracted his statements in a separate social media post but maintained that the allegations had already affected Romualdez’s public image.

“That was very damaging to our client because it has the tendency to inflame the public,” the defense lawyers said.

In an interview after the hearing, Atty. Ade Fajardo said the legal team would meet to discuss whether to pursue further action against Tulfo.

Tulfo, meanwhile, said he had received incorrect information and acknowledged the embarrassment of publishing an unverified report.

“I was fed the wrong report that former speaker Martin Romualdez could go in and out of jail,” he wrote. “No such thing happened when the facts started coming in yesterday. It was fiction. I goofed. No excuses.”