Remulla: No orders from Marcos on Romualdez’s treatment after arrest

MANILA, Philippines — Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla maintained that he did not receive any instructions from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as to how to treat presidential cousin and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez amid the latter’s arrest.

“Walang kapatid na lalaki si President, so ito na ang pinakamalapit na pinsan niya. Kung akala niyo madali para sa kanya, hindi,” Remulla said in a press briefing in Camp Crame on Tuesday.

(The President has no male sibling, so Romualdez is his closest cousin. If you think this was easy for him, it wasn’t.)

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“Kung tinatanong niyo may instructions para sa treatment sa kanya, wala. Zero,” he added.

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(If you’re asking whether there were instructions on how to treat him, there was none. Zero.)

READ: DILG to push for Romualdez’ transfer to PNP hospital

Romualdez was arrested for plunder at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City on Monday night.

Hours prior, he was charged by the Office of the Ombudsman before the Sandiganbayan Third Division, alongside former House appropriations committee chairperson Zaldy Co, his personal aide and the president of a foreign exchange corporation.

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The charge stemmed from over P7 billion worth of alleged kickbacks in various government projects from 2022 to 2025.

Remulla also detailed that both he and Romualdez were brothers of the Upsilon Sigma Phi fraternity at the University of the Philippines.

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The secretary said they briefly spoke during the service of the warrant.

“Wala siyang request… Sabi ko, ‘Brother, I hope you understand why I am doing this. It’s nothing personal.’ And he said, ‘It’s okay, I understand.’ Ayun lang length ng conversation namin,” Remulla noted.

(He had no requests… I told him, “Brother, I hope you understand why I am doing this. It’s nothing personal.” And he said, “It’s okay, I understand.” That was the entire length of our conversation.)

He previously said Romualdez was admitted to Cardinal Santos Medical Center at around 4 p.m. on Monday due to a “cardiovascular event” and an anxiety attack, just hours after the Office of the Ombudsman filed the charges against him.

Reacting to online backlash that Romualdez managed to be confined at the private hospital prior to the issuance of the warrant for his arrest, Remulla said, “Ayan ang mahirap dito. Wala kaming karapatan na i-intercept sila bago lumabas yung warrant of arrest.”

(That’s the hard part. We do not have the right to intercept them before the warrant of arrest is issued by the court.)

“Na-file na. Alam nila na-raffle na, so inuunahan nila. In this case, actually, dito lang kay Speaker Martin nangyari yan,” he added. “I don’t believe in coincidences, so we take it at that.”

(They knew the charges were filed. They knew the case was raffled, so they got ahead of it. In this case, actually, it’s only with Speaker Martin that that’s happened… I don’t believe in coincidences, so we take it at that.)

Remulla further noted that he did not speak with his brother, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, regarding the case against Romualdez for the past six days and only spoke with him again after the ex-House leader was arrested.

“Actually, inaalaska niya (Ombudsman Remulla) ako. Pinagtatawanan niya ako dahil nakita niya kung gaano kahirap ang buhay ko kahapon eh,” the DILG chief said.

(Actually, my brother was teasing me. He was laughing at me because he saw how hard my life was yesterday.)

“So, sabi niya, as according to him, he is very confident of the case na mangyayari,” he added.

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(So, he told me, according to him, he is very confident of the case that will transpire.) /jpv