Ombudsman on Romualdez's P560-M cash inflow: Where did it come from?

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Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla on Friday asked about the source of the P560 million in money transfers to former Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez from 2022 to 2025, if they didn't come from kickbacks related to flood control projects.

Remulla raised the question a day after Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) financial investigator Atty. Jan Mark Busa testified before Romualdez’s bail hearing that the P560.5 million worth of remittances were not related to flood control transactions.

Specifically, Busa said the remittances did not come from the Department of Public Works and Highways, any contractor, or then House Appropriations Panel Chair Zaldy Co.

Co is Romualdez’s co-accused in the P7.4 billion plunder case over his alleged involvement in the flood control kickback scheme.

“Saan nanggaling ‘yun? Saan nanggaling iyong pera? And AMLC is not necessarily the only one who knows where the money came from,” Remulla said.

(Where did that money come from?)

Asked if the AMLC witness's testimony affected the strength of the case against Romualdez, Remulla said, “Not at all.”

“Saka marami pa kaming testigo. Don’t worry about that,” he added.

(We still have other witnesses.)

Other co-accused of Romualdez and Co include Romualdez’s personal assistant Joselyn Tragua Sereño and Felicito Cristobal Guevarra, president of Samchan Foreign Exchange Corporation, over their alleged links to the flood control kickback scheme. –NB, GMA News