MANILA, Sept 7 (Reuters) – A Philippine court on Monday ordered the arrest of a former House speaker and cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on charges of plunder, after allegations he took about $118 million in kickbacks from government flood-control projects.
The order by the anti-graft court against Martin Romualdez came two months after Marcos vowed in his State of the Nation Address to intensify his anti-corruption campaign, saying he was “not the president of my family” and “not the president of my friends”.
The Office of the Ombudsman has accused Romualdez of amassing about 7.4 billion pesos ($118.21 million) from commissions, commitment fees, bribes and other illicit payments linked to flood-control projects awarded between 2022 and 2025.
Romualdez, who was House speaker from 2022 to 2025 and was a key ally of Marcos, has denied wrongdoing.
His lawyer, Ade Fajardo, said he would face the allegations in court and sought no special treatment, asking only for “the same due process and fair hearing guaranteed to every Filipino”.
The case comes at a time when large parts of the disaster-prone country are inundated by monsoon rains, sharpening public scrutiny of alleged irregularities in flood control projects and stirring widespread anger on social media.
Graft in the programme has been an embarrassment for Marcos, who last year announced that 545 billion pesos ($8.71 billion) in flood control spending from 2022-2025 had been riddled with alleged irregularities and vowed a comprehensive investigation.
His executive secretary, and budget and public works ministers are among dozens of officials who resigned or were dismissed over the scandal, in which two senators, a former senator and at least eight public works officials have been detained.
“We are not singling out anyone. Everything is based on evidence,” Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters.
“This case proves that we do not take sides with anyone. We simply want those who are responsible to be held accountable.”
Under Philippine law, plunder is generally a non-bailable offence.
Jean Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, said the move against Romualdez was “a step in the right direction” and would challenge perceptions that the Marcos administration had been selective in pursuing corruption cases.
($1 = 62.5800 Philippine pesos)
(Reporting by Nestor Corrales; Editing by Martin Petty)
