By ADRIAN STEWART CO
MANILA – House Speaker Martin Romualdez and two other lawmakers are set to face criminal charges over the alleged P241 billion worth of insertions in the 2025 national budget.
According to Davao del Norte’s 1st District’s Cong. Pantaleon Alvarez, his group will file falsification of legislative documents charges against Romualdez, Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe, Zaldy Co, and other unnamed individuals today at the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
Alvarez said the criminal charges to be filed by non-government organization Citizens Crime Watch is due to the supposed blank entries in the bicameral conference committee report on the national budget.
“Nagulat na lang kaming lahat noong makita namin ‘yung ini-mail sa amin na bicam report. May mga blangko po rito. Ngunit noong pinirmahan ng presidente, kumpleto na,” Alvarez said in a press conference over the weekend.
“Ewan ko kung matatawag na typographical error ‘yan o grammatical error. Napakalaki po ng halaga, P241 billion,” added Alvarez, who said that he made several requests for the enrolled bill, but have yet to receive it.
Alvarez, a known ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, said the filing of the case has nothing to do with the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio.
“Itong pag-file namin ng criminal cases, hindi po kasama sa politika ito. Malinaw na mayroong krimen na nangyari,” added Alvarez. “Hanggang ngayon po itinatago sa amin ‘yan. Hindi po niri-release ang enrolled bill ng House of Representatives.”
Duterte and Davao City 3rd District’s Cong. Isidro Ungab claimed that there were alleged “blank items” in the 2025 budget, to which President Marcos responded by labeling them as liars.
Stella Quimbo, the acting chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, confirmed the existence of blank items in the bicameral report on the P6.325 trillion national budget for 2025, but quickly clarified that funding for these items had been identified prior to the report’s signing.
Senatorial aspirant Vic Rodriguez, Ungab, and others have petitioned the Supreme Court to declare the 2025 national budget unconstitutional, citing alleged irregularities and the purported blank items in the bicameral conference committee report./PN
