The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) has clarified that former House Speaker Martin Romualdez was recommended for further investigation in connection with anomalies surrounding the government’s flood control projects, denying claims that it had ruled him not liable.
In a statement on Monday night, March 23, the ICI said it “refutes the interpretation” made by Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre on one of the recommendations it submitted to the Ombudsman that supposedly found Romualdez not accountable in the controversy.
The ICI, which is already winding up its operations until end of March, issued the clarification after Acidre implied that Romualdez had no hands in the anomaly, and that is supposedly “the Commission’s own language.”
The body disputed Acidre’s pronouncement, saying that the lawmaker “selectively quoted the referral and presented this excerpt without full context.”
In its referral to the Ombudsman dated Nov. 21, 2025, the ICI said Romualdez was recommended “for further investigation,” and that “this referral is issued without any finding or conclusion of guilt or liability on the part of Former Speaker Romualdez.”
“These statements in the Referral clearly show that the ICI did not make a determination of innocence or guilt on the part of former Speaker Romualdez,” ICI said.
“It is precisely for this reason that the Commission referred this matter to the Office of the Ombudsman for further investigation,” it added. (Joseph Pedrajas)
