ROMUALDEZ ATTENDS ICI HEARING ON FLOOD CONTROL MESS

FORMER House Speaker and Leyte 1st district Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Tuesday attended the hearing of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) tasked to investigate the alleged corruption on  government flood control projects.

Romualdez said he attended the hearing to “clarify the issues” and “help uncover the truth.“

He thanked the ICI for inviting him to share his personal knowledge on the budget process.

“Nagpapasalamat ako talaga sa mga miyembro ng ICI  that I was finally given an opportunity to share my side of the story. Kumbaga sa ngayon it’s about facts and evidence and hindi lang political noise or speculations, kaya the ICI commissioners were able to ask me many questions and I was able to answer them, and I feel very, very happy and I welcome this opportunity,” Romualdez told reporters after the ICI hearing.

The former Speaker added that he is “ready to come back” to the commission should he be invited again.

Romualdez during the hearing denied receiving kickbacks from anomalous flood control projects.

ICI executive director Brian Keith Hosaka said Romualdez attended the commission’s closed-door hearing and “categorically denied” involvement in any kickback operation.

The lawmaker, he added, provided substantial information to clarify his role in the national budget process.

Hosaka said the former speaker identified several lawmakers allegedly involved in crafting portions of the national budget linked to questionable flood control projects.

The legislators, he said, will be summoned by the ICI for succeeding hearings.

Romualdez was tagged in the alleged kickback scheme in flood control projects, along with former Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Zaldy Co.

Co was a no show on Tuesday’s ICI hearing.

Hosaka said the commission would move to cite Co in contempt for his absence.

Co, who has been accused of accepting kickbacks from government infrastructure contracts, resigned from the House of Representatives last month, citing “real, direct, grave, and imminent threats” to his life and that of his family.