Does House Speaker Martin Romualdez's Resignation Mean Anything?

House Speaker Martin Romualdez resigned from his post on Wednesday (September 17) amidst the widening investigation into corruption linked to flood control programs. 

Romualdez, a cousin of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., quit his post as public outcry raged over billions of pesos lost over the mismanaged flood control funds, which is said to be one of the biggest scandals since the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, or the pork barrel scheme, from a few years ago. Pork barrel funds allowed lawmakers to bankroll small-scale projects in their jurisdictions that fell outside the national infrastructure program.

Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, President Marcos's cousin-in-law, earlier implicated Romualdez and former House Appropriations chairman Zaldy Co of being behind billions of pesos of budget insertions on alleged substandard or fictitious infrastructure programs.

“The issues surrounding certain infrastructure projects have raised questions that bring not only upon me, but upon this institution we all serve,” the now former House Speaker told his fellow congressmen during plenary. “The longer I stay, the heavier that burden grows on me, on the House, and on the President.”

Isabel 6th District Rep. Faustino "Bojie" Dy III has replaced Romualdez and took his oath as the new Speaker after 253 congressmen unanimously voted for him, with 28 abstentions, and four others who did not vote.

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Marcos earlier sought to clean ranks after finding out that only 15 contractors bagged P100 billion worth of flood control contracts since 2022. About P545 billion in public funds have gone to these efforts nationwide. That's about 20 percent of all flood-control infrastructure projects in this time-span.

The President said his cousin and those found responsible wouldn’t be spared from accountability.

“There is only one way to do it: They will not be spared,” he earlier told reporters after being asked about if these people would get special treatment.

Marcos' government earlier formed an independent commission to probe the irregularities found in flood-control contracts, after controversial private contractors Sarah and Curlee Discaya, and former DPWH Bulacan assistant district engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez revealed that several congressmen and senators were getting kickbacks from these ghost projects.

The shakeup in leadership also comes at the heels of Senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto returning as Senate President, replacing Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero, who was ousted on September 8, after rumors of a coup swirled in the past year.

To put these developments into context, there is an ongoing feud between the Dutertes and Marcoses and their allies within Congress. Lawmakers are also in the midst of scrutinizing proposals for individual budget plans for government agencies and state programs, which are often criticized for mismanagement and corruption.

During his fourth State of the Nation Address last month, Marcos committed to run after those behind corruption linked to stalled flood control projects as Filipinos continue to suffer from severe flooding.

The President had ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways to revisit flood control projects that have failed to serve the Filipino people because of widespread corruption in infrastructure spending.

The Marcos government plans on filling cases of economic sabotage against contractors and government officials involved in fraudulent flood-control projects.

After several consecutive typhoons submerged the country's streets over the past few months, Marcos called out graft-ridden projects and warned those responsible that they may face criminal charges if found guilty.

The Philippines still faces torrential rains and a persistent vulnerability to severe flooding after weeks of typhoons and southwest monsoon rains that have ravaged the country’s aging drainage system. According to the administration’s latest probe, more than 6,021 of these projects that cost about P350 billion did not specify what type of flood control apparatus or structure needed to be built.

“Since the replacement is an ally, it is safe to assume that this move is just to preempt Romualdez's ouster,” Arjan Aguirre, who teaches political science at the Ateneo de Manila University, told Esquire Philippines in a Facebook Messenger chat, commenting on the resignation. “This may be just a 'proxy leadership'. Making it appear that Romualdez is no longer in control of the lower chamber to ease the tension brought by the flood-control mess implicating the house leadership.”

Dy, who is replacing Romualdez, is a party member of the Marcos-led Partido Federal ng Pilipinas and had recently returned to Congress after being a lawmaker from 2001 to 2010. He also held provincial posts as a three-term governor of Isabela.

Previous resignations

During the pandemic, then-Speaker and now Senator Alan Peter Cayetano resigned from his post paving the way for his rival Lord Allan Velasco to replace him. However, 186 congressmen convened to oust him right before his resignation.

And even circling way back in 1921, the first and longest-serving speaker and former President Sergio Osmeña resigned from his post, with the speakership surrendered to a steering committee before Manuel Roxas succeeded him the following year.

The political analyst noted that the move might be seen as merely a political ploy meant to preempt his eventual ouster as the fiasco seems to be dragging more of the Marcos allies in the House.

The DPWH, the main agency under fire for the scandal, is getting new leadership with Vince Dizon as calls for accountability continue to ramp up.

Marcos earlier ordered a lifestyle check on all officials as his administration continued its campaign to go after those behind anomalous flood control projects, and corruption within the DPWH's ranks.

A whole hitlist of congressmen has been publicized by the Discayas, with senators also said to be involved in the corruption fiasco.

Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva have vehemently denied accusations of receiving kickbacks, but both have still been the subject of the public’s ire.

The President has said he is keen on doing away with new flood-control funding next year since there is still about P350 billion unused from this year’s budget.

He also vowed to sit down with contractors to do something about the dubious and poorly constructed flood-control work.

“What it does not do is belie allegations of Mr. Marcos Jr. not having control over his government, which may further spell the weakness of his hold considering the House reps clearly have grown used to the working relationship of aligning with Mr. Romualdez, and everyone is aligning against him and the Duterte camp will exploit it to the hilt,” Hansley Juliano, who teaches political science also at the Ateneo, told Esquire Philippines.