MANILA — Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said the House appropriations panel is allegedly making it difficult for his office to investigate former Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez over an alleged conspiracy to defraud the national treasury.

In a press conference, Remulla said Ombudsman investigators have been requesting documents from the House small committee related to the proposed 2024 and 2025 national budgets, covering Romualdez’s tenure as Speaker, but have yet to receive the materials.

The House small committee is responsible for consolidating proposed amendments after the national budget is approved on third and final reading.

“We have a problem with the House again, and this time it is the refusal to cooperate of the Committee Secretariat of the [House] Committee on Appropriations because we are trying to get to the bottom of the [budget] insertions,” Remulla said.

He added that the House has not complied with a subpoena issued by the Ombudsman.

“They are not obeying our subpoena. It has become a little difficult, to say the least, but we intend to do something about it,” he said.

Remulla said the inquiry involves alleged “off-the-record” budget insertions that are not reflected in official plenary proceedings but may appear in final versions of the national budget.

“There’s a period of amendments in the [House and Senate] rules. What you’re looking for here are the amendments that are not on the record—the ones inserted in the final version of the budget, not included in plenary deliberations but suddenly there,” Remulla said.

“Biglang nag-milagro [na kasama na sa budget]. This is what happens in the small committee. They’re trying to stop us from getting the information,” he added.

He said the alleged conspiracy to defraud the national treasury involves several phases and claimed some members of the House are resisting efforts to fully uncover the matter.

“The conspiracy to defraud [the treasury] comes in different phases and different parts of the narration. The hardliners who do not want us to get to the bottom of things… many of them are in the House right now,” he said.

Remulla clarified, however, that the alleged conspiracy case against Romualdez remains a working theory.

“The grandest case of them all, the biggest case, is the conspiracy to defraud the treasury. That’s really it, committed through the national budget. So we’re being very careful about every premise that we make,” he said.

He added that technical details, including specific provisions and legal definitions, are still being studied as the investigation progresses.

“We’re just saying that’s the big case that needs to be finished because this is the first time in the history of the Philippines that we will have this kind of case,” he added.

The Office of the Ombudsman Office of the Ombudsman is continuing its investigation into alleged irregularities in the national budget process involving members of the House of Representatives.