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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Political retribution?': Escudero unsurprised by ethics case, says it's part of mentioning Romualdez

'Political retribution?': Escudero unsurprised by ethics case, says it's part of mentioning Romualdez

Published Oct 2, 2025 07:53 pm

At A Glance

  • Senator Chiz Escudero dismissed the ethics complaint filed against him as nothing but politically-motivated harassment linked to former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and the flood control projects corruption scandal.
Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero said on Thursday night, Oct. 2 that he was not surprised by the filing of an ethics complaint against him.
According to him, the ethics case is part of dropping Leyte 1st district Rep. Martin Romualdez's name and revealing the truth.
Senator Francis
Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero (left), Leyte 1st district Rep. Martin Romualdez (Facebook, PPAB)
"This is just part of the harassment from his minions," he said in a statement.
"This isn't about ethics. This is political retribution," he added.
Escudero branded the complaint as part of their "script and a desperate smokescreen". He vowed to expose it for the "politically motivated sham" that it is.
In a manifestation this week, Escudero directly accused Romualdez of being the brains behind the alleged attempts to turn public attention away from certain House of Representatives members who were behind the flood control anomalies.
Escudero stated how witnesses would constantly name-drop senators in the ongoing Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s investigation into the flood control mess, despite the lack of evidence to implicate them in the alleged scam.
Senator Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito said that he has been informed of the ethics case against Escudero.
Ejercito, the new chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges, said that the panel will have to discuss what action to take. He pointed out that the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) is already actively conducting an investigation on the flood control projects mess. 
Lawyer Jesus Nicardo Madarang Falcis III--whom Escudero asked the Supreme Court (SC) to disbar--shared on Facebook a copy of the complaint executed by a certain lawyer Marvin Aceron.
He claimed that the complaint was in relation to the P30-million campaign donation from Lawrence Lubiano, owner of Centerways Construction.

Related Tags

Chiz Escudero Martin Romualdez jv ejercito ethics complaint
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