ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Romualdez, Co, and 17 invited congressmen no-show in Blue Ribbon flood control probe

Romualdez, Co, and 17 invited congressmen no-show in Blue Ribbon flood control probe

Published Nov 14, 2025 11:18 am  |  Updated Nov 14, 2025 01:53 pm

At A Glance

  • Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, former Ako-Bicol party-list representative Zaldy Co, and 17 other congressmen being linked to the flood control project scandal were absent in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on Friday, Nov. 14.
Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, former Ako-Bicol party-list representative Zaldy Co, and 17 other congressmen being linked to the flood control project scandal were absent from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on Friday, Nov. 14.
Continuation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing into the anomalous flood control projects on Friday, Nov. 14. (Mark Balmores)
Continuation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing into the anomalous flood control projects on Friday, Nov. 14. (Mark Balmores)
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, the panel's chairman, opened the hearing by taking note of the absence of all House members invited to respond to allegations raised in previous hearings.
Lacson said all members of the House of Representatives implicated by the Discaya spouses—as well as Romualdez and Rep. Eric Yap, who were cited by witness Orly Guteza—were invited through a November 12 letter addressed to House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy. None appeared.
According to Lacson, Dy relayed that the members would not attend the hearing “in order to avoid any possible prejudice to the ongoing investigation and eventual findings of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), given that the invited members have already submitted themselves to its jurisdiction and proceedings.”
Lacson also noted the absence of Co, who was invited separately. His lawyer, Atty. Ruy Alberto Rondain, informed the committee that Co could not attend because he was “still overseas due to medical reasons.”
Rondain further expressed concern that any statement Co might give before the Senate “will, at best, pre-empt any defense he may set up.”
Lacson took exception to the lawyer’s statement, emphasizing that the invitation was addressed to Co personally, not to his counsel.
He cited Article I, Section 2 of the Blue Ribbon Committee Rules: “The filing or pendency of any prosecution or criminal action shall not stop or abate any inquiry to carry out a legislative purpose.”
Several other invited individuals also sent excuse letters. Jonathan Quirante of Quirante Construction said he needed to attend to company operations and project sites affected by Typhoon Tino and required more time to organize documents. Eumir Villanueva of Topnotch Catalyst Builders cited a prior engagement. Engineer Arjay Domasig said he had a scheduled appearance at the Department of Justice at 1 p.m.
Others invoked medical reasons for their absence, including DPWH–NCR Regional Director Gerard Opulencia, South Manila District Engineer Manny Bulusan, and Commissioner Mario Lipana.
Lacson said the committee also sought assistance from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to verify the whereabouts of several individuals: Mark Baquiran Bunagan, Allan Colesio, John Paul Estrada, Orly Regala Guteza, and Mark Tecsay.
In its November 13 response, the BI reported no record of departure for Bunagan, Guteza, and Tecsay. Colesio was confirmed to be in the country after a short trip abroad from October 18 to 24.
Estrada, identified as the aide of former congressman Co, was confirmed to have left for Hong Kong on September 2 and has not returned.

Related Tags

Zaldy Co Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo \"Ping\" Lacson Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Martin Romualdez House of Representatives
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.