Former House Speaker Leyte 1st district Rep. Martin Romualdez mentioned three specific names in his video message on Tuesday night, April 21 wherein he decided to once and for all decided to defend himself from allegations of involvement in the flood control projects mess.

These names are Navotas City lone district Rep. Toby Tiangco, former Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, and Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero.

Romualdez used these personalities to give context and substance to his defense, which was anchored on his limited involvement in legislating the annual General Appropriations Bill (GAB) or the national budget.

"The House is not one person, and it is certainly not the Speaker alone. It is a collegial body made up of hundreds of members, multiple committees, vice chairs, and institutional processes," said Romualdez, who served as Speaker during entirety of the 19th Congress from 2022 to 2025, and the first few months of the 20th Congress in 2025.

"In fact, there are around 85 committees. each with its own jurisdiction, leadership, and members. No Speaker can personally control every committee, much less direct the actions of other branches or government agencies," he said.

Romualdez says the Committee on Appropriations, which is the main panel that shepherds the passage of the GAB in the House, already has over 100 members including many vice chairmen.

"Representative Toby Tiangco, who has been very vocal and upfront about this issue over the past months, was himself a vice chair of the appropriations committee in the previous Congress," the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) president noted.

"So I have to ask: if there were real concerns about irregularities in the budget process, why were these not formally raised during deliberations, or even during the plenary?" Romualdez said.

Tiangco turned into a critic of Romualdez at the start of the 20th Congress, when the issue on budget insertions and "ghost" flood control projects became a major talking point in and out of the House of Representatives.

As for Co and Escudero, the ex-Speaker described the two as "instrumental" in making decisions regarding the budget measure.

Co was chairman of the appropriations panel during the 19th Congress; while Escudero as Senate President, headed the Senate contingent to Bicameral Conference Committee (bicam) meeting on the 2025 GAB.

Romualdez said he had no such level of participation in the budget process.

"I was not privy to what exactly transpired during the deliberations. However, two people were instrumental in making those budget decisions: Chiz Escudero and Zaldy Co," he said.

"As I already mentioned, corruption of this scale is not a one-man operation. It requires two things: budget decisions and implementation on the ground. With respect to how the budget was deliberated in Congress, let me say this categorically: I was not a part of the bicam and the small committee budget deliberations," the veteran solon from Leyte said.

"Yes, I was updated on the general outcomes of the deliberations, but I had no visibility with regard to the specific details of the discussions, including the particular amendments or insertions approved during these closed door deliberations. Records would show that I did not participate in those meetings," explained Romualdez.

In the same video message, the two-time former Speaker underscored that there were no anomalous flood control projects in his own district.

"If I were truly involved in a fraudulent scheme of this nature, then the first place one would expect to see that pattern would be in my own district, in the projects most easily associated with me. You would have seen it in Tacloban. But I say this with absolute certainty: you won't see it in my district. My district has zero ghost and zero substandard flood control projects. Zero. And that is verifiable," he said.