Martin Romualdez to resign as House Speaker amid 'too much controversy' in Congress, says deputy speaker

House Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno confirmed that House Speaker Martin Romualdez will step down from his post amid rumors of a leadership shakeup in the lower chamber.

Puno, who represents Antipolo's 1st District, told ANC on Wednesday, Sept. 17, that Romualdez, "about three weeks or so ago," convened the House party leaders to tell them that he'd "step aside."

"The reason for this is that there's too much controversy in the House for now, and it's affecting the work that everybody's doing," Puno said.

In particular, he referred to the anomalies in flood control projects.

Puno noted that Romualdez, who represents Leyte's 1st District, will face the accusations thrown at him. These include allegations that he received kickbacks from flood control projects and inserted billions of pesos into the budget for ghost initiatives.

He also recalled Romualdez texting him last weekend, saying it's "time to go."

Puno noted that they convinced Romualdez to go on leave instead of resigning, as it would cause more "confusion" in the House.

"In the House rules, it is allowed for the Speaker. During his absence, the deputy speaker elect among themselves someone who will take over the functions of the speaker," he explained.

According to him, Romualdez said he'd "think about it a little bit more" and by Monday, became "more definite" about taking a leave of absence instead. He then floated names as to who will serve as his office's custodian, including Deputy Speaker Isabela 6th District Rep. Faustino "Bojie" Dy III.

On Tuesday morning, Romualdez called Puno saying he'd meet with President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., his cousin, in the afternoon to discuss his supposed leave, if not resignation.

"'I think we need to settle this already,' he says," Puno noted.

Later on, Puno said Romualdez called him and other House leaders for a meeting. There, Romualdez thanked them for working with him before informing them that he already told Marcos that he'd resign "tomorrow."

Per Puno, Romualdez opted not to go on leave anymore, as people will suspect that he's returning or directing things from the sidelines, which "will not solve the problem."

"'If we're going to do this, we might as well come clean,' he said. 'And I want to do this also so that I can face accusations,'" Puno recalled, adding that Romualdez expressed willingness to face investigations and confidence that he's not hiding anything.

Romualdez will continue to serve as a congressman representing his district, Puno said.

"We just decided to accept his decision," he added.

Asked whether Romualdez resigned amid pressure from Malacañang, Puno responded, "I think there was pressure from everywhere. There's the media, social media. Of course, not everybody in the House is a believer. We've had problems with the executive branch... there have been a lot of issues that have caused problems for the Speaker."

Flood control mess

The issue in the government's flood control projects began in July as the rains triggered massive flooding in the metro. At the time, economist JC Punongbayan questioned why flooding persists despite having billions of pesos in flood control allocations over the years.

Sen. Ping Lacson told dzBB that since 2011, about P1 trillion allocated for flood control projects may have been lost to corruption.

Marcos, in his fourth State of the Nation Address, then called out government officials involved in the would-be corruption in flood control projects.

He ordered the DPWH to "immediately submit" to him the list of flood control projects from every region that were started and completed in the last three years. He said a project monitoring committee will evaluate this list to determine the failures, as well as the unfinished and ghost projects.

Marcos launched the Sumbong sa Pangulo website, where the public can track and report anomalous flood control projects and other possible corrupt practices. According to the website, there are 9,855 flood control projects totalling P545.64 billion since July 2022. Of that number, 6,021 projects worth over P350 billion don't specify the exact type of flood control being built, while several others in different locations also have the same contract cost.

Marcos also said there are 15 contractors that exclusively bagged 20% of all flood control projects worth P100 billion in the last three years.

In his podcast that aired on Sept. 8, Marcos said the DPWH will have zero flood control budget for 2026.

On Sept. 11, Marcos signed an executive order creating the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, which has the mandate to "hear, investigate, receive, gather, and evaluate evidence, intelligence reports and information, against all government officials and employees, and any other individual, involved in anomalies, irregularities, and misuse of funds in the planning, financing, and implementation of government flood control and other infrastructure projects nationwide."

Last Sept. 15, Marcos said Romualdez and his allies in Congress "will not be spared" from the ICI's probe.