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January 14, 2026 | 6:42pm
Composite photo shows Rep. Martin Romualdez and contractor-couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya.
The Philippine STAR / Jesse Bustos, Boy Santos
MANILA, Philippines — Rep. Martin Romualdez (Leyte, 1st District), the president’s cousin and former House speaker, now faces allegations that he purchased expensive property through top flood control contractors Curlee and Sarah Discaya.
Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson announced on Wednesday, January 14, that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will also investigate any connection it may find between Romualdez and the Discayas in its upcoming hearings on the anomalous flood control projects.
He referred to reports claiming the former House speaker "had purchased a house and lot in a plush subdivision in Makati City using the Discayas as front in the said sale."
Lacson said that if the allegations are true, the government could establish a “direct connection” between Romualdez and the Discayas, who previously claimed they were approached by individuals seeking commissions or cuts using Romualdez's name.
In September 2025, Romualdez already denied allegations that he received bribes or kickbacks from the Discayas. The flood control contractor, however, admitted to giving out portions of the payments they received for infrastructure projects they secured to some government officials.
Romualdez's counsel and spokesperson, Ade Fajardo, said on Wednesday that his client has "no knowledge nor involvement in the purported transaction" of the house and lot allegedly tied to the Discayas.
"Rep. Romualdez has not met the Discayas and has only heard of them based on what is being said in media reports. As such, the claim in the report about using the Discayas as a front in a property purchase is outright baseless," he said in a statement.
Political tensions. Sen. Imee Marcos, however, expressed disappointment over Lacson's performance as the Blue Ribbon Committee chair, accusing him and others of avoiding efforts to implicate Romualdez in Senate investigations.
Lacson responded, saying that if Marcos has evidence of Romualdez’s alleged corruption, she should present it herself to the panel, which she is a member of. He would even give her an hour to speak if she needed it, just to make her case, he added.
Romualdez has also been accused by former House appropriations chair Elizaldy Co of instructing a P100-billion insertion during the 2025 budget bicameral conference, an order the resigned lawmaker said was made by President Bongbong Marcos himself.
Co alleged Romualdez told him, "What the president wants, gets," and threatened him if he disclosed the matter. He also claimed he had cash-filled suitcases delivered to Romualdez's home and to Malacañang.
The former speaker denied these allegations, too.
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's hearing is set to resume on January 19, when it will begin scrutinizing the so-called "Cabral files" containing the proponents of budget insertions in the National Expenditure Program and the "district allocables."
Under Romualdez’s speakership, the 2025 national budget became one of the most controversial, with allegations of corruption involving ghost flood control projects, unprogrammed appropriations, pork-like allocations and dole-out programs promoting political patronage.
