Duterte allies want Speaker, other House leaders suspended over budget

Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez and three others on Wednesday asked the Office of the Ombudsman to place Speaker Martin Romualdez and other House leaders under preventive suspension over allegations of falsification of the National Budget law and graft and corruption.

Alvarez, lawyers Ferdinand Topacio and Virgilio Garcia and Citizens Crime Watch (CCW) president Diego Magpantay filed the motion for preventive suspension at the Office of Ombudsman, stemming from their earlier complaint accusing Romualdez and other House leaders of tampering with the 2025 National Budget law since the Bicameral Conference Report on the measure contained certain blanks, paving the way for supposed P241 billion worth of insertions.

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. last month said there were no blanks in the P6.325-trillion budget General Appropriations Act or the National Budget he signed into law in December.

"The respondents herein are some of the more powerful and influential officials in the government, particularly in the legislature, who have been charged with high dishonesty by not disclosing the true contents of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2025; high degree of misconduct passing the GAA with multiple blank spaces and subsequent filing them with amounts totalling P241 billion; gross neglect in the performance of their duty; and violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft Law or RA 3019 - all compellingly warranting their removal or dismissal from office," the motion read.

Aside from Romualdez, also named respondents in the complaint were House Majority Leader Mannix Dalipe of Zamboanga City, former House appropriations panel chairperson Zaldy Co of Ako Bicol party-list, acting House appropriations panel chairperson Stella Quimbo, and unidentified individuals.

"Considering their high positions, power and influence, it does not take a superbly imaginative mind to know that respondents will do or cause to be done any and al acts, either directly or through their subordinates/subalterns in office who are all under their control and influence, to suborn witnesses, tamper evidence and perjure testimony to escape penalty," the motion said.

The evidence of guilt against the respondents, the complainants said, are strong and overwhelming. 

"They are borne out clearly and unmistakably by the records in the passage of the GAA 2025. Wherefore, it is most respectfully prayed that an order be issued preventively suspending the respondents until the merits of these cases/charges are finally resolved. Manila for Quezon City, February 17, 2025," the motion added.

GMA News Online has sought comments from House leaders and will publish them as soon as these are available.

In an earlier statement issued after the group filed graft raps against the same House leaders, Dalipe said the budget process is a responsibility shared by both chambers of Congress, and that the filing's focus on the House alone "suggests a deliberate effort to mislead the public and cast doubt on the integrity of the House’s work."

Dalipe added that as a sitting member of the House himself, Alvarez “had every opportunity to raise objections, question allocations, and point out any supposed infirmities during plenary discussions. Yet, he did not.” — BM, GMA Integrated News