‘Romualdez camp behind bagmen’s recantation’

August 8, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla has accused the camp of former House speaker Martin Romualdez of being behind the recantation of four former bodyguards who linked him to the multibillion-peso flood control scandal.

This developed as police arrested 10 of the 18 self-proclaimed bagmen of Zaldy Co after they failed to post bail in their perjury case.

The four earlier told GMA News they were retracting their previous statements, claiming they signed a joint affidavit after being promised money. They also alleged that they were pressured into signing affidavits later used in the Office of the Ombudsman’s investigation involving Romualdez and other officials.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said it would probe the recantation.

Remulla claimed that Romualdez’s camp is already “desperate to take away the witnesses against them” as his office has already built a “solid case” against the former speaker.

Romualdez denied Remulla’s allegations and stressed the recantations only prove that the accusations against him are false and trumped up.

“This is not a fair search for truth. I will not be intimidated. I will face every accusation against me, defend myself with the facts, the evidence and the truth,” Romualdez said in statement.

NBI Director Melvin Matibag said the bureau had received prior information about the planned recantation.

“There were already feelers that first two, then four, and eventually more wanted to speak to us. We are validating the information, but I was not surprised when the recantation surfaced because it is consistent with our earlier findings,” he told True FM.

Trillanes to drop case

Meanwhile, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he would withdraw the cases he filed against four bagmen who recanted allegations linking him to alleged cash deliveries from fugitive ex-congressman Zaldy Co.

Trillanes said he had instructed his lawyer to drop the complaints following the four men’s retraction of their earlier affidavits and allegations against him.

“As a former soldier, I sympathize with what they went through,” Trillanes said. “I hope they have learned a hard lesson from this experience.”

10 bagmen arrested

Lawyer Levito Baligod went to the Las Piñas Regional Trial Court with the remaining 14 bagmen to post bail for perjury cases filed by ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, Trillanes, former national security adviser Eduardo Año and Bureau of Corrections chief Gregorio Catapang Jr.

The court set bail at P18,000 per count, so each bagman needed P72,000 for four counts of perjury. Baligod said he and his wife shouldered all the bail expenses of over P1 million.

But Las Piñas acting police chief Fermin Armendarez III told The STAR that authorities arrested 10 of the accused after they failed to post bail.

One of the companions said they didn’t reach the banks on time to pay the bail. — Mark Ernest Villeza, Neil Jayson Servallos, EJ Macabbabad, Helen Flores