The Office of the Ombudsman will oppose the request of former House Speaker and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez to remain confined at Cardinal Santos Medical Center while facing a plunder case.
Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said prosecutors will ask for a team of government doctors, instead of a single physician, to assess whether Romualdez’s medical conditions require continued hospital confinement or can be managed outside the hospital.
If the government doctors determine that hospital confinement is not necessary, Clavano said the prosecution will seek Romualdez’s immediate transfer to a regular detention facility, similar to other accused individuals facing non-bailable cases.
Romualdez was arrested Sept. 7 at Cardinal Santos Medical Center after the Office of the Ombudsman filed a plunder case against him in connection with an alleged kickback scheme involving flood control projects.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government has also said it would seek Romualdez’s transfer to the Philippine National Police General Hospital at Camp Crame.
The Sandiganbayan Third Division is scheduled to hear Romualdez’s request for continued hospital confinement on Sept. 10. He has also been ordered to personally attend the hearing.
The hearing will address Romualdez’s request to remain at the hospital while the case proceeds.
The Ombudsman’s position centers on whether his medical condition requires continued confinement at Cardinal Santos Medical Center or whether his condition can be managed outside the hospital.
