Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez and the three other complainants asked the Office of the Ombudsman to put House Speaker Martin Romualdez and several House leaders on preventive suspension in relation to a graft complaint they earlier filed over alleged “insertions” in the 2025 General Appropriations Act.
On Wednesday, the group filed a motion for preventive suspension, citing the respondents’ “high positions, power and influence” and the risk that they would interfere in a potential investigation of their allegations.
Also named as respondents in the complaint are House Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe of Zamboanga City, House Committee on Appropriations acting chairperson Stella Quimbo of Marikina, and the panel’s former chairperson Elizaldy Co of Ako Bicol party-list.
“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,” they wrote in the motion.
In their original complaint filed on February 10, Alvarez and his group alleged that P241 billion was “inserted” in the 2025 enrolled General Appropriations Bill (GAB) that President Marcos enacted in December.
Earlier, Mr. Marcos assured there were no blanks in the P6.325-trillion budget General Appropriations Act or the 2025 national budget he signed into law.
Lawmakers earlier explained that the bicameral conference committee report that the chamber ratified had blank entries for certain allocations.
But Quimbo and Senate President Francis Escudero explained that the ratified bicameral conference committee report contained an omnibus motion, which states that if there are changes between the report and the printed copy, the latter will prevail.
The Marikina solon also pointed out that the values for the blanks in the bicam report were already determined by the bicameral conference committee and were part of existing documents.
Alvarez, a known ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, was joined by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio of Citizen’s Crime Watch, Partido Demokratiko Pilipino senatorial candidates Jimmy Bondoc and Raul Lambino and lawyer Virgilio Garcia in filing the complaint.
