MANILA — The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has uncovered P4.509 billion in financial transactions linked to former House Speaker Martin Romualdez during his three-year leadership of the House of Representatives, with banking activity dropping sharply after he relinquished the post, according to testimony presented before the Sandiganbayan.
The findings emerged during the hearing of Romualdez’s plunder case involving allegations that he amassed P7.4 billion in illicit wealth from government infrastructure projects, particularly controversial flood control projects.
AMLC investigator lawyer Jan Mark Busa testified that the P4.509-billion transactions recorded from June 2022 to September 2025 represented the second-highest period of financial activity identified in an examination of 1,951 transaction reports involving 35 accounts from April 2003 to October 2025. The highest earlier concentration was P3.98 billion from April 2003 to June 2007.
“I observed that his transaction post-speakership drastically went down,” Busa told the court.
The investigation also uncovered billions of pesos moving through corporations associated with lawyer Jose Raulito Paras, Romualdez’s fraternity brother at Upsilon Sigma Phi, including transactions investigators described as potentially suspicious when examined alongside the corruption allegations.
However, Busa acknowledged under questioning by defense lawyer Rashel Pomoy that the AMLC had not established that P560.5 million in deposits and other inflows recorded in Romualdez’s accounts from 2022 to 2025 originated from illegal activities or government flood control projects.
Investigators also found no direct deposits traceable to contractors, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), or former Ako Bicol representative Zaldy Co. The recorded inflows were substantially lower than the alleged P57 billion in cash deliveries cited by investigators.
Asked whether Romualdez’s transactions exceeded his financial capacity, Busa admitted that no definitive determination had been made.
“We do not have findings for that but we also do not have a finding that these transactions are within his means,” he said.
Prosecutors maintained that the alleged kickbacks were delivered in cash and therefore might not have appeared in banking records. Busa said the inflow figures came from AMLC records containing financial information submitted by Romualdez.
The AMLC examination also scrutinized the acquisition of a property at 30 Tamarind in Forbes Park, Makati City, by Golden Pheasants, a corporation allegedly used as a front for Romualdez.
Busa said the purchase involved three manager’s checks, including one worth P294.23 million acquired by Samchan and two totaling approximately P1.1 billion purchased by a law firm on March 29, 2023.
The payments were traced to 21 check deposits totaling P1.72 billion between March 10 and 27, 2023, involving accounts associated with Samchan and NC Foreign Currency, whose declared contact person was Samchan’s Felicito Guevarra.
“Based on the documents submitted by the bank, it cannot be ascertained whether Samchan purchased the Manager’s Check on behalf of other parties,” Busa said.
He acknowledged that individual transactions were not necessarily suspicious but said their overall pattern raised reasonable grounds for suspicion when considered alongside the Ombudsman’s allegations.
Busa identified Paras as the 99.99-percent owner of Golden Pheasants, although investigators found no direct financial transactions between him and the company.
Busa also reported that five accounts associated with Romualdez transferred P174 million and $2.8 million to Braavos Holdings on October 1, 2025, described in banking records as investments. Separate records showed Paras remitted $2 million to Harvard University as a charitable gift and $5.5 million to Cornell University; cash deposits funded the Harvard remittance.
Another AMLC investigator, lawyer McDonald Carsula, testified that several corporations associated with Paras handled billions of pesos in transactions despite having relatively small declared capital. He said the investigation followed a June 22, 2026 Ombudsman referral involving 10 individuals and entities linked to alleged flood control irregularities, and the AMLC subsequently found probable cause to believe certain accounts were associated with unlawful activities.
Among them was Clearspring Holdings Corporation, 99 percent owned by Paras, which recorded approximately P4.4 billion in incoming transactions from 2023 to 2026 despite having only P4 million in paid-up capital.
“The amount of transactions materially increased from millions to billions, which are grossly not commensurate with its paid-up capital,” Carsula said.
Clearspring also transferred P2.284 billion to Darpen Computer Trading in April 2026, while Darpen returned approximately P1.142 billion through transactions frequently completed on the same day.
Darpen subsequently moved funds to a digital asset exchange, a pattern Carsula described as “a typical example of layering.”
Investigators also traced substantial transfers directly linking Romualdez and his wife, Yedda, to corporations controlled by Paras.
Carsula said Romualdez transferred P336.73 million from five bank accounts to Braavos Holdings on October 1, 2025.
“Although these circumstances do not independently establish the purpose of Romualdez’s transfers, the movement of P336.736 million directly from his bank accounts to a corporation solely owned and controlled by Atty. Paras provides a concrete financial link between the two,” Carsula said in his judicial affidavit.
Brightnews Corporation, another company almost entirely owned by Paras, also received P27.78 million through checks drawn from Yedda Romualdez’s account.
“While the bank reports did not specify the purpose or underlying consideration for these transactions, it nevertheless show the direct financial link between Yedda and the corporation,” Carsula said.
Brightnews was also identified as the buyer of a P1.6-billion property at 14 Narra in Forbes Park. Carsula said two manager’s checks for the acquisition were funded by Trans Middle East Phils Equities Inc., owner of RYM Business Management Corporation, an entity reportedly headed by Romualdez.
Samchan Foreign Exchange Corporation also funded two P25-million manager’s checks naming Romualdez as beneficiary in November 2024, and transferred P9.95 million to his son in June 2025. Other transfers included P1.011 billion to Paras-owned Valiant Consolidated Resources and P300 million to RYM.
Carsula said the combined transactions and the Ombudsman’s allegations raised reasonable grounds to suspect Samchan accounts were used to move funds connected to unlawful activities.
The AMLC findings form part of the prosecution’s evidence in the plunder proceedings. Romualdez has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty./PN
