VERA Files
A YouTube video is claiming that House Speaker Martin Romualdez has been tagged as a wanted individual by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Senate after he was alleged to be the mastermind behind the controversial charter change initiatives.
This is not true. There are no such pronouncements from the Palace nor the Senate.
Uploaded on Feb. 15, the video’s headline read:
“SHOCKING: BIGLAAN TO! TINÚGÍS na OMG! WÀNTÉD na/ TAMBA! DIMAHAGILAP/ DINAKALIGTAS UTOS NG PANGULO (This is sudden! Being pursued, oh my god! Now wanted/Tamba! Cannot be found/cannot escape the president’s order).”
Its thumbnail also carried the text: “TAMBA TINUGIS NA. OMG WANTED NA. PALASYO AT SENADO NAGSANIB TINUGIS SI TAMBA (Tamba is now being pursued. Oh my god, he’s wanted now. Palace and the Senate have joined forces to go after Tamba).
“Tamba” refers to Romualdez, the president’s cousin and incumbent speaker. Both Malacañang and the Senate made no announcements that they will go after him. There are also no search or arrest warrants issued against the speaker by any court.
No proof was shown to back the claim. The video’s only content is a commentary from a previously fact-checked vlogger on the people’s initiative campaign to amend the 1987 Constitution.
The video emerged two days after the president’s sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, alleged in a Feb. 13 Senate committee hearing that the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) new financial assistance called Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP) was funneled through the speaker’s office.
Sen. Marcos, who is also the DSWD’s budget sponsor in the Senate, said she was unaware the P26.7 billion aid program was included in the agency’s budget and argued it could have been used to persuade people to sign in favor of amending the Constitution.
In a Feb. 14 Teleradyo Serbisyo interview, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian confirmed that funds for the AKAP program were not included in the agency’s proposed 2024 budget but were inserted in the bicameral conference committee report — which Sen. Marcos also signed.
Uploaded by YouTube channel BANAT KAPANIG TV, the video has received 18,041 interactions.
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