Romualdez has personal assistant at QC jail — warden

MANILA — The Quezon City Jail warden on Thursday testified that former House Speaker Martin Romualdez was allowed to have a personal staff member assist him inside the facility in Payatas. 

Jail Supt. Maria Lourdes Pacion told the Sandiganbayan Third Division that she approved the arrangement out of “human consideration.”

She said that, in her assessment, Romualdez’s mental state “is not yet stable” and he needs someone to assist him.

“[Bureau of Jail Management and Penology] has no personnel…for that particular personal care for the [Person Deprived of Liberty],” Pacion said

Defense lawyer Atty. Ade Fajardo said he does not know the details of the person assisting Romualdez but confirmed his client’s mental health is under constant monitoring.

“We must also understand he continues to function as Leyte 1st District representative so kailangan po talaga alert siya (he really needs to be alert),” Fajardo told reporters in an ambush interview.

Pacion said when asked that no other PDLs have personal staff. She said arrangements like that would considered on a case-by-case basis.

Pacion was in court after it directed her to appear over columnist Ramon Tulfo’s claims that Romualdez used a backdoor staircase at the New Quezon City Jail to leave and return to the facility in an ambulance.

The columnist has retracted the claim and said he was “fed the wrong report.” That reaction was read into the record during the hearing.

Romualdez’s legal team has also denied the claim, which it called “very damaging to our client because it has a tendency to inflame the public.”

Pacion also said that Romualdez was not ferried in and out of the jail in any vehicle.

The court ordered the BJMP to review CCTV footage covering the period from Romualdez’s commitment to the Quezon City Jail up to November 4 and submit a notarized report detailing his whereabouts based on the recordings.

The bureau must also submit CCTV system status reports and other documentation of Romualdez’s whereabouts and his health.

The BJMP was directed to appear before the court on Monday, November 9, to present its findings.