Romualdez detention: Court calls back BJMP officials over broken jail CCTVs
Former House Speaker and Leyte First District Rep. Martin Romualdez pleads not guilty during his arraignment via videoconference from the Quezon City Jail in Payatas on September 16, 2026. Aaron Favila, AP Photos/Pool MANILA — The Sandiganbayan Third Division again subpoenaed Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) officials to testify at its Nov. 12 hearing on former House Speaker Martin Romualdez’s custody at the Quezon City Jail in Payatas.
The court summoned Jail Supt. Maria Lourdes Pacion, BJMP medical officer Dr. Henry Fabro, and the jail’s CCTV officer, according to Third Division Clerk of Court Atty. Dennis Pulma.
This comes after the court’s ocular inspection, which found that more than half of the facility’s 450 CCTV cameras were not operational. No functioning cameras also covered the area where Romualdez’s cell was located, the court said.
Associate Justices Karl Miranda and Fritz Delos Santos conducted the inspection following columnist Ramon Tulfo’s now-retracted claim that Romualdez could leave and return to the facility.
The court said the numerous CCTV blind spots made it difficult to verify Romualdez’s whereabouts since his commitment to the facility.
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