Metro Manila, Philippines – Media personality Ramon Tulfo admitted on Thursday, Nov. 5, that he made a mistake when he alleged that Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez could go in and out of jail.
Tulfo said he received wrong information and posted the allegations on social media without verifying their authenticity, prompting a court hearing with officials of the Quezon City Jail in Payatas.
Despite Tulfo’s retraction, the Sandiganbayan Third Division still ordered jail officials to review closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of Romualdez’s transfer to the facility. The court also directed them to submit a report on Monday, Nov. 9.
“One of the most embarrassing and humiliating experiences as a journalist is to admit that nakuryente ako [I was misled],” Tulfo said, adding that none of his claims happened.
As of posting, however, Tulfo had not taken down his social media post, despite a request from Romualdez’s lawyers.
In his Nov. 3 post, Tulfo cited a source who claimed there was a scheme to allow Romualdez to sneak in and out of detention.
The alleged scheme involved shutting off electricity and passing it off as a power failure. It also involved an ambulance waiting at a back entrance to transport Romualdez, allegedly with the help of jail warden Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) JSup Maria Lourdes Pacion.
Pacion and Quezon City jail medical officer Henry Fabro testified before the Sandiganbayan on Thursday.
Pacion denied that the jail facility had a power failure, saying there had been no such incident since she assumed office as warden. She also said Romualdez had never been transported in or out of the facility in any vehicle since he was transferred to BJMP custody on Sept. 14. Pacion added that the former speaker spends most of his time inside his jail cell.
Fabro, meanwhile, said the former speaker spent about two to three weeks in the infirmary before he was transferred to a jail cell.
Despite Tulfo’s retraction, which was placed on record during the hearing, the court ordered the BJMP to review CCTV footage covering Romualdez’s transfer to the facility up to Nov. 4.
Pacion and Fabro were directed to return to court on Monday, Nov. 9, to present their findings.
The retraction came after Romualdez’s lawyers sent Tulfo a formal letter demanding that he stop circulating the allegations or issue a clear clarification that they had no factual basis.
They described the allegations as “very damaging” and said they had the “tendency to inflame the public.”
While welcoming Tulfo’s retraction, the lawyers said they were still studying whether to pursue legal action against him.
Romualdez is facing a ₱7.44-billion plunder case over alleged kickbacks from 2022 to 2025. The case is linked to the infrastructure corruption and flood control scandal.
