Photos and videos of “maletas” that were allegedly delivered to the home of former House Speaker Martin Romualdez were entered as evidence in the lawmaker’s ongoing bail hearing for the case of plunder.
George Villalon Jr., an alleged bagman of former congressman Zaldy Co, took the witness stand at the Sandiganbayan Third Division’s proceedings to testify on a delivery that he participated in to Romualdez’s Forbes Park residence.
Prior to showing a video taken by Villalon before the court, lawyers of the Leyte lawmaker opposed the presentation as they asserted that they were merely provided a still of a 13-second video that the witness sent to his wife.
The anti-graft court, however, allowed the presentation as it noted that the defense lawyers would be given the opportunity to cross examine the alleged bagman to authenticate the video.
The short clip showed various suitcases lined up inside what Villalon said was the home of the former House Speaker and also captured in the video were two other personnel of Co.
Villalon told the court that the video, along with other photos, were taken on 21 November 2023 and were shared through Facebook messenger on the same date.
Asked by the Third Division’s chairperson Associate Justice Karl Miranda on why he took the video, the witness said that he did it to provide an update to his wife that was repeatedly calling him during the delivery.
Villalon would also tell the court that the phone that he used to capture the video was already lost and that the only copy he had of the video was from the messages that he had with his wife which was later downloaded to a laptop and transferred to a flash drive.
In one of Villalon’s messages to his wife, he stated that the suitcases which he had taken a photo of were suitcases which contained cash intended for Romualdez.
The actual exchange was screen grabbed and entered as evidence of the prosecution, while the lawyers of the former House Speaker insisted on refraining to stipulate on the authenticity of the evidence.
Villalon served as prosecutors first witness in the case of plunder against Romualdez related to alleged infrastructure kickbacks amounting to ₱7.4-billion.
Aside from the former Speaker, the case also implicated Co, a member of Romualdez’s staff, and a president of a money exchange company were also tagged as co-conspirators to the crime.
Stay informed
Get Daily Tribune in your inbox
Breaking news, opinion, and business coverage for readers in the Philippines and abroad.
Subscribe to the newsletterPrefer chat alerts? Join the Daily Tribune Viber community.