MANILA, Philippines — The legal camp of former House Speaker and Leyte 1st District Representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez has welcomed veteran broadcaster Ramon Tulfo’s public acknowledgment that his claims regarding the former House leader supposedly sneaking out of his detention facility were entirely false.
In a statement released on Thursday, November 5, Romualdez’s legal counsel, Atty. Ade Fajardo, noted that Tulfo conceded he acted on unverified information, failed to independently vet its veracity, and circulated uncorroborated claims to the public.
“We welcome Mr. Ramon Tulfo’s public acknowledgment that the allegations he circulated concerning former Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez’s supposed unauthorized movements outside his detention facility were false. Mr. Tulfo has admitted that he was fed incorrect information, failed to independently verify it, and subsequently passed it on to the public,” Fajardo stated.
The controversy began when Tulfo posted on social media alleging that Romualdez was secretly slipping out of the New Quezon City Jail via a backdoor stairwell to a waiting ambulance, aided by a jail warden who supposedly shut off power to disable security cameras.
However, Tulfo later retracted the statements, describing the episode as one of the most humiliating moments of his career.
“One of the most embarrassing and humiliating experiences as a journalist is to admit that nakuryente ako. Nakuryente means I was fed the wrong information and accepted it as gospel truth. Worse, I passed it on to my readers,” Tulfo wrote, adding, “No such thing happened when the facts started coming in yesterday. It was fiction. I goofed. No excuses.”
Fajardo emphasized that Tulfo’s retraction carries significant weight given how widely the unverified narrative had spread, exposing Romualdez to unwarranted public suspicion. He added that the admission aligns squarely with the categorical testimony of the detention facility’s jail superintendent, who denied any unauthorized departures.
“It is also consistent with the categorical testimony of Jail Superintendent Pacion, who denied that Mr. Romualdez had been leaving the detention facility or using an ambulance or other vehicle for unauthorized trips,” Fajardo noted.
The retraction followed a formal demand letter sent by Romualdez’s legal team on November 4, which warned of potential legal action if Tulfo failed to correct or take down his initial post.
Citing the Supreme Court ruling in Tulfo v. People, the lawyers underscored that attributing claims to an unnamed source does not absolve journalists of their core duty to cross-check facts.
“Ang kasinungalingan, kapag paulit-ulit na ipinakalat, ay maaaring magmukhang katotohanan. Pero sa huli, ang katotohanan pa rin ang dapat manaig,” Fajardo concluded.
Romualdez, who faces plunder trials before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court, remains lawfully detained at the New Quezon City Jail and continues to abide by facility rules and court authority.