A COURT in Manila has issued a hold-departure order against fugitive billionaire and 1-Pacman Party-List Rep. Michael Romero for allegedly stealing P3.4 million from his family-owned Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc.
Manila RTC Branch 11 Judge Cicero Jurado Jr. issued the order against Romero and one of his two co-accused, Edwin Jeremillo.
According to court records, Jurado also ordered the Foreign Affairs and Immigration to put Romero and Jeremillo in their hold-departure lists.
“Furnish the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Bureau of Immigration a copy of this Order together with the pertinent pictures and documents for their information and guidance,’’ Jurado said in an order issued on May 10, 2017.
In January, Jurado issued an arrest warrant against Romero, Jeremillo and Felicia Aquino for qualified theft. Romero has been evading arrest for close to six months.
Public and private prosecutors earlier tagged Romero as a “flight risk.”
Before the arrest warrant was issued against him, Romero had been very active in the House of Representatives and was a member of at least 15 committees.
Earlier, House Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Fariñas said the Congress leadership could not guarantee parliamentary immunity to Romero as it would have to respect the orders of the court.
“The immunity from arrest applies only while the Congress is in session in all offenses punishable by not more than six years’ imprisonment,” Fariñas said.
“Since [the order] stated that no bail has been recommended, it is obviously for an offense not covered by the immunity.”
The Court of Appeals has also already upheld the validity of the arrest order against Romero, Jeremillo and Aquino.
Romero had been embroiled in a legal battle with his own father, businessman Reghis Romero II, for the control of HCPTI that operates the Manila North Harbor terminal.
Jerome Canlas, the corporate secretary of Romero’s father, has accused the lawmaker of conspiring with Jeremillo and Aquino in stealing corporate funds by issuing 18 checks on April 27, 2007 to non-existent payees.
Each check bore the amount of P200,000 for a total of P3.4 million”•supposedly for “marketing expenses” and payable to the “National Food Authority and/or Felicia Aquino.”
It was Romero and Jeremillo who signed and issued the checks which, in turn, were cashed not by the NFA but by Aquino herself.
In January, Romero was also barred by a Quezon City Regional Trial Court from claiming ownership of HCPTI, a move that exposed possible challenges in the ownership of the Manila North Harbor Port Inc., which has been taken over by the conglomerate San Miguel Corp.
Quezon City Branch 222 Judge Edgar Santos also ordered Romero and his affiliates, as well as their agents, employees and successors-in-interest, to stop acting on behalf of HCPTI as shareholders or members of the board of directors of MNHPI.
SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang earlier said their group now controlled a 78.33-percent interest in the contested port terminal firm.