By GMA News Published May 21, 2026 10:24am + Add GMA on Google Make this your preferred source to get more updates from this publisher on Google. The Office of the Ombudsman has ordered Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero to answer the allegations linking him to the flood control mess, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said Thursday. “‘Yung kay Senator Chiz Escudero ay nasa preliminary investigation stage na po. There was an order to submit counter affidavit, na-receive ng opisina ni Chiz Escudero,” Clavano said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview. (The Ombudsman probe on Senator Escudero has reached the preliminary investigation stage. He has been ordered to submit a counter affidavit.)“I believe ‘yung panel po natin ay naghihintay na lang sa kanyang counter affidavit para umusad na po,” Clavano added.(The Ombudsman is waiting for his counter-affidavit for the probe to move to the next stage.) During the same interview, Clavano said the investigation on the alleged links of the former Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez to the flood control mess is also under preliminary investigation.“The one that has reached preliminary investigation involving Congressman Romualdez is the money laundering case,” Clavano said. Romualdez and Escudero previously denied involvement in anomalous flood control projects.Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier said that his office is doing criminal case buildup against Escudero and Romualdez. Ombudsman prosecutors have only filed three batches of flood control cases so far since Remulla's appointment as Ombudsman in October 2025.These are the following: Malversation and graft charges against resigned Ako Bicol Party-list Representative Co and at least 15 others over the P289 million alleged substandard road dike project in Oriental Mindoro; Malversation and graft charges against contractor Sarah Discaya and several others over the P96.5 million alleged ghost flood control project in Davao Occidental; and Malversation and graft charges against former Senator Revilla, Jr., ex-Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan Assistant District Engineer Brice Hernandez and five others over the alleged P92.8-million ghost flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan. —Llanesca T. Panti/ VAL, GMA News