[Rappler’s Best] The ‘maleta’ boys’ travelogue

Does the complaint against Martin Romualdez stand on a house of cards? Canada suspended trade negotiations with the US due to perceived unfair terms, leading to a swift response from the Trump administration with 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods. In retaliation, Canada announced 'dollar for dollar' tariffs on US products, with Prime Minister Carney emphasizing the need to protect Canada's interests. The ongoing investigation into former House speaker Martin Romualdez faces complications as key witnesses recant their testimonies, raising questions about the strength of the corruption complaint against him. This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors. What a weekend for the trading world following Canada’s suspension of its negotiations with the US, an “uncharted territory” for the two neighbors, as the BBC put it. Canadian negotiators walked away from the trade talks over what Prime Minister Mark Carney described as America’s “new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits” for their country. (Read and watch Carney’s full speech here.) The Trump administration’s response was swift, imposing 50% tariffs on some Canadian goods — though they represent just a thin slice of exports to the US. Canada retaliated by announcing the “dollar for dollar” tariffs on steel, electronics, and other products from the US effective September 8. “We take this step reluctantly,” Carney said, but stressed that suspending the negotiations was to Canada’s best interests. “We set our own course. We make our own weather. In Canada, we are masters in our own house,” said Carney, who faces a major political test for this move. Was Canada engaged in a trade war? “You’re at war when you get attacked,” Carney told a press conference. “We got attacked.” Carney was elected only last year — at the height of Trump’s attacks against Canada — and promised to play tough with US President Donald Trump. At the World Economic Forum in Davos early this year, he urged “middle powers” to come together to counter American hegemony. Trump reacted in his own Davos speech, claiming that Canada “lives because of the United States,” and later threatened it with a 100% tariff. Trump’s tariff regime has sent shockwaves globally. Just last month, his government imposed new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on goods from at least 60 trading partners, including the Philippines (which was the only one slapped with 12.5%), over their alleged poor enforcement of existing bans on forced labor. Philippine officials have given assurances, however, that they will be negotiating with the US for some consideration. Back home, another tit-for-tat persisted, this time between the Ombudsman and former House speaker and presidential cousin Martin Romualdez, who is the subject of an investigation for possible plunder, bribery, graft, and money laundering. Romualdez wants the probe to end, and reiterated this last week, following the recantation of some of the so-called maleta (luggage) boys of their allegations against him. Former Marine Orly Guteza, who had accused Romualdez of receiving kickbacks for budget allocations to corrupt infrastructure projects, made an about-turn and said he made those claims at the behest of politicians belonging to the rival Duterte bloc. Guteza is an ex-security aide of Romualdez’s former sparring partner in the House, the now fugitive and resigned congressman Zaldy Co. He testified at the Senate in 2025, where he disclosed that he regularly delivered luggages packed with cash to Romualdez’s residences. Read more here. Guteza, along with seven of the more than a dozen “maleta boys,” later signed affidavits that the Ombudsman’s panel of investigators used to build its complaint against Romualdez and Co. But Guteza recanted last week, along with three others — Benny Bulontate, Bernard Tube, and Rosebert Waupan, whose affidavits were part of the Ombudsman’s supplemental complaint against Romualdez, Co, and others last July. What’s the impact of these recantations on the complaint, which has yet to reach the court? Dwight de Leon explains here. Five other ex-security aides, whose testimonies were secured by the Ombudsman, have not withdrawn them. At least not yet, anyway. Without them, it’s tough to connect the properties allegedly bought by Romualdez through dummies to the corruption of the public works budget. The Ombudsman has said, however, that 28 more witnesses are lined up against the former speaker. Last month, the Ombudsman announced it was close to filing plunder complaints against Romualdez, since the investigation pointed to him as the “central figure” in the flood control corruption scheme. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself said in his State of the Nation Address in July that his cousin will soon be charged in court. What’s delaying it then? Does the complaint against Romualdez stand on a house of cards? Here are some of Rappler’s bests that you shouldn’t miss: Fred Lubang recommends concrete measures — “trace every gun, close every leak” — to address school violence in the wake of the shooting at the Ateneo de Zamboanga Junior High School in Zamboanga City. Kevin Hapal weighs in on the debate about video games and school violence, arguing that the problem is the “monetized, unguarded social environment” around these games. Lala Rimando spells out the trade-off embedded in ABS-CBN’s P6-billion rescue. Lala also breaks down where the P6 billion will go — to the banks and retirees, among others. John Nery chimes in on the debate over the call made by Filipino journalists and media workers to travel to Israel on the invitation of Israel. They were “dead wrong” to go there, he said. Marites Vitug sits down with UP assistant professor Enrico Gloria about China’s sophisticated use of its toolkit of coercive measures — and whether Manila and Beijing can meet halfway over both its hardline stance on the West Philippine Sea. Bea Cupin tells us what we know so far about the controversial provisional agreement between both sides on Ayungin. – Rappler.com Rappler’s Best is a weekly Rappler+ exclusive newsletter of our top picks delivered straight to your inbox every Monday. Visit rappler.com/newsletters to subscribe. The views expressed by the writer are his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Rappler. How does this make you feel? Loading