President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. inspects a “ghost” flood control project during a visit to Barangay Piel in Baliuag, Bulacan, on August 20, 2025. - PDI/ANN
MANILA: “They won’t have a Merry Christmas."
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. delivered Thursday (Nov 13) a stern message to personalities linked to anomalous flood control projects in the country, warning they will be jailed before the year ends.
“I think before…no, not “I don’t think”…I know before Christmas many of those named here. Their case will be finished; the case will be complete,” he responded when asked when these persons will be put in jail.
“They’re going to be locked up; they won’t have a Merry Christmas.,” he said.
In Marcos’ presentation, he did a rundown on where the government stands three months since he initiated an investigation on problematic flood-control projects.
One of these is the filing of tax-evasion cases by the Bureau of Internal Revenue against contractors and government officials, where billions of pesos’ worth of funds are expected to be returned to the government.
“I’m sure we can still recover a lot, so we’ll continue to do that,” Marcos said.
It was Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) chief Vince Dizon who earlier assured the public that individuals linked to flood control anomalies will be imprisoned before the end of the year.
“Yes, that is for sure,” Dizon told Inquirer in a Viber message on Thursday when asked if this will be the case.
In fact, Dizon also said two cases involving at least 41 individuals will be filed before Christmas.
“Those cases will definitely be filed before Christmas, and in fact, the Ombudsman’s goal is to have these two cases filed this month,” Dizon also said in an ambush interview at Camp Crame on Wednesday.
Dizon said 26 persons in Bulacan and 15 in Oriental Mindoro will be detained over two cases that the Office of the Ombudsman will file in the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.
“So just in those two cases, [more than] 40 people, those are the first to be jailed because the cases are non-bailable,” Dizon said.
Among those who will face imprisonment before the end of the year are contractors Pacifico and Sarah Discaya, former Bulacan First District Engineer Henry Alcantara and former Bulacan First District Assistant Engineer Brice Hernandez, among others, according to Dizon.
Meanwhile, Marcos pointed out that the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), a superbody established to probe all public works projects over the past 10 years, had already transmitted its first batch of case referrals to the Office of the Ombudsman implicating 37 individuals. These include high-profile politicians, former DPWH officials, and contractors.
One of the personalities linked to the flood-control mess was former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Asked whether Romualdez is included in the initial batch of case referrals, Marcos said he does not think so.
“I don’t think so because the only evidence that has been made against him is in the Senate,” he said.
“With the speaker, no. Not as yet, not as yet. If something else comes out, then he might have to be answerable to something. So, again, we don’t file cases for optics. We file cases to put people in jail or to make people answer,” Marcos continued.
The President noted that while there are many suggestions on who else the government should file cases against, evidence must be presented first to support their claims.
“No one is immune to this, no one is exempted from this investigation,” he also said.
In a related development, Marcos was also pressed as to why the government has not yet cancelled the passport of former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co, particularly since he is also implicated in the flood-control mess.
According to Marcos, it is because there is no formal case filed against the former lawmaker yet.
“When the time comes, we will immediately cancel his passport,” Marcos said.
Questions surrounding flood control projects surfaced when Marcos, during his State of the Nation Address in July, said that 5,500 flood-control projects have already been completed under his term, with his critics casting doubt on such figures amid persistent flooding during that time.
After this, Marcos ordered the investigation of all of the almost 10,000 flood control projects completed in the past three years, and he himself revealed that P100 billion (US$1.69 billion)—or about 20 per cent of the entire P545-billion budget for flood mitigation projects undertaken by his administration from July 2022 to May 2025—was awarded to only 15 contractors, which includes firms linked to the Discaya couple.
Marcos’ revelation served as a floodgate for revelations that several flood control projects are found to be either overpriced or non-existent due to the alleged collusion of lawmakers, private contractors and DPWH engineers and officials to embezzle billions of pesos worth of funds.
To quell mounting public outrage that led to a nationwide September 21 protest and rumours of a military takeover, the government formed an independent commission that would investigate and recommend charges for those involved.
The ICI has since conducted a closed-door probe, raising concerns about transparency, which critics say could tarnish the credibility of its findings.
Facing mounting pressure from the public, the ICI promised to livestream the proceedings, but it still refused to release the recordings of its previous hearings. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
