MANILA: President Marcos (pic) declared on (July 27) that even members of his own family and political allies would not be spared from his administration’s anticorruption campaign, citing that the Office of the Ombudsman has begun investigating his cousin, former Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, over the multibillion-peso flood control scandal.
In his fifth State of the Nation Address (Sona) before a joint session of Congress, Marcos said the government’s antigraft drive had been pursued “without favor or bias,” resulting in the filing of plunder, graft, bribery and money laundering charges against dozens of politicians, former public officials and contractors.
Acknowledging that criminal charges against Romualdez may soon be filed, Marcos said personal ties would not stand in the way of accountability.
“Painful as it may be for us, we have to do what is right,” Marcos said.
"I am not the President of my family. I am not the President of my friends. I am the President of the Philippines, and my duty is to you, my fellow Filipinos,” he added.
Marcos earlier defended the pace of the investigation, saying his administration exposed the flood control scandal and succeeded where previous administrations had failed by filing charges and pursuing those responsible.
Romualdez, in a statement, said he respected the President’s remarks despite the pain it caused their family.
“Painful as it is for our family, I respect the President’s statement. I never asked for any favours or special treatment,” Romualdez said in Filipino.
He maintained his innocence and vowed to face the charges.
“I agree that we should do what is right. The right thing to do is to follow the process and let the evidence speak for itself. I maintain that I have done nothing illegal, and I am ready to prove it,” he said.
Romualdez and Marcos are first cousins and longtime political allies.
Marcos said the campaign fulfilled the commitment he made during his 2025 Sona, when he first exposed alleged anomalies in flood control projects and admonished those involved with the now-famous rebuke, “Mahiya naman kayo (Have some shame)!”
Following that speech, he issued Executive Order No. 94 creating the Independent Commission for Infrastructure to investigate questionable flood control projects over the previous decade.
Although the commission ended its fact-finding work in February after completing its mandate, it produced nine referrals recommending criminal and administrative charges against 65 lawmakers, contractors, and current and former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Commission on Audit.
“As I promised you, we conducted a thorough and comprehensive investigation, without favor or bias toward anyone. We carefully examined the evidence and followed wherever it led us,” Marcos said.
“We did everything necessary to get to the bottom of the matter.”
At least 45 individuals are now facing criminal charges before the Sandiganbayan and regional trial courts, including two incumbent lawmakers, two former representatives, 33 former DPWH officials and eight contractors.
Among those detained are Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., contractors Curlee and Sarah Discaya, and several former DPWH officials. Former House appropriations committee chair Zaldy Co remains in Europe after authorities failed to arrest him within the court-prescribed period, resulting in the archiving of his separate graft case.
Former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, meanwhile, was dropped as a respondent after being accepted as a state witness.
Recovered funds
The President said the government has recovered, frozen or preserved nearly P25 billion in funds and assets linked to the accused, with more than P800 million already returned to the National Treasury. He added that payments for defective, fake or nonexistent projects had been blocked, preventing public funds from being diverted to corrupt officials and favoured contractors.
“The public funds that were on the verge of ending up in the pockets of corrupt officials were instead safeguarded and put to good use—for the genuine benefit of the Filipino people,” Marcos said.
DPWH reforms
He said the remaining cases are now in the hands of the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice’s National Prosecution Service.
“We also place our trust in the fair judgment of the courts. You can be assured that the wheels of justice are turning,” he said.
The President also highlighted reforms within the DPWH under Secretary Vince Dizon, including the recruitment of new graduates and contract workers and a review of infrastructure projects from planning and costing to implementation to prevent future anomalies.
The anticorruption message became one of the defining themes of Marcos’ one-hour-and-26-minute Sona, his longest since assuming office in 2022.
The speech also drew applause for proposals to grant tax relief to the middle class, remove system loss charges from consumers’ electricity bills, exempt certain pass-through charges from the value-added tax, and for his rebuke of an artificial intelligence-generated video by Chinese state media portraying Filipinos as monkeys. —Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
