The Presidential Communications Office claims that the scandal is nearing its ‘endgame’. However, Bulatlat’s timeline of related activities suggest that the investigation has yet to reach its climax, much less a resolution.

By Ruth Nacional
Bulatlat.com

MANILA– All Filipino taxpayers want for Christmas is justice and accountability for the billions of taxes swindled by politicians, public officials, and contractors in flood control projects, as well as the hundreds of lives taken by anomalous and non-existent ones.

The Presidential Communications Office claims that the scandal is nearing its ‘endgame’. However, Bulatlat’s timeline of related activities suggest that the investigation has yet to reach its climax, much less a resolution.

Where it all began

July 28, 2025:  Marcos Jr. denounces anomalies and corruption schemes during his fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona) in reference to his inspection of the effects of Typhoon Crising, Dante, and Emong. He orders the following in an effort to address and prevent further corruption:

  1. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to submit a list of all flood control projects in the country that were started or completed in the last three years.
  2. The Regional Project Monitoring Committee to examine that list of projects and give a report on failures, incompletion, and alleged ghost projects.
  3. The publication of the said list for public accessibility
  4. An audit and performance review regarding these projects
  5. The indictment of all individuals and accomplices involved in the corruption

Marcos Jr. also promises to return any proposed General Appropriations Bill that is not fully aligned with the National Expenditure Program for the 2026 National Budget. This exposé served as the last agenda in the speech.

August 11, 2025: Marcos Jr. launches the “Sumbong sa Pangulo,” encouraging citizens to report anomalous or dysfunctional flood control projects in their areas.

The website comprises a list and an interactive map of 9,855 completed flood control projects from July 2022 to May 2025 for public scrutiny, including information on location, cost, completion date, and the name/s of the contractor.

August 19, 20025: The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) begins its probe on the flood control project mess. The initial public hearing entitled “Philippine Under Waters” is led by Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Sen. Rodante Marcoleta. Sevenout of the top 15 contractor firms of the government’s flood control projects are in attendance.

August 21, 2025: Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto posts screenshots of a now deleted Rated Korina vlog featuring contractor couple Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya and Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya II. In the Facebook post, he commented on journalism ethics and insinuated that the couple paid millions for the interview.

The Discayas explicitly attributed their success to their role as DPWH contractors in the interview. Their garage, which housed 40 luxury cars, also appeared in the video and gained traction online.

September 1, 2025: DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan resigns amid the controversies. Vince Dizon, then-Department of Land and Transportation (DoLT) Secretary, takes over with the primary task of leading an organizational sweep of the department.

On the same date, the BRC holds its second hearing. Discaya admits in her testimony that her nine companies participate in multiple bidding for projects. The contractor couple bagged 345 projects worth P25.2 billion pesos from 2022 to 2025.

September 2, 2025: The House joint committee commences for the first time. The committee on public accounts, public works and highways, and committee on good government and accountability sit as a mega panel to probe flood control. Fiveout of the 16 invited contractors are absent.

September 8, 2025: The Discaya couple in their joint sworn affidavit names politicians and DPWH officials involved in kickbacks and corrupt schemes from flood control project funds. They also tagged then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez (Leyte 1st District Rep.) and former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co as recipients of 25 percent of the project cost. Syms Construction Trading general contractor Sally Santos admits delivering about P1 million in cash to Hernandez since 2022.

September 9, 2025: The House infra-committee resumes its probe. Former Bulacan assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez claims that Senator Jinggoy Estrada and Senator Joel Villanueva received kickbacks from the alleged budget insertions in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).

September 11, 2025: The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) is established through Executive Order No. 94. Its mandate is to investigate, gather, and evaluate information about the anomalous flood control projects, as well as conduct hearings and recommend filing of cases. ICI is tasked to prioritize flood control projects undertaken within the last ten years.

Retired Supreme Court associate justice Andres Reyes Jr. sits as chair, while former Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson and SGV & Co. executive Rossana Fajardo serve as members.

September 15, 2025: Marcos Jr. announces the cancellation of the flood control budget for 2026 and will be realigned to priority sectors, but the P350 billion 2025 budget remains operational.

September 16, 2025: DPWH dismisses and permanently bars from public office the following: former Assistant District Engineer Brice Hernandez, Construction Division Chief Jaypee Mendoza, and Accountant Juanito Mendoza for grave misconduct.

September 17, 2025: Romualdez resigns from his post as House Speaker ‘to allow’ accountability and transparency in the investigations. He is succeeded by Isabela Rep. Faustino “Bojie” De Guzman Dy III.

A Rappler report found that Sunwest Inc., owned by Co, bagged billions of DPWH contracts in the Romualdez’ district.

September 18, 2025: The Senate BRC continues its inquiry on flood control projects in Bulacan. Curlee Discaya declines to submit their ledger without ‘protection’. Casino-related crimes of DPWH officials, including then-DPWH Bulacan assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez and then-DPWH Bulacan Officer-in-Charge Henry Alcantara, are discussed.

September 21, 2025 : Anti-corruption protests are staged nationwide. In Metro Manila, the “Trillion Peso March” is held at the EDSA People Power Monument while “Baha sa Luneta” is held in Luneta. The latter marched to Mendiola, where violence emerged from policemen employing teargas and physically abusing protest participants. 216 protesters are illegally arrested and twokilled, according to the National Union of People’s Lawyers.

Read: Progressives push back against corruption

September 23, 2025 : The Senate BRC resumed its probe on anomalous flood control projects. Alcantara also links Sen. Joel Villanueva, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, former Sen. Bong Revilla, and former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, and former Usec. Roberto Bernardo in the scandal.

September 24, 2025: Brian Keith Hosaka is appointed as ICI executive director.

September 25, 2025: The Senate probe continues. Former Usec. Bernardo tags 3 present and former senators, 1 house representative, 4 DPWH officials, and 3 others. Sen. Chiz Escudero and ex-special convoy to China Maynard Ngu are among the implicated, with Bernardo narrating their encounters in detail.

September 26, 2025: Marcos Jr. orders the reallocation of P255.5 billion from DPWH flood control funds to other agencies.

September 26, 2025: Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong resigns as ICI special adviser. He later admits that it is partly due to Palace press officer Clare Castro’s remarks in a press conference on the same day about Magalong’s role as a special adviser, and not an investigator “in any other form”.

September 28, 2025: Lacson reveals that “almost all senators” had insertions amounting to at least P100 billion in the 2025 GAA.

September 29, 2025: ICI flags a P289.5-million flood control project in Oriental Mindoro in its first report to the Office of the Ombudsman. The contractor firm in charge, Sunwest, Inc., was founded by Zaldy Co.

September 29, 2025: Co resigns as Ako Bicol party-list Representative citing “real, direct, grave, and imminent threat” to his family and himself.

October 2, 2025: The ICI requests the presence of the former Public Works and Highways secretary in its October 7 hearing.

October 3, 2025: Senator JV Ejercito expresses dismay on the direction of the Senate probe and thought about leaving the majority bloc.

October 6, 2025: Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson steps down as BRC chairman and cited the ‘lack of faith’ he sensed from colleagues.

October 8, 2025: Senator Erwin Tulfo becomes acting chairperson of the BRC as designated by the Senate majority bloc.

October 9, 2025: DPWH confirms 421 ghost flood control projects out of the 8,000 nationwide projects audited by the DPWH, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Department of National Defense (DND), and the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev).

October 9, 2025: Business groups expresses dissatisfaction at the pace of the ICI’s investigation on corruption and the flood control project mess.

October 14, 2025: The Right to Know, Right Now (R2KRN) Coalition flags Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Mario Lipana and his wife, Marilou Lauro Lipana, who is president of Olympus Mining and Builders. The firm bagsat least P326 millions worth of flood control projects.

October 21, 2025: John Santander, a cultural and peace advocate,urges ICI to probe the connection between Liza Araneta-Marcos and Ngu. Santander submitted a letter to ICI chair Andres Reyes, suggesting that Araneta-Marcos played a role in Usec. Bernardo’s appointment in the DPWH based on Ngu’s recommendation.

DPWH’s and Ombudsman’s prompt investigations

October 23, 2025: DPWH files graft and malversation complaints against 22 government officials and contractors for two different projects: Silverwolves Construction Corporation and 12 DPWH officials from La Union 2nd District Engineering Office, and St. Timothy Construction Corporation and 8 Davao Occidental District Engineering Office officials.

October 23, 2025: Ombudsman Crispin Remullatags Congressman Eric Yap as a person of interest as the beneficial owner of Silverwolves Construction Corporation. He adds that Yap’s brother, ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Edvic Yap, received money from the Discaya couple years ago, as did Bulacan 6th District Rep. Salvador Pleyto.

October 23, 2025: Ten DPWH Region IV-B officials and two Bids and Awards Committee members are ordered suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman. These are DPWH officials Gerald Pacanan, Gene Altea, Ruben Delos Santos Jr., Dominic Serrano, Felisardo Casuno, Timojen Sacar, Montrexis Tamayo, Juliet Calvo, Dennis Abagon, and Lerma Cayco, and BAC members Grace Lopez and Friedrich Karl Camero.

October 24, 2025: COA submits 4 Fraud Audit Reports (FAR) to the ICI in relation to DPWH 1st District Engineering Office’s anomalous and ghost projects. Two of these projects were by SYMS Construction Trading, 1 from L.R. Tiqui Builders Inc. and M3 Konstract Corporation, and a project from the joint venture between L.R. Tiqui Builders Inc. and M3 Konstract Corporation.

October 24, 2025: AFP vows toinspect 16,000 flood control projects upon Dizon’s request for assistance.

October 29, 2025: Six (6) names are recommended by the ICI for filing of criminal and administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman. Four (4) Lawmakers and two (2) former government officials are facing prosecution in relation to the flood control projects anomalies.

October 29, 2025: DPWH taps DENR Usec. Carlo David, University of the Philippines (UP) Professor and Project Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazard (NOAH) Director Mahar Lagmay, and Guillermo Tabios III from the UP Institute of Civil Engineering for the preparation of its 2027 flood control plans and budget.

November 4, 2025: ICI flags a P72.3-million ghost project in Bulacan in its third report to the Office of the Ombudsman. The project, awarded to Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc., was paid but allegedly never built.

November 5, 2025: Following Typhoon Tino, Marcos Jr. orders a probe into flood projects in Cebu.

On the same day, ACT Teachers Representative and Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio calls out the hypocrisy of Marcos Jr. as he approved the Unprogrammed Appropriations (UA) used for Cebu flood-control projects.

Bulatlat also reported that Quirante-owned Quirante Construction Corp. and QM Builders bagged billions of projects in Cebu. Jonathan Quirante, managing officer of the former, has donated P1 million to Marcos Jr.’s 2022 elections campaign.

Read: ‘Corruption drowned Cebu’ | Youth decry systemic failures after typhoon Tino

November 5, 2025: Tinio flags 80 of Davao Congressman Paolo Duterte’s 51-billion flood control projects as questionable. He found that the Discaya couple and other firms connected to the Dutertes have secured contracts in the congressman’s first district.

November 6, 2025: Dizonsubmits a list of Cebu flood control projects to the ICI for investigation following the Typhoon Tino onslaught.

November 11, 2025: Seventeen (17) congressmen are invited to the hearing as confirmed by the re-elected committee chairman Senator Panfilo Lacson.

November 12, 2025: DPWH vows to execute the 2017 Cebu flood control masterplan following Typhoon Tino’s effects. The masterplan was developed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from 2013 to 2017 to strengthen flood control and mitigation.

November 12, 2025: COA flags P344 million Bulacan flood control projects in four additional FARs to the ICI. The reports included DPWH Bulacan officials and contractor firms SYMS Construction Trading, M3 Konstract Corp., Elite General Contractor & Development Corp., and Wawao Builders.

On the same date, ICI identified 80 priority flood control projects out of the 421 being investigated. These involve the top contractors Marcos Jr. reported, and projects in areas severely damaged by recent typhoons.

November 13, 2025: Six (6) DPWH engineers are recommended to be filed charges with at the Ombudsman, together with former chief Manual Bonoan and two (2) former undersecretaries. Bonoan, however, has been  cleared by the government to leave for surgery in the US.

November 14, 2025: During the BRC hearing, former Usec. Bernardo mentions 8 more personalities in his supplemental affidavit in addition to those he tagged on September 25, including 4 present and former senators, 2 DPWH officials, and 2 former lawmakers.

November 14, 2025 : The House panel supports a proposal for the creation of an Independent People’s Commission (IPC), also termed as Independent Commission Against Infrastructure Corruption (ICAIC), to aid the Office of the Ombudsman in investigating anomalous flood control projects until 2028. According to Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, this independent commission could be led by a retired member of the Supreme Court (SC), Court of Appeals, Court of Tax Appeals, or Sandiganbayan.

November 17, 2025: ICI inspects eight flood control projects in Cebu as part of its priority probe.

November 17, 2025: Ombudsman Remulla confirms that all individuals and officials tagged in former Usec. Bernardo’s affidavit are under investigation.

November 18, 2025: The Ombudsman files graft and malversation charges against Zaldy Co, DPWH Region 4-B officials, and board directors of Sunwest Corp in relation to irregularities in the P289-million road dike project in Oriental Mindoro.

November 21, 2025: ICI hints that 1,200 individuals may be involved in the flood control project mess nationwide. More information is expected from the investigation reports of AFP and PNP ground teams.

November 21, 2025:  Sandigan issues arrest warrants against Zaldy Co and 15 others who were charged on November 18. The list included DPWH officials Gerald Pacanan, Gene Ryan Altea, Ruben Santos Jr., Dominic Serrano, Felisardo Casuno, Juliet Calvo, Lerma Cayco, Dennis Abagon, Montrexis Tamayo, and Timojen Sacar. While from Sunwest Corp. were Aderma Angelie Alcazar, Cesar Buenaventura, Consuelo Aldon, Noel Cao, Anthony Ngo.

November 24, 2025: Seven are in custody, two are in the process of surrendering, and Marcos Jr. called on the remaining seven who are still at large to surrender. Those in government custody include Pacanan. Altea. Delos Santos Jr., Serrano, Casino, and Calvo.

November 26, 2025: Co implicates Ilocos Norte First District Rep. Sandro Marcos, claiming that his 2025 GAA insertions ballooned to over P50 billion from 2023 to 2025.

November 27, 2025: The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) files criminal charges against IM Construction Corp. and SYMS Construction Trading for alleged violations of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) of 1997 in connection to Bulacan flood control projects.

November 30, 2025: Filipinos hold a second wave of anti-corruption protests nationwide, also marking Bonifacio Day. “Baha sa Luneta 2.0” kicked off at Luneta, Manila and the “Trillion Peso March” at the EDSA People Power Monument.

Read: Anti-corruption calls draw thousands to Luneta on Bonifacio DayRead: Corruption, a violation of right to life, safety – Southern Tagalog activists

December 6, 2025: The Office of the Ombudsman files graft and malversation charges against Sarah Discaya and 8 others for the non-existent P96.5-million flood control project in Davao Occidental. Her husband, Curlee, is still in detention at the senate.

December 9, 2025: Marcos Jr. announces the Court of Appeal’s freeze order on corporate and personal assets and properties linked to the flood control project corruption scheme. The properties include those associated with Silverwolves Construction Corporation, Sky Yard Aviation, and the Yap brothers.

December 9, 2025: Eight DPWH Davao Occidental officials voluntarily surrenders to the NBI in relation to their criminal complaints. Discaya’s co-accused are: Rodrigo C. Larete,  Michael P. Awa,  Joel M. Lumogdang,  Harold John E. Villaver, Rafael C. Faunillan,  Josephine C. Valdez,  Ranulfo A. Flores,   and Czar Ryan S. Ubungen.

December 9, 2025: DOJ confirms that threeout of five cases against DPWH Bulacan officials are submitted for resolution. Meanwhile, the cases of SYMS Construction Trading, Wawao Builders and Top Notch Construction Philippines will be subjected to a preliminary investigation.

Also on the same date, hours after her co-accused complainants surrendered, Sarah Discaya surrenders and is now under the custody of the NBI prior to the expected issuance of her arrest warrant in connection to a ghost flood control project in Davao Occidental.

December 12, 2025:  Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson confirms that the BRC’s probe on the flood control projects will soon be wrapped up given the pile of cases already filed in the court. According to Lacson, the committee will be submitting a final report and recommendation of charges.

December 14, 2025: Project Noah (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) is set to receive P1 billion under the 2026 General Appropriations Bill upon the approval of the bicameral conference committee to aid in flood control design and monitoring. Project Noah was defunded during the Duterte administration in 2017 and was later adopted by the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute, continuing its role as a comprehensive program for hazard mapping and disaster prevention.

December 15, 2025: When asked about Marcos Jr.’s promise that those linked in the corruption in flood control projects will be jailed before Christmas, Castro urges the public to “wait” as the cases are being prioritized by the DOJ and the Ombudsman.

December 15:, 2025: The ICI holds its final hearing for the year. Budget Acting Secretary Rolando Toledo and AGAP Party-list Rep. Nicanor Briones serve as resource persons. Briones requested a closed-door session for his testimony, but he consented to the public release of his sworn statement. According to his legal counsel Winston Ginez, Briones denied his involvement in the kickback scheme as implicated by the Discayas.

December 19, 2025: Former DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral dies due to alleged fall into the ravine beside Kennon Road, Benguet. She was found unconscious along the Bued River in the evening of December 18. Cabral was among those mentioned by ex-DPWH Usec. Bernardo in his affidavit to have been involved in the kickback scheme in flood control projects. Hosaka also described her as “one of the central figures” in the scheme and urged authorities to rule out foul play in her death.  (RVO)

The post TIMELINE: 2025 Flood Control Projects Corruption Scandal appeared first on Bulatlat.

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