“Marcos is at the top, and those at the lower levels cannot be the only ones held accountable.”
CAGAYAN DE ORO — Since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s “mahiya naman kayo” remarks at his State of the National Address (SONA) last year, who has been held accountable so far over the multibillion-peso flood control scam, the country’s so-called largest corruption scandal?
Among those detained so far are several officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), private contractors Curlee and Sarah Discaya, former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla, and incumbent senator Jinggoy Estrada.
For ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, however, those currently detained show selective prosecution as the the principal architects remain scot-free. “What if the biggest fish is President Marcos himself?”
In a video statement released in November 2025, former Ako Bicol Party-list representative and House appropriations committee chairperson Zaldy Co, one of the elected officials implicated over this mess, claimed that there were instructions given by Marcos Jr. to insert P100 billion worth of projects during the bicameral conference for the 2025 national budget.
Co also mentioned the participation of former budget secretary Amenah Pangandaman, former undersecretary Adrian Bersamin, and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
TIMELINE:2025 Flood Control Projects Corruption Scandal
Last year, Tinio and other lawmakers under the Makabayan bloc filed a resolution asking the now-defunct Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), tasked to probe anomalies involving infrastructure projects, to investigate these officials, including former executive secretary Lucas Bersamin, presidential son Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Sandro Marcos, Justice Undersecretary Jose Cadiz, former public works secretary Manuel Bonoan, and other DPWH officials.
Tinio said that accountability remains elusive for officials close to Marcos Jr. He even appointed Pangandaman who resigned as budget secretary as the chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of the state-run Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank of the Philippines. Tinio also questioned the decision to make Bonoan a state witness, knowing that he led the DPWH when the anomalous flood control projects broke out.
Cadiz, who resigned last year after he was implicated, has returned to his post.
Pangandaman remains under investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman despite her appointment. Complaints against Romualdez and Sen. Joel Villanueva have reportedly reached the preliminary investigation stage.
Sen. Chiz Escudero who currently serves as the presiding officer for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte also faced a plunder complaint over this scam which may be brought to court in weeks, according to Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla in June.
In a statement, the Kilusang Bayan Kontra Kurakot asked why charges have not yet been filed against them.
The ICI submitted its findings to the Ombudsman which included referrals for more than 60 individuals either for filing criminal and administrative charges or for further investigation.
Eight members of the House of Representatives and seven senators were included in the referral, according to an Inquirer report quoting Remulla.
Renato Reyes Jr., president of multisectoral group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), said that DPWH officials and the Discaya couple should not only be the ones prosecuted. He stressed that those who pushed for the pork barrel system and made the budget insertions, as well as signed and implemented the budget, should be investigated.
“Flood control and infrastructure corruption is a system. Marcos is at the top, and those at the lower levels cannot be the only ones held accountable,” Reyes wrote in a Facebook post in Filipino.
According to IBON Foundation’s estimate, P197 billion in public funds may have been lost annually to flood control corruption under the Marcos Jr. administration from 2023 to 2025. The amount, IBON said, is enough to procure more than 56,000 hospital beds, hire 200,000 nurses and more than 63,000 doctors, and establish more than 15,000 barangay health stations.
For rice farmers, the amount could produce 6.27 million metric tons of palay and could distribute 84,022 small-scale and 42,011 large-scale driers to them for post-harvest.
Reyes said that it seems no one felt ashamed, as the alleged corruption and its cover-up continue. (DAA)
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