House minority urges Marcos: Form ‘flood’ probe panel
President Marcos should create an independent body to investigate alleged irregularities in flood control projects worth P545 billion across the country, including any connections to politicians, two House minority leaders said on Thursday.
But Malacañang shrugged off a similar proposal made by Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong to appoint a lead investigator of the alleged corruption in the flood control projects.
Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said that instead of talking to the media and other politicians, Magalong should just reveal all the information that he knows about the supposed conspiracy among lawmakers and private contractors in the government’s infrastructure projects straight to the President.
Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima suggested that Mr. Marcos create an investigation panel through an executive order to look into all the allegations against legislators linked to contractors who won government flood control contracts or were themselves involved in public works.
Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon said he and De Lima agreed that Congress should not conduct its own investigation to avoid accusations that they may be covering up for their colleagues.
Who can join
Speaking to the Inquirer, De Lima said that given the “magnitude of the problem and the anticipated, possible reach of its scope,” the probe ideally “should be handled by an investigative body … that may be assisted by an inter-agency group” consisting of the Department of Justice and its agencies—the National Bureau of Investigation and National Prosecutor Service.
At the same time, she said, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), as well as the Philippine National Police, Commission on Audit and the Office of the Ombudsman, may be included in the body that could recommend appropriate charges, if ever.
Ridon still sees a role for Congress in the probe through the House tricommittee, or tricomm, composed of the committee of public accounts, which he heads; the public works committee chaired by Surigao del Sur. Rep. Romeo Momo Sr., and the committee on good government led by Manila Rep. Joel Chua.
Sona call for review
“Basically, in the event that the tricommittee gets to a point where there is a legislator named, we will still afford him the right to respond in the committee, but then afterwards we could recuse ourselves and endorse the matter to such a third body, once it is constituted,” he said.
“The problem is that the third body is not yet an animal,” he said, referring to a formal investigation panel still to be established by the Chief Executive.
Though not yet formalized through an executive order, the President mentioned in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last month and in subsequent pronouncements that he had directed multiple agencies to investigate the reported irregularities in flood control projects.
Over 9,800 projects
The Regional Project Monitoring Committees shall lead the review of the flood control projects. These are composed of the regional directors of the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DepDev) as chair. The regional directors of the Department of Budget and Management are the cochairs.
Each regional monitoring committee shall include the regional heads of the DILG, the Presidential Management Staff of the Office of the President, and representatives from private sector and nongovernment organizations.
The reports of the committees shall then be submitted to DepDev, which shall then be consolidated before these are submitted to the President.
Being at the center of the investigation, the DPWH is not part of the Regional Project Monitoring Committee.
Magalong to be invited
The Marcos administration is investigating all the 9,855 flood control projects worth P545 billion that were implemented by the DPWH from July 2022, his first month in office, to May 2025.
Ridon said he would invite Magalong to the House probe after the mayor disclosed that he supposedly had a list of 67 lawmakers involved in irregular infrastructure contracts.
Ridon said the House tricomm will require him to disclose the names of the 67 alleged legislator-contractors taking kickbacks from government contracts, and the names of lawmakers getting 35-40 percent kickbacks.
At a briefing in Malacañang, Castro said the President already provided the “mechanism and system” on how the alleged irregularities in the flood control projects would be investigated.
“And whatever assistance Mayor Magalong can offer—if the information he has is complete, it will be better for him to submit it directly to the President,” she said.
“Won’t it be better for him to submit this report to the President? And if it is necessary to pursue charges or file a case with sufficient evidence against them, this should be done immediately as well,” she said.
Ties to Escudero, Co
Mr. Marcos’ Sumbong sa Pangulo website revealed that major contractors had links to members of Congress, including Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co and Senate President Francis Escudero.
Co, the appropriations chair during the 19th Congress, had said that he had already divested himself from his construction company.
Escudero confirmed he had received campaign donations from Lawrence Lubiano, owner of Centerways Construction, one of the companies on the President’s list. But the Senate leader insisted that he made no effort to help the company deal with the government and he was not Lubiano’s business partner.
Sunwest
Co’s company, Sunwest Construction and Development Corp., one of three companies flagged by Mr. Marcos for cornering a large share of the flood control contracts nationwide, is behind one of Eastern Visayas’ largest flood protection efforts—the Leyte Tide Embankment Project.
The multiyear, P16-billion coastal defense system stretches over 12 kilometers across Tacloban City and the towns of Palo, Tanauan and Tolosa.
It was built to shield coastal communities from storm surges like those unleashed by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) in 2013.
Construction began in 2016 and it has since stood firm against several typhoons.
The other companies with projects in the region that were flagged are Alpha Omega General Construction and Development Corp., which has one project worth P241 million, and Hi-Tone Construction and Development Corp., with two projects in flood-prone Abuyog, Leyte. —WITH A REPORT FROM JOEY GABIETA
