The country is exhausted – and rightly so. Months into the exposé of massive flood-controlirregularities, the public watched a grotesque theater of political sparring, procedural foot-dragging and institutional buck-passing while clear leads and documentary evidence cry out fordecisive action.
The Senate Blue Ribbon hearings have degenerated into a partisan arena where feuding blocsand influence-peddling overshadowed the purpose of the inquiry: accountability. Reports thatmany senators have ‘insertions’ in the 2025 GAA and political characters who are more intenton scoring partisan points than the truth have only deepened public anger. The House,meanwhile, has suspended its probe and deferred to the Independent Commission forInfrastructure (ICI) – an agency whose secretive, glacial approach to investigating thesescandals has only fueled suspicions and confusion.
In this toxic stew of political self-interests, only DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon’s actions stoodout as the kind of unambiguous, no-nonsense leadership our nation sorely needs. He zeroed in on the root of the alleged scams: the Bulacan First Engineering District (DEO), which, according to their admissions and COA fraud audits, produced more than 50 ghost flood control projects valued at P4-P5 billion. The COA audits and internal DPWH reviews – not mere gossip – identified a systematic factory of fake project documents and processed fund disbursements that converted fraudulent paperwork into real cash. The operation involved its district officers, section chiefs, project engineers, accountants and private contractors in an organized pattern of malversation and bid manipulation.
Dizon’s response was swift and surgical: criminal complaints and administrative cases against 22 DPWH first Bulacan DEO were filed with the Ombudsman, three were administratively dismissed and more than 16 were under preventive suspension. Formal requests for the permanent revocation of their professional licenses were submitted before the PRC.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council upon request of Dizon froze the assets of these DPWH personnel together with five contractors and their companies. The Court of Appeals approved asset-freeze requests against an initial 147 bank accounts and 27 insurance policies.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Central is now looking at violations of the new Anti- Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA) on the so called ‘money-muling’ or the use of financial accounts to move funds known to come from crimes. Under AFASA, bank secrecy and data privacy rules are waived, enabling faster action without a court order.
Apart from blacklisting, cases of bid rigging and bid manipulation against the Discaya-owned companies and five other contractors were submitted to the Philippine Competition Commission. The Discaya companies cornered 1,214 DPWH contracts since 2016 and if proven guilty may be fined more than P300 billion. Further, 27 of the Discayas’ luxury cars worth P200 million were taken by the Bureau of Customs for investigation of possible tax evasion.
Dizon’s coordinated use of administrative, criminal, regulatory and financial tools – from Customs, PRC, Ombudsman complaints, AMLC requests to PCC bid-rigging cases – demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of how modern corruption operates and how it must be countered. It is clearly a playbook of real governance: follow the paper trail, use the law, move fast, and isolate the bad actors so they cannot tamper with evidence or continue to loot the public coffers.
What happened in Bulacan is a highly organized syndicate which exploited the mechanics of budget allocation – GAA allotments, NEP entries, unprogrammed funds and SAROs – in collusion with corrupt senators, congressmen , public officers and private contractors. The sums and the network are staggering. But the work is far from done. For all the bold steps taken in Bulacan, the obvious and urgent questions remain unanswered and demand a national response:
Is Bulacan First Engineering District the only district among DPWH’s 177 DEOs where ghost orsubstandard flood-control projects were produced? Or is it merely the first to be exposed?Are Usec Bernardo and ARD Henry Alcantara the real masterminds of the factory of fakeprojects, both during 2019 under PRRD’s time and today under PBBM’s watch? Who were theirbosses in PRRD’s time? Is Sec. Bonoan directly involved in the ghost project? Who supplied the funding streams inside the DPWH Central? Who signed off the dubious SAROs inside DBM? Which Senators, congressmen or higher-level officials, from Duterte and PBBM’s administrations, actively facilitated this syndicate or deliberately turned a blind eye?
These are questions the Ombudsman, COA, AMLC, PCC, and the judiciary must pursue withunrelenting vigor – not selective outrage.
The Filipino people are not asking for vengeance; they are demanding justice, transparency, andthe restoration of trust in public service. But the slow-paced Department of Justice and thesecretive Independent Committee on Infrastructure are failing in this regard.
We are awaiting the filing of plunder charges, subsequent conviction and jailing these corruptDPWH officers and contractors who openly admitted their guilt. Include in the plunder casestheir political enablers regardless of who they are, senators, congressmen or Cabinet rankmembers.
Let us be clear: those who looted flood-control funds stole more than money. They stole safety,livelihoods and the public’s right to live without constant fear of preventable disasters. If we are to honor the victims of floods and the rule of law, the investigations must go all the way to thetop. No excuses. No theatrics. No immunity for the powerful.Historic failure: How this Senate and House broke public trust
The Filipino people are furious. What is playing out in Congress is very embarrassing. The House of Representatives has more than 70 ‘cong-tractors’ who feed on the national budget yearly for their further enrichment. In the Senate, routine politicking abounds and it is a travesty of accountability and a national disgrace. We see our elected senators and congressmen more consumed with protecting privileges and jockeying for power than getting to the bottom of this corruption scheme.
This Senate, for instance, will be remembered for its theatrics, its backroom horse-trading, and itswillingness to treat investigations as bargaining chips. Sen. Panfilo ‘Ping’ Lacson’s announcement that he may step down as Blue Ribbon chair – after delivering some of the most consequential testimonies and documentary leads – lays bare the deeper problem: committee leadership in the Senate is hostage to political whim, not fidelity to the public interest.
Let us be blunt.
If Lacson’s claim that ‘almost all senators have insertions’ in the 2025 budget is true, then the Senate has turned the national budget into a buffet of patronage. When legislators stand to benefit directly from the very appropriations they are supposed to scrutinize, oversight becomes a mockery. When committee chairs are changed because colleagues are ‘dissatisfied’ with hard-hitting investigations, the message is clear: pursue the evidence at your peril.
The stakes are enormous and immediate. The Blue Ribbon Committee holds the keys to truth -and possibly to prosecutions – in matters that implicate senators, congressmen, contractors, andexecutive officials. Yet leadership posturing threatens to derail inquiries into all ghost andsubstandard projects, bid-rigging, and the flow of SAROs, NEP entries, and GAA insertions thatenabled these massive heist.
The arithmetic is simple and corrosive: 15 votes make or break the Senate’s agenda. Its members do not defect for ideology; they defect for promises – committee chairmanships, pork allocations, political favors. That dynamic explains why investigations that should be relentless, but are instead stalled, get postponed, or die on a caucus floor.
Enough.
The public deserves more than procedural theater. We demand institutions that work independently of partisan calculations: a Blue Ribbon Committee that follows evidence rather than political convenience; an independent prosecution that moves beyond grandstanding; a full and public accounting of budget insertions, SAROs and NEP routings; and forensic audits.
To the senators who keep mum or whose votes can change the course of investigations: you are not above scrutiny. If you have legitimate budget priorities, put them on the record and defend them transparently. If you have no credible defense, stop hiding behind ‘procedural’ excuses. The people see through your posturing.
To the Blue Ribbon Committee and leadership: step up or step aside. If the committee is to have any integrity left, it must refuse backroom bargains that protect implicated colleagues; make hearings and evidence as public as legally permissible; coordinate with the Ombudsman, COA, AMLC and the DOJ to push prosecutions and asset freezes without delay.