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The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) has invited former Public Works and Highways secretary and now Senator Mark Villar to attend its hearing on the investigation into the flood control anomalies.

Based on the invitation issued on Thursday, ICI Chair Andres Reyes requested Villar to appear before the ICI hearing in Taguig City at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 7.

Reyes said Villar’s appearance is ‘to testify under oath to discuss and shed light relative to the planning, budgeting, execution, supervision, and monitoring of flood control and other infrastructure projects under your jurisdiction during your tenure as Secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which is the subject matter under inquiry/ investigation by the Commission.’

Meanwhile, Villar broke his silence on Thursday, saying that he welcomes any investigations on his alleged involvement in anomalous flood control projects, maintaining that he has ‘nothing to hide.’

In a statement, the former DPWH-chief-turned-senator categorically stated that he has neither direct nor indirect ownership nor controlling interest in any company participating in DPWH projects.

‘The official record will confirm that none of my relatives acquired any contracts from 2016 to 2021, during my tenure as Secretary,’ said Villar.

On Thursday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said that there are efforts from the camp of Villar to set up a meeting, but added that he has yet to respond to it.

Remulla said that his preference for all official communications and proceedings to be handled ‘transparently, officially, across the board.’

‘I still don’t have a response, as I’d rather everything be done through official channels. This ensures it’s handled transparently, officially, and consistently across the board, leaving no room for accusations,’ Remulla told reporters.

Remulla said there is a necessity to thoroughly review documents related to whatever issues the senator’s camp wants to discuss.

Villar was the DPWH chief from 2016 to 2021, during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

On Wednesday, ICI executive director Brian Keith Hosaka said in an ambush interview that Villar, as well as former House Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co, will be subpoenaed to attend its hearing on the investigation of the flood control anomalies.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) announced that electricity services in Eastern Visayas have been fully restored following the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck Bogo City, Cebu, on Tuesday night.

In its 10:00 p.m. advisory on Wednesday, NGCP said that the Leyte-Samar sub-grid was completely restored at 7:12 p.m., ensuring normal power supply in the region despite several transmission lines in other parts of the Visayas still being down.

The quake forced four power plants to shut down, leaving 348.2 megawatts of supply unavailable.

On the transmission side, the Tabango-Kananga 230kV Line 1 was restored at 9:18 p.m. Still, other major lines remain out of service, including the Daanbantayan-Tabango and Daanbantayan-Compostela 230kV Lines, as well as the Leyte-Luzon 350kV High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Line.

Earlier, NGCP placed the Visayas grid on yellow alert after reserves fell below the required level. This was lifted at 9 p.m. after available capacity reached 2,239 megawatts against a peak demand of 1,950 megawatts.

A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.

NGCP assured the public that transmission services in the Visayas grid are now operating normally, and that restoration work on the remaining affected facilities continues.

The idea of leaving the majority bloc had crossed Sen. JV Ejercito’s mind as he expressed dismay over how the Senate seems to be losing its focus on the real culprits behind the anomalous flood control projects.

For now, Ejercito said he stays with the majority bloc.

‘As for me, everyone knows I just focus on work. But if you’re no longer happy, then what?’ he said in a Viber message, written in Filipino, on Thursday.

But in an earlier interview posted on social media, Ejercito admitted that he almost left the majority group because he feels that they are already burning down their own house.

‘To be honest, I seriously thought about leaving the majority. Because if this is the direction we’re headed, it’s like we’re burning down our own house. We’re neglecting our colleagues, and we’re forgetting who the real culprits are,’ he said in the interview.

Former and incumbent senators have been accused of receiving kickbacks from either ‘ghost’ or substandard flood control projects of the government.

The scandal has been the subject of separate investigations by the Senate blue ribbon committee, the House of Representatives infrastructure committee, and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).

Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the blue ribbon panel, recently disclosed that almost all senators in the 19th Congress inserted P100 billion worth of items in the 2025 General Appropriations Act.

‘We’re losing focus on the real perpetrators and those behind the chaos,’ Ejercito went on, still responding to queries on Viber.

‘It’s really sad and discouraging. Everything that’s happening is so frustrating – we can’t move forward anymore,’ he further lamented.

Worse, the senator feared that the issues hounding the Senate could ignite calls for its abolition through Charter change.

‘This might just be another People’s Initiative all over again – destroy the Senate so that through Charter change, it can be abolished entirely,’ he said.

The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives on Thursday slammed a Senate resolution urging the International Criminal Court (ICC) to place former President Rodrigo Duterte under house arrest, branding it as a ‘brazen, self-serving attempt’ to cover up his crimes.

In a joint statement, the bloc composed of ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, Kabataan Rep. Renee Louise Co, and Gabriela Rep. Sarah Elago urged the ICC to proceed with Duterte’ prosecution, as the resolution only proved that the former president continued to enjoy influence at the highest levels of government.

‘This is not a humanitarian gesture, but a brazen attempt to obstruct justice and protect a mass murderer responsible for thousands of extrajudicial killings,’ they said.

‘We reject the Senate’s claims of humanitarian concerns. The same senators who now plead for Duterte’s comfort showed no compassion for the thousands of victims of his brutal drug war – mostly urban poor and marginalized communities who were summarily executed,’ they added.

On Wednesday, the upper chamber voted 15-3-2 to adopt Senate Resolution No. 144, which argued that Duterte should undergo a medical examination to determine whether he was fit to withstand regular detention.

‘Should the medical findings prove that his detention will further worsen his medical condition, (the ICC should) allow the former president to be detained under house arrest,’ read the resolution, which was signed by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.

The 80-year-old former president has been detained at the Scheveningen prison in The Hague since March as he awaits trial over charges of crimes against humanity.

His camp has claimed a myriad of medical issues ailing the former president – from cognitive impairment to supposedly being discovered unconscious on the floor of his room – as they try to get the ICC to stop its trial.

The Makabayan lawmakers are unconvinced, however, and noted that the ‘same senators who now plead for Duterte’s comfort showed no compassion for the thousands of victims of his brutal drug war – mostly urban poor and marginalized communities who were summarily executed.’

Specifically, they highlighted what they called the irony of one of the resolution’s sponsors: Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa, Duterte’s former police chief and implementer of the war on drugs, who was named in ICC documents as a potential co-perpetrator in three counts of murder against the former president.

‘How can someone involved in a crime pass a resolution about it to his benefit? This only proves the Dutertes remain very powerful in the Philippines and that no justice can be achieved if he is tried here,’ Tinio said.

Echoed Co: ‘This is nothing more than a political maneuver designed to protect Duterte and his cohorts from facing the full weight of international justice. The Senate is more concerned with protecting a former president than delivering justice to thousands of victims of state-sponsored killings.’

Elago, meanwhile, described the measure as an ‘insult’ to families who lost loved ones in Duterte’s bloody campaign.

‘This is not about mercy, but about perpetuating impunity,’ she said.

The government can save around P400 billion should it decide to reprice or outright cancel Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) existing projects worth P1.6 trillion, Batangas Representative Leandro Legarda Leviste said on Thursday.

Leviste, in a statement, cited the case of the DPWH Regional Office IV-A’s decision to terminate a P95.99 million flood control project in Lemery, Batangas, even if it was awarded to a contractor last June 2025.

The lawmaker relayed that DPWH Regional Director Jovel Mendoza said that the contract has been terminated because of a ‘change in government policy on the implementation of flood control-related projects,’ before adding that no payments would be made since it was only recently awarded.

‘After all the hearings and protests against corruption in DPWH, we must remember there are over P1 trillion ongoing projects and another P600 billion in upcoming projects that DPWH can still do something about: Use its grounds to terminate contracts, and lower the DUPA (Detailed Unit Price Analysis), to save P400 Billion from P1.6 Trillion in projects,’ Leviste said.

‘DPWH is continuing to spend on overpriced projects every day, losing over P1 billion per day or P30 billion per month, and it is within DPWH’s power to stop these losses now,’ he added.

Leviste said he and the Lemery local government unit (LGU) questioned the flood control project, as it was supposedly implemented without coordination with local officials, without a building permit, and despite the lack of alignment with the LGU’s flood control master plan.

According to Leviste, DPWH contracts allow for ‘Termination for Convenience’ if the project has become ‘economically, financially, or technically impractical and/or unnecessary, such as, but not limited to, fortuitous event(s) or changes in law and national government policies,’ without any penalty to the government

‘DPWH contracts also allow for ‘Termination for Unlawful Acts’ if the contractor has committed unlawful acts including ‘corrupt, fraudulent, collusive and coercive practices; drawing up or using forged documents; using adulterated materials, means or methods, or engaging in production contrary to rules of sincere or the trade’,’ Leviste pointed out.

‘[.] (The) DPWH can invoke ‘Termination for Convenience’ as DPWH Regional Office IV-A did in the case of the Lemery flood control project, or ‘Termination for Unlawful Acts’, citing the testimony of former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo that ‘almost 100 percent’ of DPWH bids in the whole country are rigged, and the testimony of former DPWH Bulacan 1st District Engineer Brice Hernandez that ‘all’ DPWH projects in his district need to be substandard because of 25-30 percent kickbacks that contractors pay to win rigged bids,’ he added.

During the entire deliberations on the proposed 2026 national budget, Leviste has been looking for ways to trim down the DPWH budget-and possibly realign it towards funding college scholarships. Last September 12, the lawmaker said a lower allocation for DPWH can be used to provide college scholarships through the Commission on Higher Education’s Tulong Dunong Program.

On August 19, Leviste said that amid concerns about corruption and substandard work in flood control projects, the over P250 billion fund allocated for such projects in 2026 should be redirected to the construction of classrooms and other more pressing matters.

Leviste said that since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself has indicated that flood control projects may have been affected by corruption, half of the funds for this purpose can be used to create more classrooms, while the other half can help in lowering taxes.

In response, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said that it is up to Congress’s prerogative if they see that flood control funds are better off with the education sector-especially since the executive branch has made it a point to focus on education for 2026.

Eventually, the resubmitted DPWH budget was slashed by P255.5 billion, part of which was allocated towards social aid, health programs, and a higher education budget.

Last September 18, Leviste secured Secretary Vince Dizon’s approval to reduce DPWH costs to 10 percent, allowing the country to save more funds.

Leviste suggested lowering the DUPA by 10 percent. DUPA is the breakdown of costs for projects like construction materials, expense for use of equipment, and labor. According to Leviste, during the time of former Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, the DUPA was brought down by 10 percent, and he believes it can be cut down by 15 to 20 percent currently.

No official from the Office of the Vice President (OVP) showed up again for the plenary debates at the House of Representatives, with Vice President Sara Duterte demanding two conditions for her to show up before the chamber.

During the plenary session on Thursday, the proposed OVP budget was once again brought up, as the House seeks to end debates on House Bill (HB) No. 4058 or the General Appropriations Bill (GAB). However, budget sponsor and Palawan 2nd District Rep. Jose Alvarez admitted that no one from the OVP is present to assist him.

Instead, Alvarez showed three letters from Duterte – first, assigning staffers like Assistant Secretary Lemuel Ortonio and others to attend in her behalf; second, notifying the House committee on appropriations that Ortonio has been designated as officer-in-charge due to the leave of absence of Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez; and a set of demands for her appearance at the House plenary.

Part of Duterte’s demands is for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to also show up at the House to defend the Office of the President budget.

‘Thirdly, we still have another letter addressed to our chair, (Nueva Ecija Rep.) Mikaela Angela Suansing [.] In view of these letters Mr. Speaker, we have given the Office of the Vice President utmost respect in the procedures of this Congress in order to deliberate on the budget of the OVP,’ Alvarez said.

‘Mr. Speaker, there’s no one from the Office of the Vice President, and I’m prepared to stand alone here, and to stand for the budget of the OVP,’ he added.

Alvarez also read the letter.

‘It has come to my attention that the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) budget of P902.895 million has been deferred due to the committee’s insistence that I attend the plenary deliberations. I am prepared to attend, however, I am seeking the following: 1. The House of Representatives demand the attendance of President Marcos for the P27.3 billion budget deliberation of the Office of the President,’ Duterte said, as relayed by Alvarez.

‘Alternatively, I will attend if the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability will produce before the plenary schedule, a Department of Justice (DO) document confirming that the Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) for the following OVP personnel has been lifted: Atty. Zuleika Lopez, Mr. Lemuel Ortonio, Atty. Rosalynne Sanchez, Atty. Sunshine Charry Fajarda, Ms. Gina Acosta, Ms. Julieta Villadelrey, Mr. Edward Fajarda,’ she added.

OVP’s budget was originally scheduled to be discussed last Tuesday, but it was deferred to Wednesday, due to the absence of an undersecretary-level official to assist the budget sponsor.

Proposed allocation

On Wednesday, Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan asked whether Vice President Sara Duterte is present to defend the agency’s proposed allocation for 2026. Deputy Speaker Yevgeny Emano, who was presiding over the session, asked Deputy Majority Leader and Mindoro 1st District Rep. Arnan Panaligan to respond.

Panaligan then named the officials sent by OVP, which includes Ortonio. After this response from the Panaligan, Libanan asked if the requirement of the House is to have either the head of agency or the second-in-command – an undersecretary-level official – assist the budget sponsor in defending the proposed budget.

Panaligan confirmed this, before adding that plenary debates on the OVP budget was actually scheduled for Tuesday, but it was rescheduled to Wednesday because of the same issue.

This is not the first time that the OVP sent an official that is not of an undersecretary level. Last September 12, at the initial budget hearing before the House committee on appropriations, the panel was forced to reschedule the discussions as Ortonio was the highest-ranked official that Duterte sent.

Budget sponsor and Palawan 2nd District Rep. Jose Alvarez said that Vice President Duterte will eventually show up on September 16 – a promise that she fulfilled.

During the committee hearing, both the Minority and the Majority accorded parliamentary courtesy to Duterte, sparing her from questions by the panel’s members. Duterte however waived the parliamentary courtesy given, answering some questions from the Minority solons.

This allowed ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio and Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Co to raise questions regarding low obligation rates and the disallowed OVP confidential funds.

Parliamentary courtesy for OVP has been a hot topic as the Minority through Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Caloocan 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice joined the Majority in vowing to maintain this tradition for high-ranking officials.

Tinio objected to this, saying that while this is a tradition, current times call for the waiving of these parliamentary courtesy. The lawmaker also challenged Duterte to waive this courtesy so that she can answer questions related to her offices’ budget.

According to Tinio, Duterte has to answer several important questions – like who is Mary Grace Piattos, the name that signed off several acknowledgement receipts of the OVP confidential fund expenditures.

Piattos, along with other weird names, were not found inside the Philippine Statistics Authority database for live birth, marriage, and death registry.

Some local government units in Luzon declared class suspensions on Thursday due to the inclement weather brought by Tropical Storm Paolo.

Listed below are the areas that have announced class suspensions:

ILOCOS REGION

La Union

All municipalities: all levels (public and private)

Pangasinan

All municipalities: all levels (public and private)

CAGAYAN VALLEY

Cagayan

Aparri: all levels (public and private)

Baggao: all levels (public and private)

Tuguegarao: all levels (public and private)

Peñablanca: all levels (public and private)

Sto. Niño: all levels (public and private)

Isabela

All municipalities: all levels (public and private); government work

Nueva Vizcaya

Bambang: all levels (public and private)

CENTRAL LUZON

Nueva Ecija

Cabanatuan: all levels (public and private)

Santa Rosa: all levels (public and private)

Muñoz: all levels (public and private)

Peñaranda: until high school level; shift to Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM)

Aurora

All municipalities: all levels (public and private)

BICOL REGION

Masbate: all levels (public and private)

CORDILLERA ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

Benguet: until senior high school; all face-to-face classes (public and private)

Meanwhile, the following municipalities in Cebu have also suspended classes due to the effects of the magnitude 6.9 earthquake and its aftershocks:

San Fernando: all levels (public and private)

Talisay: all face-to-face classes (public and private); shift to ADM

Lapu-Lapu City: all face-to-face classes (public and private)

Cebu City: until high school level (public only)

The poor, or the bottom 30 percent of the population, spend most of their limited resources on everyday essentials such as food, house rent, and education.

This was pointed out by Dr. Rogelio Alicor Panao, INQUIRER Metrics data scientist and associate professor at the University of the Philippines, who said that latest data on consumer spending ‘challenges long-held beliefs about Filipino spending habits.’

Panao, in his analysis of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ 2021 Consumer Finance Survey, stated that among the bottom 30 percent, almost three-fifths of every peso, or 58.2 percent is swallowed by essential food.

‘[This is] proof that survival still dictates daily choices,’ he said.

Even the richest 30 percent and middle 40 percent spend half their resources on food. However, ‘the gradual drop’ – 51 percent and 57 percent – ‘shows how rising incomes slowly loosen the grip on the dining table.’

RELATED STORY: Fighting poverty, bridging inequality

‘As earnings climb, families channel more to housing, utilities, and transportation, upgrading homes and gaining mobility,’ he explained, stressing that the wealthiest spend the most on furnishings and maintenance, a quiet signal of comfort and stability.’

Yet education flips the script: the poorest devote 5.7 percent of their budget to schooling – over twice what the richest spend – suggesting that among the poor more particularly, education is the surest escape from poverty.

‘The biggest surprise though appears to be in the pesos spent on life’s little luxuries,’ Panao said, pointing out that contrary to the cliché that the poor waste spare pesos on vices, they actually spend the least on non-essential food and alcohol, just 1 and 1.4 percent respectively.

Middle and upper groups indulge more at 1.9 percent and 2.4 percent respectively.

‘For policymakers, the message should be clear-make food affordable, housing livable, and education accessible. The poorest are not squanderers-they are disciplined survivors fighting to get through,’ he said

Each year, the Philippines generates 14.6 million tons of municipal solid waste, based on data from the 2025 World Bank What a Waste Global Database.

With close to 15 million tons of municipal solid waste, the Philippines landed 27th out of 50 countries in the database, which covers almost all countries and 330 major cities.

RELATED STORY: Risks loom as worsening garbage mess pushes deep PH dive into waste-to-energy

Dr. Rogelio Alicor Panao, INQUIRER Metrics data scientist and associate professor at the University of the Philippines, said in his analysis that ‘this places the country ahead of wealthier economies such as Australia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands in terms of waste produced.’

He pointed out that in the Philippines, ‘the link between garbage and flooding is often underscored, with clogged waterways worsening inundations during heavy rains.’

This, especially since the Philippines is once again on the top of the World Risk Index, the yardstick for being highly exposed to extreme weather effects, like flooding.

The World Risk Report 2025, published last week, discussed the disaster risk for 193 countries worldwide, covering all member states of the United Nations and over 99 percent of the population.

As pointed out by Panao, ‘globally, the problem [of waste generation] is even more pronounced, with China on the lead at 398.08 million tons, followed by the United States (265.22 million) and India (189.75 million).

Large middle-income nations such as Brazil (79.06 million) and Indonesia (65.20 million) also add substantially to the world’s total, alongside industrialized countries like Germany (50.63 million) and Japan (42.72 million).

For Panao, ‘these figures reveal a universal challenge: growing volumes of waste are straining both rich and developing nations alike.’

RELATED STORY: Chaos, confusion cloud final stretch of global plastics treaty talks

However, in the case of the Philippines, ‘the crisis is compounded-solid waste remains a driver of flooding even as longstanding issues of corruption and inefficiency in flood control projects continue to hinder effective solutions.’

Last July, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. condemned corruption in the government’s multi-billion flood control projects, lamenting how these could have helped mitigate flooding, especially during the onslaught of typhoons and monsoon rains.

The Office of the President (OP) pledged to donate more than P200 million to Cebu province and its local government units to help them in rehabilitation works following the powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced the donation during a situation briefing with members of the Cabinet and officials of the local government of Cebu province outside the city hall of Bogo City on Thursday.

‘I know at this point that the [quick response] funds of the provincial government and the local governments are already depleted or about to run out. Because you were compelled to realign the money that you were supposed to use for other purposes to help your people,’ he said.

According to the President, P50 million of the OP’s donation would go to Cebu provincial government, while another P20 million would be provided for Bogo City, which was the epicenter of the powerful earthquake.

The OP would also provide assistance to nine of Cebu province’s towns affected by the earthquake.

These were in San Remigio and Sogod, which would receive P20 million each; and the municipalities of Bantayan, Daanbantayan, Madridejos, Medellin, Santa Fe, Tabogon, and Tabuelan, which would get P10 million each.

According to President Marcos, the national government would also provide P20 million for Department of Health-retained hospitals in the province, and P5 million each for each provincial hospital.

More funds from DBM

Furthermore, the President also ordered the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release a government support fund worth P150 million for Cebu and P75 million for San Remigio, Bogo, and Medellin.

‘This is only an initial release; we are contemplating further releases that will be in the pipeline,’ he said of the fund from the DBM.

At least 72 individuals reportedly died and 294 were injured due to the temblor, which damaged several heritage churches, billions worth of roads and bridges, many residential houses, and hundreds of classrooms, while causing widespread power outages in the province.

The magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck at 9:59 p.m., with the epicenter located 21 kilometers northeast of Bogo City, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.