For the latest updates on the flood control controversy and related cases and investigations, skip to this section.
For weeks, news of the flood control controversy has flooded everyone’s social media feeds. Both ordinary citizens and celebrities have taken part in calling out politicians, businessmen, and their relatives for allegations of corruption and ostentatious displays of wealth. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and the House Infrastructure Committee (InfraComm) also began separate probes into the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the 15 contractors linked to the ghost flood control projects, yielding even more accusations and scandals.
It’s a lot to take in, so here’s a quick timeline.
During the State of the Nation Address on July 28, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. called for an audit on the flood control projects under his administration after the country was hit with a series of storms and subsequent floods.
According to the president, an initial review revealed that 20 percent of the flood control projects, costing P100 billion, were all undertaken by 15 contractors.
On August 19, the Senate held its first hearing, attended by DPWH officials and representatives of eight of the listed contractors.
A few days later, Sarah Discaya and Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya became subjects of scrutiny when Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto — whom Sarah ran against in the midterm elections — called out news anchors Julius Babao and Korina Sanchez for featuring the couple in “rags to riches” video features. Sarah Discaya, owner of Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Development Corp., notably did not attend the Senate’s first hearing.
On September 1, Vince Dizon began his term as the DPWH’s new secretary, leaving his post at the Department of Transportation after the previous Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan stepped down amid calls to clean up the agency. Dizon announced that he would update the DPWH’s blacklisting policy to make it permanent instead of limiting it to a year.
That same day, Discaya attended the second Senate hearing, where she told lawmakers that her family had started bidding for DPWH contracts in 2016, the year that former President Rodrigo Duterte’s Build, Build, Build Program was inaugurated. At the hearing, Wawao Builders General Manager Mark Allan Arevalo struggled to tell senators whether the firm had ghost projects in Bulacan.
On September 4, the DPWH placed Wawao Builders and SYMS Construction Trading after finding that their Bulacan projects were incomplete despite being written as complete in agency records.
Protesters took to the office of St. Gerrard Construction, one of the Discayas’ other firms, in Pasig City and vandalized its gate, while others picketed outside the DPWH office in Manila. On September 5, protesters held demonstrations outside the House of Representatives in Quezon City as lawmakers held a budget hearing for the DPWH indoors.
On September 8, the Senate held its third hearing, where the Discayas named several congressmen, their staff, and DPWH officials allegedly involved in the anomalous flood control projects, including actor and Quezon City First District Representative Juan Carlos “Arjo” Atayde. Curlee Discaya said that the solons received kickbacks from said projects.
Later that day, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero was ousted from his position as Senate president after 15 other lawmakers voted to replace him with Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III. Escudero is linked to the flood control controversy through Centerways Construction and Development Inc. President Lawrence Lubiano, who contributed P30 million to Escudero’s campaign for the senatorship in 2022.
The ouster marks Sotto’s second term as Senate president, and also saw Sen. Jinggoy Estrada replaced by Sen. Ping Lacson as Senate president pro tempore and Sen. Joel Villanueva replaced by Sen. Migz Zubiri as majority leader. Lacson also replaced Sen. Rodante Marcoleta as chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee.
At a House InfraComm hearing on September 9, former DPWH Bulacan Assistant District Engineer Brice Hernandez claimed that he and other engineers acted as bagmen for agency officials and senators, naming Estrada, Villanueva, DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, and former Bulacan District Engineer Henry Alcantara. The senators have denied their involvement in the flood control projects.
Can you keep up? Read on for the latest news.
Latest Updates
DPWH Files Graft Complaint vs. Bulacan Agency Officials, Contractors
On September 11, the DPWH filed a criminal complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman against 20 personnel of the agency’s Bulacan office and contractors involved in the province’s ghost flood control projects. The regional and district officials include district engineers Alcantara, Hernandez, and Jaypee Mendoza.
The contractors in the complaint are Wawao Builders General Manager Mark Allan Arevalo, SYMS Construction Trading owner Sally Santos, IM Construction President Robert Imperio, and St. Timothy Construction owners Sarah Discaya and Ma. Roma Angeline Rimando.
In the September 8 Senate hearing, Santos alleged that the DPWH Bulacan officials handled the documents and signatures to record SYMS Construction Trading’s projects as complete. According to her, the money from the contracts awarded to the company would be deposited into her account, and she would then deliver a cut of the money back to the involved DPWH officials in boxes.
The complaint filed by the national DPWH office cites violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Government Procurement Act, and malversation through falsification of public documents. Dizon noted in a press briefing that these violations are non-bailable. He also called the complaint “the first among many cases against those who need to be held accountable.”
Marcos Signs EO Forming Independent Commission to Probe Flood Control, Other Infra Irregularities
On September 11, Marcos signed an executive order forming the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), a three-member body mandated to investigate alleged corruption, irregularities, and misuse of funds in government flood control and related projects within the last 10 years.
The ICI will be made of a chairperson and two members “of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence.” No other announcements have been made regarding its members. Rappler reports that earlier in the week, Marcos said that no politicians will be appointed to the new commission as the investigative work involves a “technical exercise.”
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