'Senators, congressmen face flood control raps'

Criminal charges are expected to be filed by Jan. 15 against Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva, former senator Bong Revilla and several congressmen over their alleged involvement in the flood control corruption scandal, Sen.

- By NEIL JAYSON SERVALLOS

Imee Marcos said yesterday, citing reports she received from a source she did not identify.In an interview, Marcos also said she received information that CWS party-list Rep. Edwin Gardiola, Benguet Rep. Eric Yap and ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Edvic Yap would also be included in the charges.

Blue Ribbon committee hearings last year had revealed how Estrada, Villanueva and Revilla allegedly received kickbacks from anomalous flood control projects.

Marcos said she knows that her colleagues have long been preparing their legal defense. She lamented how lawmakers from the House of Representatives, especially her cousin former speaker Martin Romualdez, were not being pursued.

"It makes me feel sad that only senators are being targeted even if it’s Bonjing and the speaker's office that were the sources of corruption in flood control," she said, in a mocking reference to the Leyte congressman.

Marcos recalled that in November, she had said that Senate witness Orly Guteza would recant his testimony linking Romualdez and former Ako Bicol party-list congressman Zaldy Co to the flood control controversy.

She also said there was, so far, no direct evidence connecting Senators Francis Escudero and Mark Villar, and former senators Nancy Binay and Grace Poe, to so-called "ghost" or substandard flood control projects.

All of them have denied involvement in the controversy, which triggered large-scale protests in 2025 and calls for accountability among government officials.

Marcos claimed that Blue Ribbon committee members were being prevented from linking certain administration personalities especially Romualdez.

But Sotto III and Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson slammed Marcos for what they called her baseless claims against the Blue Ribbon committee investigation on anomalous flood control projects.