Trail of evidence

For obvious reasons, there have been unmistakable aggressive efforts in deflecting the public outrage away from the original sinners in the multibillion-peso “ghost” flood control projects.

- MARICHU A. VILLANUEVA

Notably, the storm started on the midterm State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) last July 21. It was when PBBM unleashed the national outrage after hignow infamous dig against lawmakers: “Mahiya naman kayo.”

PBBM hurled such derision against the congressional initiatives, insertions and errata that went into the 2025 budget approved into law by the 19th Congress. To this end, PBBM tasked then Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary Manuel Bonoan to conduct audit investigation of its flood control projects for the past three years. Specifically, the Chief Executive directed Bono-an to investigate the specific congressional realignments in the 2025 budget law that went to non-administration flood control and other infrastructure projects.

In compliance with the presidential directives, Bonoan reported the results of the DPWH internal audit investigation, showing the Marcos administration spent as much as P545 billion in flood control projects from 2022 to 2023. In a full-blown press conference at Malacafang last Aug. 11, PBBM announced the DPWH audit tagged 15 contractors as having cornered most of the yearly agency budget on flood control projects.

“However, this is another disturbing assessment, statistic: 20 percent of the entire P545-billion budget napunta lang sa 15 na contractors. $a 15 na contractors na ‘yan, lima sa kanila ay may kontrata sa buong Pilipinas,” the Chief Executive noted.

So who would not get angry and embarrassed?

More than three years into office, what has the Marcos administration got toshow for such huge sums of public funds spent for flood control projects? After overflowing river systems subsided, it turned out there was no flood control project done at all. So many Filipino lives and properties perished due to severe flooding.