BBM condoning those in flood works scandal
Bongbong Marcos claims to have brought to light the P1.7-trillion flood works scam. Yet he keeps being linked to it.
That’s because among the implicated are his Cabinet men and Congress supermajority allies. None of them have been jailed. BBM has even promoted or reappointed the Cabinet members.
“Mahiya naman kayo!” BBM chastised the plunderers in his State of the Nation of July 28, 2025. Yet his first move was a dud. He formed a secretive but powerless Investigative Commission for Infrastructure.
His first cousin ex-Speaker Martin Romualdez was labeled “mastermind.” No complaint has been filed. There’s only a report by a panel of ombudsman prosecutors.
That report stems largely from video accounts of ex-congressman Zaldy Co. Co claims that, as House appropriations committee chairman, he delivered suitcases of cash to Romualdez – and to BBM no less.
The videos are legally flawed. They are not sworn affidavits. Co prepared them from Europe, where he is hiding from the law.
The ombudsman has lent credence to eight of 18 ex-soldiers who acted as Co’s delivery men. Their testimonies can easily collapse. They emerged allegedly because funded by ex-congressman Mike Defensor.
Defensor is aligned with impeached VP Sara Duterte, who is accused of plotting to kill BBM. He was recently jailed while on trial for P75-million bribery. It’s unsure if he can still finance Romualdez’s “accusers.”
The ombudsman says Romualdez planned, oversaw and ultimately benefited from the funneling of public funds into ghost infrastructure projects. He supposedly got P56-billion kickback.
The ombudsman has only wangled from the Sandiganbayan Anti-Graft Court a precautionary hold departure order against the unindicted Romualdez’s flight from the Philippines.
Former finance secretary Ralph Recto and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman were incriminated due to fund diversions. They rechanneled into flood and bridge works P60-billion PhilHealth subsidy and P107-billion deposit insurance from the 2024 allocations.
The Supreme Court ordered the return of the P60 billion to PhilHealth. BBM did so by allocating new taxes for the missing amount. Instead of chastising Recto, BBM promoted him to executive secretary. He appointed the resigned Pangandaman as chairwoman of the government’s Al-Amanah Islamic Investment Bank.
BBM disclosed in December 2025 the freezing of P16 billion in property, deposits and aircraft of congressmen brothers Eric and Edvic Yap. Yet no raps have been filed for supposed fake flood works.
Edvic has since resigned as congressman. He is presently rushing the two-year long construction of a mansion in posh Ayala Heights, Quezon City. BBM’s admin is only watching.
BBM’s sincerity is thus doubted.
Last July 5 he lamented: “I’m the one who exposed all of this... Bakit ang mga nakaraan ba na pangulo, may nakita ba kayong ginawang ganoon? Wala. Sa akin lang. Tapos sasabihin, ako raw ang may kagagawan. Kung talagang raket ko ‘yon, bakit ko sisirain ‘yong raket ko, ‘di ba?”
Perhaps on his State of the Nation on July 27 he can announce arrests.
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Isabela is the top corn-producing province and second in rice. It needs giant granaries. Most basic in those storages are rigid pallets to stack, protect, lift and transport enumerable sacks of grains.
Where to get those hard plastic platforms? Simple: from homes, streets and landfills.
By recycling plastic trash, Isabela is able to save the environment from non-biodegradables and save money instead of importing pallets.
Inaugural of the pallet factory was timely. Isabela harvested 1.1 million tons of corn and 1.5 million tons of palay in 2025. Gov. Rodito Albano and Vice Gov. Kiko Dy opened the facility right in the Provincial Capitol Complex early this year.
Primary raw materials are high-density Polyethylene or Plastic #2 and Polypropylene or Plastic #5, valued for durability and reusability.
Accepted recyclables are shampoo bottles, hard caps, yogurt bottles, six-pack rings and cases, broken plastic storage boxes, wash basins and containers of detergent, oil and food.
Polyethylene PET bottles or Plastic #1, such as water bottles, and Polyvinyl Chloride PVC are excluded to maintain product quality. Such materials have different melting properties and may contain contaminants that can affect the strength, consistency and durability of the final pallets.
Plastic wastes come from local government units and junkshops. The municipalities of San Mateo, Echague and Jones were among the first suppliers of collected plastics from their material recovery facilities and sanitary landfills.
To encourage segregation, unsorted plastics are purchased at P12- P15 per kilo, while sorted materials can fetch up to P30 per kilo.
The pallet factory is accelerating output. Isabela might soon need to source materials from neighboring provinces, Environment and Natural Resources Officer Geronimo Cabaccan Jr. said.
Private partners are also being tapped, he added. Pharmaceutical firms will donate acceptable plastic discards.
Isabela-made pallets can last more than 10 years if not exposed to sunlight for long periods, facility manager Jenieson Yu said. The provincial government will increase production to supply private granaries and warehouses.
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