Flood control scandal should bare lawmakers behind amendments, says Poe
MANILA, Philippines — The current investigations into anomalous flood control projects should prompt Congress to strip the secrecy from the budget process, former Senate finance panel chairperson Grace Poe said, stressing that all amendments should carry the name of the lawmaker behind them as a safeguard against ghost projects.
Poe broke her silence on Tuesday, September 23, as she attended a closed-door hearing of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, where she appeared as a resource person to brief the body on the budget process.
The former senator has been implicated in the flood control controversy over her alleged participation in "small committees" during the previous Congress' bicameral conference hearings — essentially closed-door sessions where lawmakers could freely and arbitrarily make changes to the budget.
Poe on Tuesday, however, categorically denied participating in these small committees.
Speaking to reporters after facing the ICI, Poe said the current investigations into irregularities in public works projects must force the same transparency reforms that followed the 2013 pork-barrel scandal.
"What I see as the change needed here is that all amendments should show the proponent or name of whoever pushed for it," Poe said in Filipino after the hearing.
She compared the possible reforms to the changes made after the 2013 marathon hearings into the now-abolished Priority Development Assistance Fund, when Congress did away with lump-sums in the budget.
"What was the lesson from that time? Budgets became line items. Before, it was lump sum," Poe said.
'Bato bato sa langit'
Poe said the ICI’s inquiry could become a painful reckoning for Congress, warning that the probe may reveal names that others may not expect to be implicated.
"Malaki ang binabayad nating buwis at nakakagalit ang mga nangyayari. Kaya... bato bato sa langit talaga," Poe said.
(We pay large taxes and what’s happening is infuriating. So… it really is a case of ‘let the stone fall where it may.')
“It is sad to think if, for example, there are others involved whom you would not expect, but the country will not heal if we do not take this very difficult step," Poe said in mixed English and Filipino.
Without naming names, Poe said the investigation should zero in on ghost projects and substandard infrastructure, which she said often emerge from collusion among legislators, contractors, and public works officials.
“There are those who sincerely want to help their province. But sometimes there is collusion between the contractor, the DPWH, and the legislator, and then the project becomes substandard or, worse, a ghost project. That is what really needs to be looked at,” Poe said.
Poe noted that for projects parked under the 2025 budget, none of the questionable flood control projects have been implemented as Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon ordered a halt until they could be properly reviewed.
On earlier budgets in 2023 and 2024, Poe said she could not speak for those years since she wasn't at the time the chairperson of the Senate finance committee. “I told [the ICI] I wasn’t the chairman of the budget during those times in question with regards to the ghost projects,” she said.
Commending the probe’s independence
The former senator praised the three-member independent body, saying its inquiries are free from political bias.
“I thank the ICI because I can really feel their sincere desire to fix the problem in government spending. They are not politicians. Their questions are really inquisitive, because they want to know,” Poe said.
The body is chaired by retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr. Its two other members are former DPWH Secretary Rogelio L. Singson, and Rossana Fajardo, former SGV & Co.'s country managing partner.
A day before Poe's attendance at the ICI hearing, Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Panfilo Lacson appeared before the independent body on Monday, September 22.
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