‘No Merry Christmas’: Marcos vows December jail for officials in flood control mess
MANILA, Philippines — It will be an unhappy Christmas for those involved in the flood control corruption mess, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday, November 13.
During the press conference, Marcos recounted a timeline of all the actions taken against individuals implicated in the flood control anomalies, which include various cases.
Most significantly, Marcos cited the first batch of cases transmitted to the Ombudsman by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) against 37 lawmakers, officials and contractors.
While Marcos did not explicitly state these names during his press conference, Sens. Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada, as well as former congressman Zaldy Co, are among the 37 included in the ICI’s referrals.
‘Alam ko, bago mag-Pasko, marami dito sa napangalanan ko, ay palagay ko…matatapos na ang kaso nila. Buo na ang kaso nila, makukulong na sila. Wala na silang ‘Merry Christmas’,” Marcos said.
(I know, before Christmas, many that I named, I think… their cases will be done. The cases filed against them are complete and they will be jailed. They do not have a ‘Merry Christmas’.)
Beyond the Christmas prediction, however, Marcos said that there is no set timeline due to how many possible cases can be pursued.
Despite the loud public clamor for accountability, the president reiterated that mistakes cannot be made when filing the cases, so they needed to be careful. Marcos said that his main priorities are putting the guilty in jail, recovering the funds that were stolen, and enacting reforms to make lasting changes.
It was Marcos who first broached flood control anomalies during his fourth State of the Nation Address. After a series of personal inspections of ghost flood control projects, Marcos presented to the media several key findings from an initial probe.
The initial probe unveiled the top-earning flood control contractors—many of whom have since been called by different investigating bodies. Most notable of them are the Discaya couple, who now face multiple cases of tax evasion and malversation.
The flood control controversy at the DPWH has implicated several high-profile government officials and legislators.
Lawmakers from the House of Representatives and the Senate have been accused of inserting money into substandard or ghost flood control projects, only to get kickbacks later.
Billions of pesos of public funds are suspected to have been stolen by lawmakers and officials in these kickback schemes.
- Latest
- Trending
