Hell hath no fury…

If body language could be interpreted, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) is hopping mad. Who would not be? After all, it was the President himself who virtually opened the floodgates and exposed the widespread corruption at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) that fleeced the Filipino taxpayers’ money. From poorly constructed dikes, if not totally “ghost” or non-existent flood control projects, the web of corruption spun out many other shenanigans, draining our government coffers to the bare bottom.

This was how Senate minority leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III interpreted the body language of PBBM as far as he could observe. Sotto disclosed he got the chance to talk last week with PBBM about the DPWH “ghost’ flood control project scandal. It took place a few months after Sotto ran as part of the 12-man senatorial ticket of PBBM’s Alyansa ng Bagong Pilipinas in the May 12 midterm elections – and won.

Speaking at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Sotto noted PBBM has visibly reaching the limits of his patience. “Galit na galit si Presidente,” Sotto told us. He described the Chief Executive’s demeanor during their brief meeting last Thursday night at the wake of Judy Araneta Roxas, the mother of former senator Mar Roxas.

Sotto took the opportunity to echo his own extreme disgust at how the 15 contractors cornered 20 percent of the P545 billion of the DPWH budget for flood control projects funded in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA). Sotto and PBBM – who was then senator – were together during the defunct 15th Congress when they went through the annual GAA of the past administrations.

While saying they had “private” conversations, Sotto was willing to share the information he told the President. He supports the planned creation of an “independent” investigating body to look into these reported “ghost” and other anomalous flood control projects at the DPWH.

In fact, Sotto cited, he will officially turn over to Malacañang a copy of his Senate Bill (SB) 1215 on his proposed creation of an independent “People’s Commission” to investigate anomalies in all government infrastructure projects. Sotto filed SB 1215 last Aug.19 which, he believes, will be a “faster way to respond to public outrage” if created by PBBM through an Executive Order (EO).

Sotto explained SB 1215 seeks to constitute a five-man ad hoc, or just a temporary commission, not a judicial nor a prosecutorial body. Instead, SB 1215 proposed the commission will only serve as an investigatory and recommendatory body that will report its findings directly to the President.

Malacañang earlier announced the planned creation of an independent body a few weeks after PBBM bared to media the initial results of the DPWH internal investigations into the alleged “ghost” flood control projects. Before he resigned, DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan reported to the President how much each the 15 biggest contractors cornered from the flood control budget of his agency this year.

It was after PBBM first exposed and denounced the congressional insertions into the 2025 budget during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 28. Just last Sunday, PBBM replaced Bonoan and moved over Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Vivencio “Vince” Dizon to become the new DPWH secretary.

It was only last June 13 this year before the 19th Congress adjourned sine die when Dizon was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments (CA) as DOTr secretary.

Sotto recalled his first association with Dizon during their campaign days, together with the late action star Fernando Poe Jr., who ran but lost in the 2004 presidential elections. Personally attesting to Dizon’s competence and skills as an executive official, Sotto vouched for the new DPWH secretary as highly qualified and will definitely breeze through anew at the CA.

Sotto’s impression of the gravity of the presidential anger was validated.

Dizon himself shared his own impression how angry PBBM was when they met at Malacañang last Sunday. Right then and there, Dizon received his “marching orders” from the President to go to the DPWH to hunt down all the people behind these “ghost” projects. “Hahanapin lahat ng mga multo na eto,” Dizon vowed. “Ang mga hayop na ito ay makukulong lahat, believe me,” he said, adding: “I cannot blame the President for his anger.”

We could all just imagine how angry the President has been as manifested by Dizon, being one of his Cabinet alter egos.

In fact, we have seen and heard PBBM’s rants after he personally discovered a “ghost” flood control project during surprise inspection trips in Bulacan, one of the most flood-prone provinces in our country.

While watching a TV newscast last Tuesday, Sotto told us he sensed PBBM’s seething fury while replying to a media “ambush interview” after an event he attended in Subic last Monday. And to think the media merely asked him one question as to the possible appointment of Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong to his planned creation of an “independent” body to investigate all reported “ghost” flood control projects.

But the senator frowned on suggestions that his nephew, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto, should be part of this investigating body. After all, it was Mayor Sotto who first unmasked the questionable construction business activities of Sarah Discaya, owner of nine of the 15 biggest DPWH contractors in the President’s hit list. Gunning for his third and last term at Pasig City Hall, Mayor Vico trounced the self-confessed “billionaire” Discaya, who tried but failed to beat him in the last May 12 elections.

Levity aside, Sotto welcomed the news that the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) revoked the licenses and accreditation of Discaya’s nine contractor firms. Sotto though still sees the need to revisit Republic Act (RA) 4566, as amended by Presidential Decree (PD) 1746, that created the PCAB in 1965.

The “license for lease” at the PCAB was just one of those reprehensible racketeering activities now coming out.

Thus, hell hath no fury like a scorned Chief Executive, seeking the guilty to answer for their evils.