Return stolen wealth to the people

The Parish of San Pascual Baylon and the National Shrine of Nuestra Señora de la Inmaculada Concepcion de Salambao in Bulacan announced that they will be returning a Nissan Navara pick-up truck donated by former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 1st District Engineer Henry Alcantara, following reports linking him to alleged corruption in government flood control projects.

Radio Veritas Asia reported on Sept. 23 that the parish accepted the vehicle on June 1, 2024, “in good faith” — to help facilitate the pilgrimage of the image of the Virgin of Salambao to different parishes. “We are now taking the necessary steps to return it properly, to the rightful person, or institution, through the appropriate legal process. This decision follows the guidance of the Diocese of Malolos and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.” It added that “If this caused concern to the Church and the faithful, we sincerely apologize.”

The parish does not know if Alcantara’s donation of the pick-up truck had anything to do with the raging controversy over anomalous flood control projects, which first came to light during President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 28.

“Mahiya naman kayo (You should be ashamed),” President Marcos said in his SONA, referring to contractors and officials involved in kickbacks linked to failed flood control projects. He spoke during the season for typhoons and the monsoon rains, which severely flooded Metro Manila and many other areas in the country.

Senator Panfilo Lacson publicly stated on July 25, that “as much as half of the P2 trillion ($40.61 billion) allocated for flood control over 15 years may have been lost to corruption, with only 40% of project funds translating into actual construction.” Suspicions were drawn to the P142.7 billion ($2.9 billion) insertion in the 2025 national budget, allegedly added during a conference led by former Senate President Francis Escudero (Philippine Daily Inquirer, August).

On Aug. 11, Mr. Marcos Jr. revealed the initial findings from an audit which found that P100 billion ($2.03 billion), or around 20% of his administration’s flood control project expenditures, went to only 15 contractors from a total of 2,409 accredited contractors for both local and national flood control projects. The audit also flagged projects collectively worth more than P350 billion ($7.11 billion) which did not specify the exact flood control structure built or repaired, as well as several projects at different locations which disclosed identical designs and materials, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), reported.

The viral “lifestyle” videos of rags-to-riches contractor-couple Curlee and Sara Discaya — with their 40 luxury cars garaged under a multi-storey Great Gatsby-esque mansion — and stories of other contractors who got fantastically rich, built up the intense drama. The public has become aware of the flood control modus operandi and the individuals who are alleged to have perpetuated the stealing and looting of government funds in the DPWH. The televised Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearings brought revelations of involvement of government functionaries and lawmakers, and elicited self-incriminating confessions from the contractors themselves, as political adversaries not too subtly cast aspersions on each other. “Sharing schemes,” commissions, and bribery were detailed, such that quarrels started among the lawmakers implicated versus the accusative “clean” ones.

“The six construction companies founded by the Discaya couple and their son bagged 345 solo and joint projects worth a whopping P25.2 billion. That’s three times the P8.6 billion allocated for ‘housing and community amenities’ in the proposed 2025 budget. Taken together, all nine Discaya-linked companies bagged 421 projects totaling P31 billion. That’s more than the annual net revenues clocked by Ayala Land in recent years,” the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) said in its Aug. 8 estimates of the magnitude of the flood control anomalies. Their collection of over 40 luxury vehicles was estimated by Philstar.com to be worth between P337 million and P465 million.

The family and relations of Ako Bicol congressman Zaldy Co with their four linked companies bagged 149 flood control contracts worth P15.7 billion between 2022 and 2025, the PCIJ tallied in the same report. “A niece, Claudine Co, described by entertainment site PEP as a vlogger-influencer-singer, known for her travel diaries, fashion hauls, and everyday glimpses of luxury, lives a royal lifestyle that includes a P25-million Mercedes Benz SUV, rides on private planes, and apartment hunting in Paris.”

On Oct. 4, new DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon (who replaced Manuel Bonoan who had resigned) announced the referral of cases of bid manipulation and bid rigging to the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) for the possible filing of charges under Republic Act 10667. The cases involve 12 flood control projects of five contractors. Among them are the Discayas, who could face fines totaling as much as P300 billion due to bid rigging in 1,200 flood control projects, the DPWH was quoted as saying in The Philippine Star.

“Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said some lawmakers are paid 30% to 40% of the contract costs by well-connected firms that bag contracts. According to [Senator Panfilo] Lacson, some legislators got kickbacks from congressional insertions and unprogrammed appropriations for public works projects in the national budget,” the PCIJ reported.

At least 18 members of the 20th Congress have ownership or other connections to companies that have public works contracts. PCIJ’s initial list (tallied from the exposés of witnesses in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee) includes six senators, 15 congresspersons, and nine government officials who had control or influence over the operations of the flood control projects.

On Oct. 6, “a ‘frustrated’ Senator Panfilo Lacson resigned as Chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee,” the Philippine Star announced. In a letter, Mr. Lacson wrote, “In the course of the current investigation, which has implicated some senators in the flood control mess, a number of our colleagues have expressed disappointment with the ‘direction’ of the Blue Ribbon Committee.” Some senators accused him of “zeroing in” on colleagues while protecting House lawmakers linked to ghost or substandard infrastructure projects, an allegation Mr. Lacson denied. Senator Erwin Tulfo, Vice-Chair of the Blue Ribbon Committee, became acting Chairman.

Before Mr. Lacson, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong tendered his resignation as a special adviser to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) on Sept. 26. “The Palace’s pronouncements concerning my designation, which run contrary to the terms of my appointment, have undermined the role and mandate entrusted to me,” Mr. Magalong wrote to Mr. Marcos Jr. Mr. Magalong might have been perceived to be coming in too strong in his personal “investigations” on the flood control scams.

In one of his last acts as Secretary of Justice (before he was appointed Ombudsman on Oct. 9), Jesus Crispin Remulla signed an Immigration Lookout Bulletin Order (ILBO) on 33 incumbent and former members of Congress, private individuals, and officials of other government agencies implicated in the ongoing investigation into flood control anomalies. An ILBO only instructs immigration officers to closely monitor the travel of subject individuals; it is not a Hold Departure Order, which restricts travel.

The separate and official ICI, made up of Rogelio Singson, Rosanna Fajardo ,and chair Andres Reyes, Jr., will continue to hold its hearings on alleged irregularities in flood control and other public works projects despite mounting calls for transparency, the Philippine Star said.

“In a strongly worded statement (released Oct. 7) the CBCP (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines), led by its president Pablo Virgilio Cardinal David of Kalookan, said the people are watching the probes closely, and ‘any move to change Senate leadership or redirect investigations now would only heighten public suspicion of a cover-up.’

“We urge both Congress and Malacañang to prove that they serve the common good, not partisan power. Let the truth flow freely. Let the ICI do its work — thoroughly, transparently and without fear or favor,” the CBCP said. The bishops said they “strongly oppose any attempt to preempt or derail the investigation through backroom deals, leadership takeovers or selective justice. ‘Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light,’ the Bible says in St. Luke 8:17.”

But more than exposing the corruption, the CBCP had made clear early on that obtaining true justice for the billions of pesos lost to substandard and ghost flood control projects, does not end with those responsible going to prison. “True justice, however, demands more than punishment. It also calls for restitution: that stolen wealth be returned to the public coffers from which it was taken,” Cardinal David said.

“Many of those implicated will not be impoverished by such reparation, yet the nation remains poor if the funds are not restored. Retribution in this sense is not personal vengeance, but the rightful act of giving back what was stolen, so that the people may finally benefit from resources meant for their welfare,” he said according to the Philippine Star on Sept. 8.

Diyos ko po (Oh my God)! That might be the reason for the heightening conflicts among the “parties-in-interest” in these investigations — the retribution and restitution that must settle and close the issues. At one Blue Ribbon hearing, there was a heated exchange of intransigent stands on the return of stolen wealth or legal “forfeiture” by those found guilty, before or after the filing of court cases — the committee was sharply divided on the timing of the forfeiture, which could open “opportunities” for the accused to keep the stolen wealth — specially if the accused would be made a “state witness.”

A network of thieves and accomplices who have systematically worked out a “business model” for the plunder of the people’s money must protect and preserve themselves, perhaps cover up for each other, as Cardinal Ambo and many of the people instinctively feel. Alas, the “network” is just so finely and strongly interwoven; insecure and anxious people have many questions in their minds.

Control or power is the strongest temptation to greed, especially when there are loose administrative and operating controls. In the strict hierarchy and ranking in government, misplaced allegiances and forced deference to authority can accommodate divergence from rules and policies. “Mass cash deliveries to the now-sacked engineers of the DPWH, including P457 million last March, may signal the involvement of higher-level players in the ongoing flood control project scandal,” Senator Lacson said when he was still Blue Ribbon chair (Manila Times).

We pray to God that they return the stolen wealth to the Filipino people.