Where are the big fish?

No senator has been charged with malversation.

On Sept. 23, then Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla said that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) recommended the filing of charges against Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada, Party-list Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, and DPWH Bulacan 1st District engineer Henry Alcantara for indirect bribery and malversation of public funds. He indicated that the NBI and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) were involved in the investigation, particularly concerning the affidavit of Alcantara.

During a hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Alcantara signed an affidavit that alleged budget insertions and kickbacks were made by Senator Francis Escudero, former senator Bong Revilla, and senators Estrada and Villanueva. The affidavit corroborated earlier statements from former DPWH Bulacan 1st District engineers Brice Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza.

On Sept. 25, Bernardo testified that Senator Francis Escudero, former senators Revilla and Nancy Binay, and former representative Co were involved in anomalous flood control projects. Bernardo stated that his allegations were based on personal knowledge and direct interactions with the lawmakers involved.

Now that a warrant of arrest is already out for Co, Mr. Remulla, now the Ombudsman, was asked on ANC’s Headstart on Dec. 8 if arrest warrants against senators linked to the anomalous flood control projects might be issued this Christmas, he said: “Possible. Maybe in the next two weeks.”

In a press conference last Thursday, Dec. 18, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. said it will be an unhappy Christmas for those involved in the flood control corruption mess. “I know their cases will be done before Christmas. The cases filed against them are complete and they will be jailed. They will not have a Merry Christmas,” the President said in Filipino.

He cited the first batch of cases against 37 lawmakers, officials, and contractors transmitted to the Ombudsman by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI). While he did not explicitly name any lawmaker or official, senators Villanueva and Estrada, and Zaldy Co are among the 37 included in the ICI’s referrals.

The Office of the Ombudsman filed one count of malversation and two counts of graft against Co before the Sandiganbayan on Nov. 19. The charges are non-bailable offenses that can warrant life in prison because the amount malversed exceeded P8.8 million. The panel of prosecutors filed a motion for the urgent issuance of an arrest warrant against him. A massive manhunt for Co, who is believed to be hiding in Europe, is ongoing.

The basis of charges against Co were the testimonies of the DPWH officials. The same testimonies implicated senators Villanueva and Estrada. Curiously, as of Dec. 19, no charges of malversation have been filed before the Sandiganbayan against the two senators.

If no senator or congressman is imprisoned today or tomorrow, the citizenry, already extremely enraged by the grand flood control scam, could turn their ire on President Marcos for failing to obtain visible accountability, real penalties, and full retribution from the senators accused of having designed the grand flood control scam.

PORK IN THE 2026 BUDGET
The proposed 2026 National Budget has been approved by the bicameral conference committee of Congress. It is expected to be signed into law by the President before the end of December.

The committee approved a P51.6-billion budget for the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) program, an increase from the P49 billion initially proposed by the House of Representatives, and a major jump from the P24.2 billion proposed in the original National Expenditure Program (NEP).

Various groups — health professionals, budget watchdogs, and other civil society associations — have criticized the 2026 budget for including the MAIFIP. They brand it as a form of “soft pork barrel” or an “epal fund.” Epal is derived from the Tagalog expression pumapapel, which loosely means trying to gain goodwill.

The criticism stems from the program’s reliance on guarantee letters of payment by members of Congress, a program critics claim is a system of political patronage rather than universal healthcare (UHC).

Opponents, including the Healthcare Professional Alliance, urge that the MAIFIP funding be scrapped or transferred to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to cover the premiums of more indigent Filipinos and strengthen the UHC system.

Kalookan Archbishop Pablo Virgilio Cardinal David said that patronage-based health and social assistance programs undermine human dignity and weaken constitutional governance. “When public assistance is delivered through patronage, through discretionary lump sums, lists controlled by politicians, and post-enactment intervention, it transforms rights into favors and citizens into supplicants,” the Cardinal said.

“The poor do not need benefactors,” he added. “They need justice.” Drawing on Catholic social teaching, the cardinal said healthcare, education, and social protection are demands of justice, not acts of generosity dispensed by those in power.

Lawmakers and the Department of Health (DoH) defended the increased funding as necessary to implement the administration’s “zero balance billing” program for indigent patients in government-owned hospitals, especially since the UHC law has yet to be fully realized.

MAIFIP must have been an idea drawn from the valuable lesson learned from the 2022 senatorial election — that free or affordable healthcare is the main concern of the Filipino citizenry. In that election, Senator Bong Go, running for re-election, projected himself to the electorate as “Mr. Malasakit.” He emerged as the topnotcher among senatorial candidates, garnering 29.6 million votes out of 55.9 million total voters (53%).

But Malasakit Centers are not financial assistance units operated by Senator Go that provide financial assistance to indigent and financially incapacitated patients. They merely facilitate the discharge of indigent patients on the basis of guaranteed payment by the Malasakit Center in the hospital. They spare indigent patients the trouble of having to go out of the hospital to seek assistance from participating agencies — the departments of Health and of Social Welfare and Development, PhilHealth, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Office.

Upon Mr. Go’s election to the Senate in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte directed him to set up a center by which financial assistance to indigent patients would be facilitated. Senator Go authored the bill that would institutionalize the Malasakit concept.

President Duterte signed the bill into law, the Malasakit Center Act, also known as Republic Act No. 11463. The law obliges the government to establish Malasakit Centers in all government-owned hospitals. It also authorizes the Philippine National Police to set up such facilities.

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Congratulations to the De La Salle University Green Archers for winning the UAAP Season ’88 Men’s basketball crown. That was no mean feat they pulled off, rising from the brink of elimination to No. 4 seed in the Final Four semifinals, first defeating the top-seeded twice-to-beat National University Bulldogs, and subsequently beating the defending champions, the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, for the championship.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all you readers.

Oscar P. Lagman, Jr. has been a keen observer of Philippine politics since the mid-1950s.