President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has warned that no “merry Christmas” for officials and people involved in corruption in flood control projects because they will be jailed before Christmas. According to him, the cases against them are strong and complete and will not be allowed to escape due to technicalities.
He said the goal is to hold those involved accountable, recover the stolen money, and implement reforms to prevent this kind of corruption from happening again. He noted that from Sept. 15 to Nov. 5, the AMLC obtained 7 freeze orders totaling ₱6.3 billion, while the DPWH and Ombudsman filed cases of graft, malversation, falsification, plunder, and bid-rigging against officials and private groups. There is another ₱3 billion to ₱5 billion that can be recovered from fines.
The President also gave an update that the BIR has filed 10 cases against several officials and contractors for ₱8.86 billion of tax liabilities. The government is also creating a transparency portal to make it easier for the public to see the contract, location, and status of each project. Marcos also clarified that there is no evidence yet against Martin Romualdez, while Sen. Imee Marcos said that the fate of some personalities may be different because they were not included in the first batch of cases.
