Flood Control

Hours after the former House Speaker's arraignment by videoconference, the Sandiganbayan opened a second front — a preventive suspension case that could cost him his Leyte congressional seat while his bail petition is still being prepared.

Sandiganbayan-vetted medical findings call the ₱7.44-billion plunder defendant "clinically stable" for detention, more than a week after his arrest in the flood-control kickback scandal.

Speaker Dy pledges to "scrutinize every centavo" as lawmakers push the ₱644-billion DPWH infrastructure budget — including a reduced ₱107.4-billion flood-control allocation — toward an Oct. 9 third-reading target.

Anti-graft chief Jesus Crispin Remulla says his office has filed 31 cases in the Sandiganbayan and four in regional trial courts, hired dozens of new lawyers, and is seeking a ₱7.23-billion 2027 budget to keep pace with the flood-control graft caseload.

Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, President Marcos' first cousin, remains hospitalized under BJMP custody as the Sandiganbayan weighs his bid to avoid transfer to a Quezon City jail while he faces a ₱7.44-billion plunder case over alleged flood-control kickbacks.

The Department of Public Works and Highways and the Philippine Reclamation Authority issued a cease-and-desist order against reclamation activity in Laguna de Bay in Taguig, after Sen. Panfilo Lacson said ₱3.713 billion had already been spent on projects in the area without proper permits.

The Office of Civil Defense says storms and the southwest monsoon have damaged ₱3.5 billion in infrastructure and ₱1.42 billion in agriculture and displaced 5.39 million people, as government aid disbursed so far — ₱796.98 million — covers a fraction of the losses and questions persist over the ₱1.94-trillion spent on flood control since 2011.

Manuel Bonoan told the Sandiganbayan every senator received at least ₱500 million — and committee chairs up to ₱1 billion — from a DPWH-administered fund that channeled ₱21 billion in FY 2025 alone, an allegation three successive Senate presidents have each denied knowledge of.

The senator who led the Blue Ribbon Committee's flood-control corruption inquiry says 15 years of DPWH flood management funding failed to prevent Aug. 17 flash floods that dumped 201.7 mm of rain on Metro Manila in five hours and left at least 27 dead nationwide.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla says a quarter of the six-year Cebu flood-control allocation went to a single contractor and another quarter to one congressional district, as he orders lifestyle checks on DPWH engineers and a province-wide review of whether projects were ghost, substandard, or simply mis-designed.