![“This [flood control scheme] is a corruption on a scale that we have not seen in the past,” says Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon. “The Napoles scandal is like petty change compared to this.”](https://www.panaynews.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Ombudsman_copy_resized-218x150.jpg "FLOOD CONTROL SCANDAL: Ombudsman cases filed vs DPWH staff, contractors")
![“This [flood control scheme] is a corruption on a scale that we have not seen in the past,” says Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon. “The Napoles scandal is like petty change compared to this.”](https://www.panaynews.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Ombudsman_copy_resized-696x496.jpg "Ombudsman_copy_resized")
MANILA – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has escalated the multibillion-peso flood control scandal into a full-blown legal battle, filing criminal complaints before the Office of the Ombudsman against its own employees and favored contractors accused of orchestrating “ghost” projects nationwide.
DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon personally lodged graft, corruption, and malversation charges on Thursday against Henry Alcantara, Brice Hernandez, and 18 personnel from the Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office.
Also implicated were construction firms Syms Construction Trading, Wawao Builders, and St. Timothy Construction, along with their owners.
“These are serious cases—non-bailable, punishable with life imprisonment,” Dizon stressed, adding that the filing was in line with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s directive to stop the cover-ups.
“Before the President left for Cambodia, the President told me one thing: enough talk, enough process, now is the time to act,” Dizon told ANC.
The DPWH chief described the irregularities as nothing short of a “massive theft of people’s money,” vowing more cases will be filed in the coming weeks.
“Una pa lang ito sa napakarami, and not just in Bulacan. This has been done on a massive scale nationwide,” he said.
Barely weeks into office, Dizon admitted he was stunned by the depth of corruption inside his department.
“Malalim ito, top to bottom… This is corruption in a scale not seen, we have not seen in the past. The Napoles scandal is like petty change compared to this,” he said.
He added that the network of corruption reached senior levels: “Hindi magagawa ng district engineer ito na walang katulong sa regional, sa taas, it’s a chain that goes all the way up… Sabi ng Pangulo, we have to make everyone who is responsible for this accountable. They have to face the music.”
On the possibility of contractors Sara and Curlee Discaya turning state witnesses, Dizon was blunt: “Hindi po ako abogado pero alam ko ‘yung most guilty hindi pupuwede ‘yon. And I think the Discayas are one of the most guilty here.”
Dizon compared the flood control scam to the infamous Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scandal of the 2010s.
“This [flood control scheme] is a corruption on a scale that we have not seen in the past,” he said. “The Napoles scandal is like petty change compared to this.”
Marcos earlier revealed that just 15 contractors cornered some ₱100 billion worth of projects since 2022, many of them substandard or entirely fictitious. That disclosure prompted nationwide probes into what Dizon now calls a “syndicate” embedded in the DPWH./PN
