MANILA — Criminal cases over alleged ghost and substandard flood control projects are advancing through the courts as the government intensifies efforts to hold accountable those accused of misusing billions of pesos earmarked for flood mitigation, Malacañang said.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said several cases have reached the courts, with some respondents already arraigned and witnesses being presented, while investigations into other questionable projects continue.
“Marami pa rin pong pag-iimbestigang ginagawa. ‘Yung iba po nasa korte na, ‘yung iba po ay na-arraign na at ‘yung iba naman ay mayroon nang mga sinasalang na mga witnesses,” Castro said during a Palace briefing.
She issued the update when asked about the administration’s campaign to prosecute those implicated in alleged flood control anomalies.
Castro said the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) were in a better position to provide an update on former lawmaker Zaldy Co because his case involved operational matters.
The Palace earlier maintained that law enforcement agencies remained obligated to locate and arrest Co despite the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division’s decision to archive his case.
The Office of the Ombudsman charged Co in November 2025 over an allegedly anomalous P289-million flood control project in Oriental Mindoro.
Co previously chaired the House Committee on Appropriations during deliberations on the proposed 2025 national budget.
Malacañang also cited the accomplishments of the now-defunct Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. created through Executive Order No. 94 in September 2025 to investigate alleged irregularities in flood control projects.
According to the Palace, the commission referred nine cases to the Office of the Ombudsman and endorsed 66 individuals to the DOJ for possible prosecution.
The ICI also helped facilitate the freezing of 6,692 bank accounts containing an estimated P24.7 billion.
The commission submitted to the President an accomplishment report covering its operations from Sept. 15, 2025 to Jan. 18, 2026./PN
