SENATE President Francis Escudero yesterday told contactors to attend the next hearing of the Blue Ribbon Committee on anomalous flood control projects and said he would not hesitate to have them arrested if they would not show up again.
The warning was directed specifically at eight who skipped the committee’s first hearing last week.
The second hearing will be on September 1.
Meanwhile, Commission on Audit (COA) chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba has ordered the start of technical inspection of all flood control projects in Bulacan to aid the investigation of the COA-Fraud Audit Office.
Last week, the COA started the fraud audit of all flood control projects in the province by securing copies of the contracts and other supporting documents from the Department of Public Works and Highways-Bulacan First Engineering District in Malolos, Bulacan.
The COA fraud audit was spurred by a directive from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to uncover irregularities in the implementation of P548 billion flood control contracts awarded from July 2022 to May 2025.
Records showed contracts worth P44 billion were poured into the projects in Bulacan, giving it the lion’s share of funding in Region 3 with a whopping 45 percent. Central Luzon (Region 3) as a whole received P98 billion in flood control funding between July 1, 2022, and May 30, 2025, representing 18 percent of the total national total.
Escudero, in an interview at the Senate, said he signed last week subpoenas requested by the Blue Ribbon for the eight contractors, and these are expected to be served within the week in time for the hearing next week.
“They must obey the Senate’s order under the pain of arrest. The Senate process will be followed… I hope they respect it because it was stated ‘under pain or penalty of law’ and that is to arrest them,” he said in Filipino.
The committee’s first hearing was attended by only seven of the 15 contractors identified by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as having been were awarded some P100 billion worth of projects.
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa moved to issue subpoenas against the eight contractors to compel them to attend the next hearing.
The eight contractors were identified as Cezarah C. Discaya, president of Alpha and Omega General Contractor and Development Corp.; Ma. Roma Angeline D. Rimando, owner/manager of St. Timothy Construction Corp.; Eumir Villanueva, president, Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc.; Aderma Angelie Alcazar, president/CEO, Sunwest Inc.; Edgar S. Acosta, president, Hi-Tone Construction and Development Corp.; Romeo C. Miranda, president, Royal Crown Monarch Construction and Supplies Corp.; Mark Allan V. Arevalo, general manager, Wawao Builders; and Luisito R. Tiqui, president, L.R. Tiqui Builders.
Escudero said the contractors are key to identifying public works officials and lawmakers behind the substandard or ghost flood control projects.
“They should shed light on these matters. If they refuse to obey the subpoenas issued by the Senate, the issuance of a warrants of arrest will be next. I won’t hesitate to sign them if they won’t show up here in the Senate,” he added.
FAKE PHOTOS
Sen. Mark Villar said he received information that contractors may have submitted faked geotagged photos of government projects to justify payments to them.
“Did these faulty contractors submit faked geotagged photos? If so, that is outright fraud. No contractor should have been able to collect from the government on the basis of deception,” he said.
Villar said that during his stint as Public Works secretary under the Duterte administration, he mandated the use of geotagging as a transparency and accountability measure. The requirement applies not only upon completion of a project but also during the progress of the project, ensuring that the photos were time-stamped and location-based to prevent tampering or falsification.
He said this was meant to ensure that government and the public could verify that work was actually done where and when it was supposed to be.
“If contractors have found ways to cheat the system, that is an abuse of public trust and it must be investigated thoroughly,” he said, adding that submitting faked documents should carry heavy legal consequences.
Floodings remain a problem of the country even if the government has spent at least P1.9 trillion pesos for flood mitigating projects since 2011.
MASTER PLAN
Senators have been asking the DPWH if there is a master plan to solve the persistent problem after former DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson the Aquino administration has turned over a master plan to the Duterte administration.
Palace press officer Claire Castro said current DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan has not received the master plan supposedly turned over by the Aquino administration.
“We also asked Secretary Bonoan if these so-called master plans had been turned over. To his knowledge, and as he told us earlier, he also did not receive any … Let me just repeat … Secretary Bonoan did not receive any turnover from then DPWH Secretary Mark Villar,” Castro said.
Media men have been asking Villar’s office if the senator was aware of such a master plan but there has been no response.
Senate minority leader Vicente Sotto III urged the public to report to authorities what they know about irregular government projects.
“If we start being afraid from whatever consequences there are, then we will never uncover all these anomalies. We all have to be strong and fight for the truth for the good of our country and our people,” Sotto said.
Sen. Imee Marcos said anomalies in government projects should have not happened if not for the meddling of politicians led by someone she calls “Bondying.”
She said lawmakers mangle the proposed national budget under the National Expenditure Program by transferring government flagship projects to “unprogrammed appropriations” and inserting their pet projects in the General Appropriations Bill.
Pressed who is “Bondying,” Marcos said there are lots of “baby Bondyings” who “cry” when accosted about their wrongdoings. She did not elaborate.
COA INSPECTION
Cordoba, in a memorandum dated August 20, 2025 addressed to COA Technical Services Office (TSO) director Flora Ruiz, ordered boots on the ground to verify the existence of the government projects and whether their contractors observed all the engineering and structural guidelines in implementing the flood control projects.
“You are directed to designated technical personnel for the immediate conduct of technical inspections of all ongoing and completed flood control projects for January 1, 2022 to July 31, 2025 in the Province of Bulacan,” the COA chief instructed the TSO.
At the outset, the COA is putting the crosshairs on the big fishes, telling its technical people to prioritize those projects with the biggest budgets.
“The inspections should prioritize projects based on contract cost starting with the highest-valued projects,” the COA said.
The job entails two key components: confirming the physical existence of the projects and verifying adherence to approved plans and specifications.
In the first part, ghost projects are expected to be readily exposed since the technical team will take geo-tagged photos of the projects based on the worksite conditions and video footage to document work accomplishments based on the timetable and approved work program.
For the second part, the quality of work and compliance of design and structural standards will be scrutinized along with the quality and quantity of materials used as well as the workmanship. This is expected to reveal where contractors cut corners and submitted sub-standard projects.
All the findings and documentation to be gathered by the technical inspection teams will be submitted to the overall team supervisor of the fraud audit teams after every project inspection.
“The report shall detail the findings for each project, including any identified deficiencies, irregularities, or issues,” Cordoba said.
On earlier reports linking the wife of COA Commissioner Mario Lipana to a firm that won flood control contracts from the DPWH, the COA vowed that the same projects will not be spared and will undergo the same level of scrutiny and objectivity as the rest under the COA-FAO.
The Commission said Commissioner Lipana has been on official leave since August 11 for a medical treatment which he has been undergoing for the past two years. No other details were provided.
