FORMER Commission on Audit commissioner Heidi Mendoza has an unsolicited advice to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. – appoint a credible Ombudsman if you want the public to take your anti-corruption campaign seriously.
Asked who she thinks would fit the bill to head the anti-corruption body, she answered: “I’ll go for (former overall deputy ombudsman) Arthur Carandang.”
Mendoza posted the recommendation on her official Facebook page in reaction to President Marcos’ State of the Nation Address (SONA) where he ordered a comprehensive review of all flood control projects undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in the last three years. He said these projects will be covered by value for money audits as well as performance audits to determine if there was overpricing or substandard construction.
Marcos said public works officials, local government executives, and private contractors will be covered by the investigation and will be hauled to court if their involvement is established.
Labor leader Leody de Guzman, an advocate for clean governance like Mendoza, said he will give the Marcos government the benefit of the doubt about the promise to eradicate corruption if the President will create an independent investigative body composed of personalities known for their probity, and train the spotlight on billions poured into flood control projects and road networks which he said are “favorite” items in the national budget.
He said the body should not include government officials or anyone linked to the Marcoses or the Dutertes but private individuals from the civil society, like Mendoza and former Finance undersecretary Cielo Magno.
Senate President Francis Escudero, meanwhile, said his office is drafting a bill that will prohibit government officials and their relatives up to the fourth degree of consanguinity and affinity from being contractors and suppliers for government projects, in response to Marcos’ SONA.
In a briefing, Escudero also pointed to the House as the source of allegations that he added allocations for favored flood control projects. He refused to give details. He said the allegations were part of a demolition job to question his retention of the Seante presidency post.
The allegations said among provinces that got a bigger piece of the budget were Bulacan which is the province of Senate majority leader Joel Villanueva, with more than P12 billion; Escudero’s hometown of Sorsogon got around P9 billion; Mindoro, P8.36 billion; Batangas, P7.32 billion; Davao, P7.21 billion, and Misamis Occidental, P6.52 billion.
Escudero said Villanueva was included in the smear campaign after reports earlier said that the latter was his choice for majority leader.
Asked if he had a direct hand in allocating additional funds for flood control projects in Sorsogon worth P150 billion, Escudero replied: “No, of course not.”
He, however, said there were changes made in the 2025 budget for Sorsogon but it has not reached P9 billion since there is “no perfect NEP (National Expenditure Program)” but the important thing was it was transparent.
UNDER FIRE
Neither Mendoza nor her nominee is stranger to controversy or being under fire from powerful political figures. During her time with the COA, she dug into corruption in the military, which resulted in the indictment of a former military comptroller, Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia, for plunder and bribery charges. She also took on the audit of Makati City transactions.
Mendoza ran for a seat in the Senate in the most recent mid-term elections on a clean governance platform and surprised supporters and critics alike when she collected P8.74 million votes on a shoestring budget cobbled together by private citizens and civil society organizations. She finished 21st, well ahead of other well-heeled candidates who had the considerable advantage of being in the senatorial ticket of major political parties.
Carandang is best known for having been fired by former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018 after he took on the job of investigating the latter for undeclared bank accounts.
He disclosed he obtained documents from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) showing bank transactions of Duterte and his family, amounting to billions of pesos. The AMLC, however, denied giving Carandang access to bank records of the Duterte family.
The job of investigating Duterte for unexplained wealth landed on Carandang’s desk after then-Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales inhibited herself due to family ties with the former president who is the father-in-law of her nephew, lawyer Manases Carpio.
In her interview with journalist Christian Esguerra on YouTube, Mendoza said an investigation into irregularities in flood-control projects would have to start from the budgeting process and project feasibility studies to have a full picture of whether there were cutting of corners, jacking up of costs, and misrepresentation of work accomplishments.
She added the inquiry should not be limited to the DPWH but should encompass other agencies including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, local government units, and even the Laguna Lake Development Authority.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson called on fellow lawmakers to take the cue from the SONA speech regarding anomalies.
“The President capped his SONA with a pronouncement that he knows will hit his audience — that’s us lawmakers … The pronouncement that those involved in anomalies in the flood control programs and the national budget should be ashamed, should cut to the bone. Those who don’t feel any shame would simply be bad to the bone,” Lacson said in an interview with radio dzBB.
