Anti-corruption group hits slow pace of cases in flood control scandal

Anti-corruption group Artikulo Onse on Friday expressed frustration over the slow pace of cases involving anomalous flood control projects.

Atty. JV Bautista, former congressman and Artikulo Onse co-convenor, urged the public not to lower their guard until those truly responsible are held accountable and jailed.

“We need to not lower our guard. The President [Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.] promises are not yet fulfilled,” Bautista told this reporter in an interview.

“The President said that many people will be arrested and jailed before Christmas. But so far we’ve seen Sarah Discaya, a contractor, and several minor employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways. Where are the big names that were promised to us? We’ve seen that this caused a lot of anger among our countrymen,” he added.

Bautista said he believes some lawmakers are involved in the anomalous flood control projects.

“This is a huge scandal. It was the congressmen and senators who put money in the budget, so there should be someone to answer them,” Bautista said.

“But where does all of this end? President Marcos said that he will end it. Can he hold on to those words? As of now, it seems like the trust of the countrymen is diminishing,” the former congressman added.

He urged the public to keep the pressure on the government to continue its campaign to punish those guilty, recover public funds, and ensure that similar abuses do not happen again.

“The Filipinos should wake up. And I think they are already waking up. So let’s not lower our guard, so to speak,” Bautista said.

“We need to be more vigilant. As I said earlier, now is the year that this happened. In 2026, this should be the year that this should be solved. The people need to be involved here. Let’s continue this,” he added.

Bautista also challenged President Marcos to ensure that those involved in the flood control mess are held accountable, even if they include his relatives and close political allies.

“If it is true that he will do this accountability, that the flood control scam and similar scandals will not happen again, he might be able to bring a good image to the history of our politics, and our country,” Bautista said.

“That, ironically, a Marcos was able to do that. It was not done by another president,” he added.

“If he continues to do that, I think his record will be good. Maybe somehow, the bad image of his father and his family during the dark times of martial law, he can’t erase that. But somehow, he can raise it a little.”

For his part, former congressman and co-convenor Erin Tañada expressed hope that the search for truth will not be dampened by recent developments, including the arrest of Discaya and the death of former DPWH Undersecretary Catalina Cabral.

“Hopefully the search for truth will lead to cases being filed to those who are responsible for the corruption. What we will see is that the middle level will be the ones to blame. And hopefully not, because this has become the history of our country,” Tañada said.

“And I hope that the death of Usec. Cabral will not stop the search for accountability and justice in our country,” he added.