‘Mahiya naman kayo!’: 200 days, zero justice

It’s been 200 days since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s stinging rebuke — “Mahiya naman kayo!” — to government officials and contractors involved in anomalous flood control projects, yet not a single “big fish” has been convicted.

Only one former Senator, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., and a handful of public works officials have been arrested, while every sitting lawmaker, Cabinet member, and major contractor implicated in the mess remains free.

The public outrage has cooled, overtaken by other headline grabbing issues, even as the Independent Commission for Infrastructure’s 125-day report remains under wraps.

Coincidentally, this Friday the 13th marks the 200th day since Marcos delivered his infamous State of the Nation Address.

Has the President’s anger cooled as well?

Palace press officer, Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro, doesn’t think so.

“The President hasn’t lost interest in holding anyone accountable who should be held responsible,” Castro said. “He will continue to monitor the matter, but for now he needs to focus on the economy. This is necessary because the issue he raised on the anomalous flood control projects — the misuse of funds and abuses — generated a lot of noise, and the President expected that.”

“After all, if Filipinos are angry about corruption, the President is even angrier. What he needs to do now is to focus and move forward. As the President himself said, he is concentrating on the economy so that other Filipinos, who aren’t focused solely on politics, can benefit as well,” she added.

The ICI said it has referred 65 individuals to the Office of the Ombudsman and 66 others to the Department of Justice for immigration lookout orders, including several big political names. Yet none of the highest profile personalities has seen a case move decisively toward trial or conviction, reinforcing public suspicion that accountability stops short of the really “big fish.”

Among the high-profile personalities the ICI recommended for charges over the flood control anomalies, aside from former Senator Revilla, are Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada, and former Ako Bicol Representative Zaldy Co.

Where’s the fish?

For University of Santo Tomas Political Science Department head professor Dennis Coronacion, the frustration of the Filipino people stems from the fact that no charges have been filed against the “big fish.”

Just this Tuesday, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee report retracted its recommendation to file corruption charges against Senators Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Estrada and Villanueva, pursuant to the consensus reached by the majority bloc, according to panel chair Panfilo Lacson.

Instead, the three senators will undergo further investigation — far from the original recommendation stipulated in the leaked BRC draft report — over their alleged receipt of kickbacks from flood control projects.

“But the public feels it’s not enough, especially when it comes to the ‘big fish.’ At this point, it’s reasonable to leave the filing of charges against the individuals involved to the President,” said Coronacion, reacting to the decision of the President to let the Office of the Ombudsman, the Senate BRC, Department of Justice, and the Sandiganbayan file the charges against the personalities involved in the flood control scandal.

Coronacion said Malacañang’s distancing itself from the controversy is partly because the inquiries are nearing their conclusion.

“The investigations by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and the ICI are almost complete. The next stage is the filing of charges against the public and DPWH officials and contractors concerned. This means that Malacañang’s involvement will be very minimal,” he said.

He also saw the filing of impeachment complaints against President Marcos as a “diversion” from the flood control controversy.

“I think Malacañang’s attention has shifted to the recent impeachment complaints against the President and the upcoming deliberations of the House Committee on Justice on the impeachment complaints against the Vice President,” Coronacion said.

But Coronacion maintained that the President is not wrong in focusing on the other problems of the nation, particularly the economy that is currently reeling from headwinds.

“Aside from this, Malacañang should also focus on governance and avoid getting involved in political maneuverings if it wants to improve the President’s sagging survey numbers. The country needs the President to focus even more on our economic problems, especially since our GDP in the last quarter was only around 4 percent,” he said.

100k construction jobs lost

Meanwhile, the National Union of Building and Construction Workers (NUBCW) said the collateral damage from the flood control controversy was the workers themselves, with an estimated 100,000 jobs lost after the government canceled the permits of contractors implicated in the corruption.

NUBCW Secretary General Santiago Nolla, in a radio interview, said both construction workers and subcontracted laborers on various government projects were hit hard by deferred contracts.

As of February 2026, the Philippine government has begun blacklisting 16 contractors, with more than 60 others under investigation for involvement in anomalous, delayed, or substandard flood control and infrastructure projects, Malacañang said.

The crackdown, led by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), aims to address corruption and project failures.

The group said the lost jobs contributed to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s report showing a spike in the overall unemployment rate to 4.2 percent in 2025, up from 3.8 percent in 2024.

Reports indicate the scandal has clearly hurt the economy, primarily through a construction and confidence shock. Economic planners and PSA officials traced much of the slowdown to cutbacks and delays in infrastructure spending triggered by the corruption mess.

Approved construction projects also fell sharply. Building permits in November 2025 were down 13-16 percent year-on-year, with total construction value dropping by about 23 percent. Both residential and non-residential segments contracted, and construction workers reported significant job losses as projects were frozen or slowed while the investigations continued.

Political analysts noted the scandal has undermined trust in public spending, creating uncertainty for both public and private builders and discouraging new projects.

The government is trying to counter the impact with a bigger 2026 infrastructure budget of around P1.3 trillion and promises of cleaner projects selection, but the drag from 2025 is reflected in the growth and employment numbers.

In short, the scandal hasn’t just exposed the corruption — it has slowed growth, shrunk construction, and cost jobs, with the construction sector bearing the brunt so far.

Two hundred days after “Mahiya naman kayo,” Filipinos are still waiting to see if anyone powerful will actually pay the price.