Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said Tuesday his office is investigating infrastructure projects in Davao City, which he described as the “epicenter” of flood control funding before the Marcos administration.

Remulla said investigators have encountered difficulties gathering evidence because of what he described as a deeply rooted “ecosystem of corruption” in the area.

“It’s not easy, let’s just say that the ‘epicenter’ of flood control before the Marcos administration came was Davao City. The ecosystem of corruption is heavy, difficult to enter, difficult to gather information, there are many people that refuse to speak but we do not stop,” Remulla said during a budget briefing.

“Davao is the ecosystem that we are referring to because that was where a lot of funds went into flood control,” he added.

Remulla stressed, however, that his statements were not a conclusion that corruption had occurred, saying investigators still need sufficient evidence.

“We are still studying this because it is important for us to see the evidence on the ground, your honor,” he said.

The Ombudsman chief said Davao was not the only area being investigated as his office attempts to establish a “pattern” of how alleged irregularities in flood control projects developed.

Remulla made the statements after ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio asked whether the Ombudsman was investigating projects implemented during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Tinio noted that questions involving budget insertions and alleged ghost projects had been raised in Congress as early as 2018.

On 19 May, Tinio asked the Ombudsman to investigate what his group described as P4.4 billion worth of anomalous flood control projects in Davao City’s 1st District from 2019 to 2022.

ACT Teachers flagged 80 contracts along the Davao and Matina rivers over alleged irregularities involving specifications, changes in project locations and projects reported as “100 percent complete” despite being listed as “ongoing.”

The district was represented by Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte.

Duterte previously questioned what he called “selective outrage” in scrutinizing Davao.

“Why focus solely on Davao while conveniently ignoring the larger controversies hounding the present administration and its allies?” Duterte said in a Facebook post.