ASEANEWS HEADLINE | MANILA, Philippines: No merry Christmas for flood culprits – Marcos Jr.
Marcos: Flood control corruption suspects to be jailed before Christmas | ANC
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Cases filed by government solid, says President
MANILA, Philippines — There would be no merry Christmas for officials and the others linked to corruption in flood control projects as they would be behind bars by then, President Marcos said yesterday, amid concerns raised by some quarters that no one has been held to account more than 100 days since his promise of action.
“Before Christmas, many of those named here… their case will be over, their case will be complete. They will be jailed. They won’t have a merry Christmas. Before Christmas, they will be locked up,” Marcos told a press conference at Malacañang.
He said it is important that the cases to be filed against concerned government officials are strong.
“To these shameless people who are stealing the people’s money: your happy days are over. We are going to chase you down,” he said.
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Marcos stressed that while he wants justice to be served quickly, the government has already learned from the past that rushing things could do more harm than good.
“It’s better to be careful and take a little longer than to rush and make mistakes. You know, we’re afraid that those we linked to this shamelessness will get away with it because of a legal technicality,” the Chief Executive said.
He pointed out that three months after his promise in his State of the Nation Address in July to make corrupt officials accountable, his administration is more confident of accomplishing three things.
“First, those who are involved in this corruption will be held accountable. Second, the government will recover the money they stole. Third, we will make reforms so that all this kind of corruption will never happen again,” he said, citing breakthroughs achieved i
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n the investigations on anomalies in flood control projects.
According to Marcos, the “Sumbong sa Pangulo” website has received more than 20,000 reports of questionable projects.
Freeze orders
Marcos added that from Sept. 15 to Nov. 5, the Anti-Money Laundering Council obtained seven freeze orders from the Court of Appeals.
“This freeze order covers a total amount of P6.3 billion. SolGen (Solicitor General) has already started to prepare a forfeiture case so that this P6.3 billion can be recovered by the government and this stolen money can be returned to the people,” the President said.
Marcos noted that from Sept. 29 to Nov. 6, the Independent Commission for Infrastructure submitted recommendations of criminal and administrative cases to the Office of the Ombudsman against 37 people linked to corruption.
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These include cases of graft and corruption, malversation, falsification, plunder, and violation of the Code of Conduct for public officers. Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) also submitted 12 cases of bid manipulation and bid-rigging to the Philippine Competition Commission on Oct. 3. “Six private companies are involved,” Marcos said.
He said that in these cases alone, the government can recover P3 billion to P5 billion in penalties.
“If we add up all the penalties for all bid-rigging cases so far, maybe there will be more to add to that, for now, we can recover P3 to P5 billion in terms of fines,” Marcos added.
He said that on Oct. 23, the DPWH filed a case of malversation and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act against 21 officials of the DPWH La Union 2nd District Engineering Office and Davao Occidental District Engineering Office and four private individuals.
“Ombudsman (Jesus Crispin) Remulla said there is also a person of interest in the person of former congressman Eric Yap, former committee on appropriations chairman from 2019 to 2022,” Marcos said.
He added that in November, the DPWH charged six companies with three counts of bid manipulation and bid-rigging.
“Since Nov. 6, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has filed 10 cases with the DOJ against DPWH officials and contractors. Their tax liabilities amount to P8.86 billion,” Marcos noted.
Transparency portal
At the same time, Marcos said his administration is developing a transparency portal to provide the public with broader access to information on projects including details about contractors, implementing offices, location and project status.
“This means that we will closely monitor every step of the way. We will monitor every step of this process carefully so that if we see something that is not right or against the rules and regulations, we will see it immediately and we will not let it be seen only after two, three years like what is happening now,” he added.
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Also at the briefing, Marcos said there is no evidence yet to include his cousin former speaker Martin Romualdez in the cases to be filed.
“I don’t think so because no… the only evidence that has been made against him was in the Senate. So, I don’t know,” Marcos said.
“If something else comes out, then he might be answerable for something. We don’t file cases for optics. We file cases to put people in jail or make people answer. I know that there are many suggestions of who else we should file cases against, we are fine with that, provide us the evidence and we will file cases against them,” Marcos added.
But presidential sister Sen. Imee Marcos said she still sees “Merry Christmas” for some of those linked to the flood control mess – contrary to what her brother had declared – especially for their cousin, former speaker Romualdez against whom no cases would be filed.
Former security officer Orly Guteza testified before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee last September of having delivered luggage of cash representing kickbacks to Romualdez and then House committee appropriations committee chairman Zaldy Co.
“There’ll be Merry Christmas because he (President Marcos) said Speaker Martin will not be charged,” she said.
She was referring to the President’s press briefing remark that their cousin is not part of the first batch of corruption cases – at least not yet. “I heard it, I almost fell off my chair,” the senator said. “Tiniwalag ko na yun (I’ve canceled him out already),” she added, referring to Romualdez.
No basis yet to indict Romualdez – BBM
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Lawmakers, however, asserted that Marcos was right about declaring that there is still no basis yet to charge Romualdez.
“The President was very clear — cases are not filed for optics,” Manila Rep. Benny Abante said in a statement.
“They are filed to hold people accountable based on solid proof. That is how the justice system works,” he added.
“Up to now, there is no document, no signature, no transaction, and no testimony directly pointing to former Speaker Romualdez,” Abante said.
House Deputy Speaker and National Unity President chairman Rep. Ronaldo Puno of Antipolo also expressed belief there is no evidence yet against Romualdez.
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“So I think what the President is saying, ‘what evidence now if there is none?’” Puno also pointed to Guteza “whose claims have unraveled.“
“On Orly Guteza, when Guteza started there is already falsification because his notarization is falsified,” Puno said. – . Jose Rodeo Clapano, Marc Jayson Cayabyab
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