1 day ago
2
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Daphne Galvez - The Philippine Star
April 16, 2026 | 12:00am
Photo shows the anomalous flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan yesterday.
Michael Varcas.
MANILA, Philippines — Prosecutors from the Sandiganbayan Third Division conducted an ocular inspection yesterday of the supposed site of a P92.8-million flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan – and to little surprise, found nothing.
The project in Barangay Bunsuran, previously reported to be 95 percent complete, was the subject of the malversation case against detained former senator Ramon Revilla Jr.
Associate Justice Karl Miranda, Sandiganbayan Third Division chairman, led the inspection, along with members of the Department of Public Works and Highways Bulacan 1st District Engineering Office, ombudsman prosecutors and lawyers of the accused.
DPWH Bulacan 1st DEO officer-in-charge Kenneth Fernando said no visible structures were found at the site.
According to the prosecution, the issue of the project being a “ghost” one is “now settled.”
“There’s no project. It’s a ghost project,” one of the prosecutors said, noting that while there were visible parts of steel sheet piles, there were no revetment nor containment wall, which was supposed to be major parts of a flood control structure.
At least three sets of barely visible and rusting sheet piles were found under the heavy vegetation found in the site.
The ocular inspection is part of the bail petition hearing in the malversation case involving Revilla and sacked officials of the Bulacan 1st DEO.
The inspection was conducted after two prosecution witnesses earlier gave conflicting accounts of the project’s location, including a National Bureau of Investigation witness who pointed to a site adjacent to the actual project area.
The NBI witness was later brought to the adjacent site by DPWH Bulacan officials. The adjacent site had visible structures but was unfinished.
Blue Ribbon
Meanwhile, the Senate Blue Ribbon committee will not meet to tackle the flood control scam until the partial report on the investigation gets at least nine senators’ signatures, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said yesterday.
Lacson said no hearings would be held until the report is officially sponsored on the Senate floor, which can only happen if it is signed by at least nine colleagues, or the required majority, to advance the document.
Currently, the report only has the signatures of Blue Ribbon chair Lacson and Senators Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino and Francis Pangilinan.
Despite pushback from the minority bloc, Lacson expressed confidence that he will secure the five additional signatures.
The pending partial report formally recommends the investigation of Senators Joel Villanueva and Francis Escudero, alongside former speaker Martin Romualdez.
– Neil Jayson Servallos
