2 months ago
33
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
Brix Lelis, Daphne Galvez - The Philippine Star
January 9, 2026 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla shrugged off Sen. Imee Marcos’ claim that charges in relation to the flood control scandal against some senators will be filed next week.
Remulla said he would not be giving dates on the filing of charges, but assured the public that “things are moving smoothly.”
“She (Marcos) is fortunate that she knows. I don’t. I don’t know where that came from. We cannot give any dates or any commitments on anything,” Remulla said.
Marcos earlier claimed that charges would be filed against Senators Joel Villanueva and Jinggoy Estrada and former senator Bong Revilla on Jan. 15.
“I don’t want to mention any more names for now. All I can say is that things are moving smoothly. We are hiring people. The work is continuing on a daily basis and we intend to keep it that way for the next seven years. We are doing our work. The DOJ is doing its work,” Remulla said.
He also said it would be better to refrain from mentioning dates so as not to preempt the filing and there would be no misinterpretation among the public.
Remulla said last year that major perpetrators of the flood control mess would be in jail by Dec. 15, 2025.
So far, the ombudsman under Remulla’s tenure has filed two batches of flood control related cases – the malversation and graft charges against former Ako Bicol party-list representative Zaldy Co and 16 others over the P289-million substandard road dike project in Oriental Mindoro and the malversation and graft charges filed against contractor Sarah Discaya, among others, with the Digos City, Davao del Sur Regional Trial Court over the P96.5-million ghost flood control project in Davao Occidental.
He, however, gave assurance that justice will be served and that the “big fish” behind the flood control kickback scheme will face consequences.
Recalculate costs, budget estimates
In his first order of business for the year, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon has issued guidelines to ensure the recalculation of all infrastructure project costs and budget estimates in all the regional offices and district engineering offices, and unified project management offices of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
In Department Order 1 issued last Jan. 7, Dizon laid down the guidelines for the “updating and monitoring” of programs of work (POWs), and approved budgets for the contract (ABCs) of infrastructure projects in line with the lowered Construction Materials Price Data (CMPD) set by the DPWH last November.
Dizon said that the effort was being done “in order to ensure the reasonableness and consistency of project cost estimates, and to promote uniformity in the preparation and updating of the POWs, ABCs, and other related cost estimation documents for projects proposed under the Revised National Expenditure Program for FY 2026 and subsequently authorized under the General Appropriations Act of FY 2026.”
In the guidelines, Dizon had required all regional offices (ROs), district engineering offices (DEOs), and unified project management offices (UPMOs) to conduct a validation of each project’s “location, station limits and/or coordinates, scope of work, and physical targets” and then execute a “certificate of validation.”
“A Certificate of Validation shall be prepared and issued as evidence of compliance with this requirement. For projects implemented by the RO and DEO, the Certificate shall be issued by the Planning and Design Division Chief or Section Chief, as applicable,” Dizon said.
For projects implemented under the UPMO Clusters, the Certificate shall be issued by the Project Manager concerned,” Dizon ordered.
Dizon said that there should be a recalculation of unit costs in the Detailed Unit Price Analysis of all affected “pay items, especially those with material cost components.”
The recalculation of the unit costs should cover the material component, the material price, labor and equipment component, labor and equipment unit cost, the application of indirect cost mark-up, and the application of value added tax, the order enumerated.
In another development, the National Bureau of Investigation is set to file charges against a contractor and 12 DPWH-Davao personnel for alleged anomalous flood control project that until now has caused flooding and has become a perennial problem to the residents in La Verna Subdivision, Barangay Buhangin in Davao City. - Rainier Allan Ronda, Edith Regalado
