Eight officials in the Philippines Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have been detained by the police, while the rest of the 18 served with warrants of arrest for their involvement in the country’s flood-control controversy are still being sought.
This was announced by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who has been repeatedly blamed for the massive corruption around flood-control projects in a country prone to deadly floods and typhoons.
After the warrants were issued, prosecutors recommended that the suspects not be granted bail due to the extent of the anomalies, such as a river dike project which was valued at PHP289 million ($4.8 million).
Additionally, officials have given orders to prevent the suspects from leaving the country.
Marcos orders suspects to surrender
The scandal, which has sparked outrage amongst Filipinos for months, resulted in protests and continued calls for accountability.
It all stemmed from a series of substandard flood-control infrastructure installations in the country, which led to deadly consequences and especially high death tolls during extreme weather events.
After months of senate hearings and investigations, Marcos has issued a statement, vowing to lock up implicated senators and construction company owners by Christmas.
He also revealed that one suspect has been arrested while six others have surrendered to the authorities.
According to a report by Rappler, the tally of the suspects who were in police custody then rose to eight.
“My advice to the remaining suspects is for all of you to surrender. Don’t wait to be pursued,” Marcos said in an Associated Press report.
“This will continue – we will not stop.”
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Philippines eyes Interpol for tracking Co
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said that three more suspects might soon turn themselves in at Philippine embassies in the US, New Zealand, and Jordan.
“No matter where you are in the world, we will find you,” Remulla promised.
He further announced that Interpol would be tapped to help track and arrest former Ako Bicol representative Zaldy Co via a Red Notice.
Two days ago, the Sandiganbayan – the country’s special anti-corruption court – issued arrest warrants against Co and 17 others.
Co is one of the most notorious names implicated in the whole scandal and is currently said to be hiding abroad.
He served in Congress as the representative of the Ako Bicol Political Party and is the co-founder of the construction firm Sunwest Corp, which was involved with anomalies in a flood-control project in the province of Oriental Mindoro.
The others who are being sought by the authorities are government engineers and executives of said company.
More than 9,855 flood-control projects, which are valued at over PHP545 billion ($9 billion) and scheduled for implementation since Marcos assumed office in mid-2022, are now being probed.
In September, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto informed lawmakers that as much as PHP118.5bn ($2bn) allocated for these projects since 2023 may have been siphoned off through corruption.
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