On the day Congress came one step away from approving the proposed “corruption-free” ₱6.793-trillion national budget for 2026, a former official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) being investigated in connection with the anomalous multibillion-peso flood control projects fell to her death from Kennon Road in Tuba, Benguet. The body of former...
Author: Christine O. Avendaño (Christine Avendaño)
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Budget reform advocates urge the bicam: Abolish unprogrammed appropriations
With the first-ever open bicameral conference (bicam) set to start on Dec. 13 to reconcile the Senate and House versions of the proposed ₱6.7-trillion national budget for 2026, reform advocates have one distinctive call: for the bicam members to abolish unprogrammed appropriations (UA) in the budget measure that have been the source of “insertions” and...
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Zaldy Co makes bombshell claims, Roberto Bernardo names more names
Zaldy Co begged off from participating at the resumption of the Senate blue ribbon committee inquiry into the flood control corruption scandal on Friday, supposedly for health reasons. But three hours into the hearing, the former Ako Bicol party list lawmaker who has been out of the country since July surfaced in a video on Facebook...
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No word yet from ‘Bato’ on rumored ICC warrant of arrest, Sotto says
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said there has been no word yet from Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa regarding the arrest warrant purportedly issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his being an alleged co-conspirator in Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs.” Sotto replied in the negative on Saturday when CoverStory asked if Dela Rosa...
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Kabataan lawmaker says young Filipinos are ‘incredibly agitated’ by the theft of public funds and their future
For Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Louise Co, there was nothing performative in the halftime gig on Oct. 19 of the University of the Philippines (UP) Varsity Pep Squad and the De La Salle University (DLSU) Animo Squad in which they joined forces in assailing the massive corruption in flood control and other infrastructure projects. Co described...
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Sotto says he will keep the Senate presidency, majority bloc is ‘solid’
Senate President Vicente Sotto III has refuted rumors on social media that his leadership is in peril, saying that he continues to hold the trust of the majority in the chamber. “Solid yun 15 namin,” Sotto told CoverStory on Sunday when asked about rumors circulating online that Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano is poised...
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Alcantara able to substantiate his bombshell testimony, Lacson says
The turnaround of former Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara, now a “protected witness,” in the large-scale flood control anomalies came as a surprise during the resumption of the Senate inquiry into the corruption scandal on Tuesday. But for Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, who chairs the Senate blue ribbon committee looking into the scandal, the...
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Name, shame, prosecute: Lacson plumbs the ‘national sewer of corrupted flood control projects’
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson has linked recently resigned public works secretary Manuel Bonoan to a government contractor of multibillion-peso flood control projects in Bulacan, a province that, he said, “has proven to be the national sewer of corrupted flood control projects.” Delivering on Tuesday the second part of his privilege speech titled “Flooded Gates...
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House begins ‘evidence-based’ inquiry into corruption in flood control projects
The House of Representatives’ “tricommittee” begins today its own inquiry into questionable flood control projects, with the objective of “completing the story” behind those deemed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as “ghost” and substandard projects. Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon, chair of the House committee on public accounts, said he and his colleagues would start with...
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Lacson ‘pulls the trigger’ on flood control projects, says what Filipinos need is ‘greed control’
Sen. Panfilo Lacson has laid out how billions of pesos in government-funded flood control projects ended up in the hands of corrupt contractors, public works officials and politicians through the years, resulting in persistent massive flooding and inflicting suffering on Filipinos. Making good on his promise to explain the pork barrel insertions in the national budget, Lacson...