Draining the Flood of Corruption

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was visibly angry when he stood on a patch of grassy riprap in Baliwag, Bulacan, where government records claimed a ₱55.7-million riverwall had already been built and fully paid for.

Despite billions allocated for flood control, many Filipinos still face rising waters. What has truly flooded the nation is corruption. (Illustrator: Riz)

There were no hollow blocks, no cement mixers, not even the faintest trace of construction. It was a ghost project, an empty space that spoke volumes about the rot afflicting the country’s flood control program.

The President’s outrage was justified. Billions of pesos have been poured into flood control, yet many Filipinos still wade through waist-deep waters each monsoon season.

What has truly flooded the nation is not protection against disaster but corruption that siphons away public money, drains government coffers already stretched by debt, and erodes the little trust citizens still place in their leaders.

Syndicates in Plain Sight

It is no longer whispered speculation but a documented pattern: collusion between private contractors, district engineers, regional directors, local government officials, and even legislators themselves.

Auditors who are meant to safeguard public funds have been implicated as willing participants.

What has emerged is not mere negligence but organized syndicates, using ghost projects as lucrative dikes to divert funding from urgent priorities like education and healthcare.

President Marcos has vowed that no one will be spared, promising even economic sabotage charges against big-ticket anomalies. Yet the scale of the problem requires more than scattered inspections and fraud audits. The rot is too deep and the networks too entrenched.

Congress Cannot Police Itself

This is why House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos is correct to admit that Congress cannot credibly investigate itself.

When the accused sit in the very chamber expected to probe them, the result is predictable inertia.

Representative Toby Tiangco’s recent attempt to compel transparency over budget insertions exposed just how reluctant the House is to identify members behind suspicious allocations.

House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos admits Congress cannot credibly probe flood control anomalies due to members’ own links to the projects. (Photo: Sandro Marcos Facebook)

Instead of confronting the flood at its source, legislators have signaled they will simply “track changes” in the future. That approach lets existing culprits off the hook while inviting whistleblowers to shoulder the burden.

Self-policing in such circumstances is as futile as expecting floodwaters to recede on their own. The tide of corruption will not ebb unless an authority above partisan interest takes control of the levee.

A Case for an Independent Commission

To truly stem this deluge, the President should consider establishing an independent Anti-Corruption Commission vested with broad powers to investigate, subpoena, and recommend prosecution.

This idea is hardly unprecedented. Independent Commissions Against Corruption (ICACs) in places like Hong Kong and Australia have shown how such bodies can shine light where legislatures and government agencies often cannot.

Their strength lies in independence and wide-ranging investigative authority granted, which allow them to cut through the murky waters of political influence and interference that so often drown traditional oversight bodies.

In the Philippine context, such a commission must be anchored on credibility.

Its membership should include retired justices and senior police-military officers known for integrity, respected academics from the nation’s leading universities, leaders of the country’s major religious communities, representatives of business chambers, and voices from civil society.

Only a broad, multi-sectoral body can command the trust of a public weary of partisan probes and selective prosecutions.

Why This Matters

The stakes go beyond missing riverwalls and non-existent canals. Every ghost project is not just a monument to theft but a direct assault on resilience.

Properly built flood defenses could have secured irrigation, ensured potable water, and protected homes and livelihoods. Instead, families are left vulnerable while taxpayers shoulder mounting national debt.

Worse, corruption in climate-resilience infrastructure undermines faith in government at precisely the moment when trust is most needed.

If Filipinos believe that even flood control — a matter of life and death in a disaster-prone archipelago — can be casually traded for kickbacks, then the legitimacy of governance itself begins to collapse.

From Outrage to Action

The President’s anger at Baliwag was natural, but anger alone will not plug the leaks.

What is required is institutional resolve.

By creating an independent Anti-Corruption Commission, President Marcos would send a clear signal: that no syndicate, however entrenched, is beyond accountability; that no legislator, however powerful, is immune; and that the public’s money will not continue to wash away into ghost projects.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inspects the supposed site of a ₱55.7M riverwall in Bulacan—now exposed as a “ghost project.” (Photo: Presidential Communications Office Facebook)

Just as flood control demands durable levees and dikes, corruption control requires structures strong enough to withstand political currents.

This commission could be that structure, a barrier against the flood of graft that has long eroded the nation’s foundations.

If the President truly wishes to restore confidence and safeguard resources for the Filipino people, then the path is clear. Build the commission. Drain the swamp. And let accountability, at last, flow.