Philippines Flood Control Scandal Began Under Duterte, Continued By Marcos, Court Witness Claims

2026-04-09 11:15:19

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Billions of pesos worth of kickbacks from ghost flood control projects - now symbolised by luggages in which they were allegedly delivered - started during the administration of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte and worsened during the current Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government, a court testimony revealed.

A state witness recently told the Philippine anti-corruption court Sandiganbayan that she and her cohorts started the massive kickback scheme while Duterte was still president.

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Duterte served as the 16th president of the Philippines from June 30, 2016, to June 30, 2022. Marcos assumed office in June 2022, and his term ends in 2028.

SYMS Construction Trading owner Sally Santos revealed her company secured 157 projects from the government since 2021, cumulatively worth P1.8 billion (Dh112 million). From these, Santos claims to have earned for herself P86 million (Dh5.37 million) throughout four years until the plot was exposed last year.

In a bail hearing involving former senator Bong Revilla - himself accused of profiting from a ghost flood control project in Bulacan province - Santos said she was asked by government engineers to“lend” her licence to projects in exchange for three per cent of the funds.

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It was Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) engineer Brice Hernandez who asked her to establish her company in 2017, which was eventually founded in 2019. Hernandez had then included SYMS Construction in anomalous deals and participated in the plot as the government official had insider knowledge of the list of projects granted funds by Congress.

But Santos said her company would not undertake actual construction in majority of the projects, and just received the funds from the government. In total, SYMS Construction surrendered 42 projects to Hernandez worth billions of pesos.

Santos revealed that she only undertook 10 per cent actual construction in the other 115 projects SYMS Construction won, the other 113 projects going to other individuals who“borrowed” her license.

Once authorities approved the payment, Santos said she would withdraw the funds from a government bank, take her cut, and deliver the rest to Hernandez in boxes. She said Hernandez himself would receive the funds in cash.

Santos said she was assured each time that“everything was in order” by DPWH officials.

Accepted as a state witness in the ongoing investigations, Santos' revelations cast a wider net of corruption involving private contractors, government officials and agencies across two administrations.

From Duterte to Marcos

The Commission on Audit (CoA) had flagged potential anomalies as early as 2017. Succeeding investigations identified a staggering 421“ghost projects” across the country from 2018 to 2024, including projects marked“95 per cent complete” in only 21 days.

This was the exact time period when Hernandez allegedly encouraged Santos to put up SYMS Construction to be part of a network of pliable contractors for ghost projects.

Succeeding investigations revealed that such schemes were put in place from as far north as Cagayan province and as far south as Davao City.

In an effort to become a state witness himself, Hernandez has admitted to billions of pesos worth of transactions in his bank account, reportedly returning P100 million (Dh6.25 million) in restitution on top of surrendering his luxury vehicles, collectively worth P50 million (Dh3.12 million) to government. An assistant engineer like Hernandez receives a monthly salary of 'only' P70,000 (Dh4,375).

So-called Davao Boys

A former contractor of government construction projects told Khaleej Times he learned of rigged bidding and ghost projects schemes during the Duterte administration.“Instead of actual bidding, we flew down to Davao City (Duterte's hometown, where the then president maintained an alternate office) to ask for projects. They (Davao Boys) would take their 30 per cent cut immediately,” the source said.

“I couldn't believe the rapacity of the so-called Davao Boys then. It turned out that it continued under the Marcos government without missing a beat,” he added. The contractor has left the business and sold all his construction equipment to other companies.“I could not complete my projects without cutting corners,” he revealed.

Former congressman and now fugitive Elizaldy Co admitted in several tell-all videos that he helped worsen the situation by inserting hundreds of billions of pesos worth of projects in the government's national budget.

'Marcos gave orders'

Co claimed that such orders were given by Marcos Jr. himself whose billion-peso kickbacks the former ally ordered delivered to government officials close to the president. Co said that at least P1 billion was earmarked for Marcos himself, a claim that Malacañang Palace vehemently denies.

On March 31, the Marcos government has concluded its investigations on the flood control project anomalies through the Independent Commission on Infrastructures (ICI), recommending the prosecution of contractors and government officials named in the scandal.

Only one high-ranking politician, former Senator Revilla, had been arrested so far and undergoing trial for his role in the corruption scandal. "It was an underwhelming achievement not really meant to exact accountability from those involved," critics say.

Meanwhile, segments of the populace, including migrant Filipino workers, are divided and pointing fingers at which administration - Marcos or Duterte - was more corrupt, while the Philippines is drowned in flood and government corruption.

Last year, at least 266 Filipinos drowned during extreme weather events, including floods from collapsed substandard flood control projects.