With P4 Billion in Assets Frozen, Are Flood Control Schemers' Days Numbered?

The end is nigh for the lavish and extravagant lifestyles of personalities supposedly behind the large-scale corruption in state flood mitigation projects. On Wednesday, the Anti-Money Laundering Council reported over P4 billion in frozen assets related to the flood control probe. More assets are likely to be seized soon.

The AMLC is working with the Marcos administration’s polarizing Independent Commission for Infrastructure to double down on the government’s crackdown on corruption.

Last week, a total of 1,620 bank accounts, 54 insurance policies, 163 vehicles, 40 properties, and 12 e-wallet accounts were frozen stemming from four Court of Appeals freeze orders issued on October 3.

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This is the fifth freeze order linked to the flood control probe alongside the administration's ongoing campaign against corruption.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. earlier formed the independent commission to go after those behind irregularities in flood-control contracts that have allegedly fattened the pockets of prominent lawmakers and government officials.

Under Executive Order No. 94, the commission is mandated to look into the fraudulent use of funds for infrastructure projects nationwide in the past decade. To recall, the AMLC consists of the heads of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Insurance Commission.

SEC Chairperson Francis Lim says the firm partnership shows that the government means business and will not tolerate any form of corruption.

“Infrastructure should be a pillar for nation-building and not a playground for
corruption," he said in a press release. “Through the provisions of this agreement, we will strengthen collaboration in tracing and investigating financial flow linked to irregular infrastructure projects.”

The AMLC signed a memorandum of agreement last month to commit to provide full operational support to the ICI in detecting and investigating money laundering and other illegal activities under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

“Currently, regarding those banks that fail to fulfill their basic responsibilities of conducting due diligence and filing suspicious transaction reports,” AMLC Executive Director Mathew David earlier said during a radio interview. “We are already taking enforcement actions against them. But, we believe that our implementing rules and regulations are already sufficient.”

Public outrage and the overwhelming clamor for accountability was no surprise as the flood-control fiasco is seen to be one of the biggest graft scandals scale-wise since the pork barrel scam from 10 years ago. Mass protests have since broken out in Metro Manila, with another so-called “trillion-peso march” scheduled to take place next month.

Janet Lim Napoles, who is known as the queen and mastermind behind the pork scheme and has been detained since 2018, was recently found guilty of another 13 counts of money laundering linked to the ghost project scheme. She had been accused of colluding with some lawmakers in accumulating questionable wealth from these projects which are mostly fictitious.

Where we are in the flood fiasco so far

The flood control scheme stemmed from a bombshell dropped by controversial contractors Sarah and Curlee Discaya, along with former district engineers from the Department of Public Works and Highways, who tagged several senators and congressmen as the benefactors of project kickbacks.

The crackdown on these assets also comes after Senator Francis “Kiko Pangilinan raised  the alarm on a government contractor suspiciously withdrawing P457 million in cold hard cash from the state lender Land Bank of the Philippines in a span of just two days.

“An explanation that this is how normalized corruption has become isn't enough, and points to another empowering reform -- banks should be allowed to delay such suspicious transactions if done in good faith and duly reported to authorities for verification and proper documentation,” Sonny Africa, executive director of the think tank IBON Foundation, told Esquire Philippines in a Viber message. “The more important question though is why none of the bank staff felt safe enough to prevent such an obviously suspicious cash transaction from taking place.”

The Senate is still in the middle of its probe of these anomalies but has taken an interesting turn as Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson stepped down as Blue Ribbon committee chairperson.after he “sensed” that some of his colleagues in the majority bloc saw his handling of the probe left much to be desired.

Lacon’s brief tenure in the upper chamber’s accountability committee has led to the implication of several senators, congressmen, and agency officials being roped into the flood control fiasco.

“All committee chairpersons, whether in the Senate or in the House, we serve at the pleasure of our peers, particularly the members of our majority bloc,” the senator said, commenting on his resignation. “When my peers already lack faith in me, especially when a majority of them are unhappy over how the Blue Ribbon is being handled, maybe stepping down is an option.”

In a Facebook Messenger chat, Ateneo de Manila University economics professor Leonardo Lanzona said the highly corrupt state institutions are still to blame for massive bouts of mishandling and it is hard to point blame to just one actor.

President Marcos also appointed his Justice Secretary, Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla, as the new Ombudsman after his now predecessor retired. It is an intriguing development in how the government will go about filing both administration and criminal charges against those behind the massive corruption scandal.

Looking at the lower chamber, House Infrastructure Committee co-chairperson Bicol Caro Party-List Rep. Terry Ridon said his committee sees this adds as a new wrinkle to the country’s accountability mechanisms.

“Ombudsman Remulla is empowered to initiate both administrative and criminal proceedings against all individuals found liable for the plunder of public funds—including DPWH officials, legislators, executive officials, and government contractors,” said the congressman. “Similar to our cooperation with the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, the House Infrastructure Committee will also work with Ombudsman Remulla and transmit all transcripts, documents, and other relevant evidence arising from our previous proceedings.”

Remulla himself said he was left with and has to extinguish what he calls a "firestorm" of leads on corruption linked to the billions of pesos stolen and lost to the substandard flood control projects.