The plot thickens, but will it lead to anywhere?

Comedian Vice Ganda is being bashed left and right by netizens because of his allegedly insulting jokes about Former President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Rodante Marcoleta. Has-been actress Liza Soberano has just revealed that she and former onscreen partner Enrique Gil have parted ways for quite some time already. Nadia Montenegro, a former staff of Senator Robin Padilla, is being suspected of smoking marijuana inside a Senate comfort room. Jaime Santiago has recently resigned from his position as National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director, for rather vague reasons. And then some.

Don't you find it strange that these “issues” have successively come up in the midst of a more important and more urgent issue that is currently besetting our nation: the massive failure of the billions-of-peso government-sponsored flood control projects and the culture of corruption associated with it? If we are not vigilant and critical enough, we could easily be “distracted” by these non-flood issues. Which is exactly the point: these issues are designed to divert our attention from the main issue of government ineptitude and corruption.

But we can only say this: Not this time. The catastrophic effect of the failure of the flood control projects, as seen in last year's and this year's onslaught of typhoons and southwest monsoon (habagat), is of such magnitude that we simply cannot let the matter pass so easily. We demand a thorough and diligent investigation of the anomaly and that those responsible for the plunder of the taxpayers' money be held accountable and eventually punished. As they say, heads should roll. Otherwise, our government – or rather, our country – is one hopeless case.

In his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. vehemently vowed that he would demand an audit of the flood control projects and that he would go after those involved. Given Marcos' reputation, it was hard to believe that this is something that would actually happen. Yet, some weeks after, he held a press conference where he initially disclosed the top 15 independent contractors that got “20% of flood control projects worth P100B” in the last three years. Lots of contractors with a truly huge budget, and you would rightly expect a truly feasible and long-term solution to the floods that we are experiencing. But what do we get? Nothing but incompetence and deception, with all those money being channeled to places where they should not be: the pockets of guileful and greedy politicians, government officials and contractors.

Before we even forget – and this is an equally disturbing thing – these supposedly independent contractors are in fact linked to some political personalities. Zaldy Co, a representative of the Ako Bicol partylist and a former chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, is the co-founder and CEO of Sunwest (one of the top 15 contractors). On the other hand, Sarah Discaya, an unsuccessful Pasig City mayoralty candidate in the last May elections, is behind St. Timothy (also part of the top 15).

And while there is, per the data provided by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), “a total of 2,409 contractors for both local and national flood control projects,” a considerable amount (about 20%) of the “545 billion budget” only went to the top 15 contractors, five of whom (Legacy, Alpha & Omega, St. Timothy, EGB, and Road Edge) had projects in the ENTIRE country. Still, Marcos emphasized that no one is being accused just yet. What is important for now is that this “gives us an idea of what, how this has been conducted.”

But the pressing question still remains: Will heads actually roll?

Congress has in fact started the ball rolling this week, with Navotas congressman Toby Tiangco taking the lead for the House of Representatives (HOR) as he asked the House Appropriations Committee last Monday (August 18) to release to the public the 2025 small committee report with the names of its members and the changes they made to the 2025 National Budget and Senator Marcoleta, chair of the powerful Blue Ribbon Committee, commencing the Senate hearing on the anomalous flood control projects last Tuesday (August 19). If you have closely watched both deliberations, using a little bit of psychology, you can rightly tell that the personalities being questioned were not exactly telling the truth, that they were hiding something or someone. If you have not really done anything dubious and illegal, then you can just confidently state the facts as they are, without the need to make some detours, evasions or excuses. It is quite hard to explain or defend your case when you are really lying, right?

Yet, despite the good intentions (hopefully) of Tiangco and Marcoleta, we still cannot help but ask: Just how far will all these inquiries and investigations go? Will the public ever get to see some big or prominent names being held accountable and eventually tried and sent to jail for the plunder that they have done? Or is everything only relevant and urgent until the next big headline? Besides, can someone really investigate his/her own ilk? If you have endured the state of affairs in Philippine politics for the longest possible time, then you surely know that such questions are not without factual basis.

Corruption can and should never be normal – ever. This country's culture of corruption and systemic and organized plunder of the National Budget, of the taxpayers' money should come to an absolute end once and for all. Not in the next SONA. Not in the next elections. Not in the next administration. But NOW!

The fight to end corruption may be a long and tortuous road. But as long as the steps taken are sustained and vigorous, change and progress can definitely be attained. The kind of leadership of Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto and Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno is a shining example. These two young public officials are no joke. Let us make their brand of governance the rule, rather than the exception, in this corrupt-ridden country.

It is immensely helpful if we, the citizens, are not indifferent and apathetic. Because if all this exposé and probe of government corruption that drains the national coffers and robs us of the better life that we rightfully deserve still yield no positive outcome at all, then a direct action by the masses might just be the kind of thing that these crooked public officials are asking for. That is one of the essential aspects of democracy, after all: power emanating from the masses. And as far as I know, our country is still a democracy, constitutionally speaking. Not an oligarchy. Not an autocracy. But a democracy.

Moreover, it still boils down to the question of how do you want to be remembered by the succeeding generations, by history, so to speak. In the case of Marcos, Jr., he and his family were given a second chance (however misguided) by the so-called millions of voters who supported him. Is he really dead set on squandering it big-time? Is this the kind of legacy that he wants to leave – botched promises, insincere advocacies, spineless and spaced-out leadership, and incredibly corrupt officials?