Jean Cornejo

🚨The Infrastructure of Impunity: How Duterte’s Inaction Allowed the Flood Control Scam to Thrive [‼️Long read alert, but worth it.] When we see our communities submerge in deep floodwaters today, we are looking at the aftermath of a blueprint drawn years ago. 1. In December 2018, former House Majority Leader Rolando "Nonoy" Andaya Jr. blew the whistle on a massive ₱332 billion flood control scam buried inside the national budget. 2. Andaya explicitly warned the public that officials were funneling billions into ghost projects, hidden line items, and flood mitigation plans. 3. Instead of launching an aggressive crackdown, the Duterte administration shielded its inner circle. DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno denied the allegations. 4. Former Ombudsman Samuel Martires also did not launch any motu proprio investigation into the multi-billion-peso red flags. He even went on the record to deny that a formal probe was happening, and claimed his office was merely "gathering documents." 5. Instead of facing a fierce investigation, Diokno walked away with a massive promotion: President Rodrigo Duterte appointed him Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in 2019. 6. Duterte knew exactly what was happening. In 2020, he publicly admitted that corruption inside the DPWH was rampant and nearly impossible to stop. 7. But while Duterte acknowledged the disease, he refused to apply the cure. His administration did not file a single major corruption charge against those public officials running the show. 8. Because the Duterte presidency chose inaction, the flood control corruption network flourished. Bureaucratic insiders in DPWH planning gained immense power, and favored contractors grew into corporate giants overnight on the back of bloated flood budgets. 9. They perfected a predictable, highly lucrative cycle: * They inflated the budgets. * They multiplied the projects. * They enriched the contractors. * They buried the investigations. 10. Then came the chilling exclamation point. On June 30, 2022, just days after Duterte stepped down, authorities found Nonoy Andaya dead in his Naga home from a gunshot wound to the head. 11. While the official police report pointed to suicide, the timing left a heavy, haunting shadow over the multi-billion-peso secret he tried to expose. 12. It took years of collective trauma from severe typhoons for the truth to finally explode into the open. It took President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to forcefully rip off the band-aid. 13. During his SONA, PBBM did what his predecessor refused to do: he publicly called out the "ghost projects," the substandard infrastructure, and the blatant rackets inside the flood control budget. 14. He dropped a fiery "Mahiya naman kayo" (Be ashamed) straight from the rostrum, demanded a full-blown audit and declared that someone must pay for the people's suffering. 15. The most striking part? He delivered that scathing rebuke right in front of the very politicians, lawmakers, and bureaucratic operators who may have been complicit in or benefited from the system all along. ——- The investigations and the arrests we see today are uncovering an entrenched corruption empire built by past inaction. PBBM has drawn the line in the sand. The mask of impunity has been ripped off right in the middle of the plenary. The money trail is hot, the body count is real, and the evidence points straight back to the Duterte years. Remember, Digong already knew about this corruption during his time. So let’s ask the ultimate question on this Independence Day: If they claim they love this country, why didn’t they do anything then? Why are their allies so dead silent now? True independence means breaking free from the shackles of internal corruption that have been dragging this nation down. The Filipino people are done swallowing the lies. The time for a true reckoning has finally arrived.