At a dinner I attended recently, the conversation moved on to the current brouhaha about ghost flood control projects; and how so many were scampering around now to don a white gown or suit, look holier than thou, and hope that none of the mud being slung lands on them. From contractors and their children, to senators and congressmen, and their wives or husbands, it was like one needed a daily updated score sheet and list of performers; to stay abreast of what was going on, who was being targeted on media (mainstream and social), and who was issuing denials, invoking silence, calling in sick, or fleeing the country.

With so much buckshot flying in the air, it was funny that so many at the dinner had even forgotten that all this media frenzy originated with our President’s SONA (State of the Nation Address) of July 28, when he referred to flood control projects, and said that so many of them were failures, riddled with substandard work, or worse, figments of the imagination (guni-guni). His promise to investigate, and hold people accountable, was met with raucous cheering at the time. Whether that was ironic, given that the ones cheering may have been beneficiaries of this systemic failure of government-funded delivery of service is up to you to decide. But that was the proverbial ‘opening of the can of worms’. The lid of that can was blown open when our President visited the Bulacan project that turned out to be the ‘figment of the imagination’ he had forecasted.

From that point on, it became open season on contractors and their children, exacerbated by how so many of these projects and the misuse of public funds were in the hands of a handful of favored contractors; and that the ‘Nepo babies’ of these contractors had opted to aspire to be social influencers with crass displays of conspicuous consumption - claiming that these posts could be construed as aspirational, and not just tone-deaf bragging. And let’s be honest, until this did blow up, a good amount of lifestyle and retail coverage had been extended to these individuals.

So a salute to the President for dredging up this issue that past presidents had kept buried, and were so silent on, preferring to maintain the existing status quo - whether the pork barrel of the past, or what it now has evolved into. I’ve written before how in the Congress prior to our May 2025 elections, one lawyer Representative/friend mentioned how when they had internally polled how many lawyers were sitting in that Congress, it came out to only 10 percent; while there are many in that same Congress who are contractors. That’s a clear reflection of how ingrained the ‘broken system’ is within the body politic.

So now that the can has been opened, it’s like a Pandora’s box; and I have two hard questions to ask. One, what is the end game of all these revelations about DPWH contracts and anomalies, and where will the buck end; and two, is this just the tip of the iceberg, and are other departments just as mired in this hocus-pocus of non-delivery?

I ask the first question because I don’t think the investigations should end with the contractors. We seem to have made them the ‘fall guys’ for the corruption and systemic failure; but if we like to say that it takes two to tango, then these contractors do not operate in some vacuum or unilateral world, and they have ‘dancing partners’. There are enablers, there are beneficiaries; there are ‘for the boys’, and we need to uncover who these boys are.

Is the Senate or Congress the one best tasked to carry out this investigation, when it seems so many of them are tainted? What are the alternatives, and how can an impartial body be created? I’m just throwing these questions out there, as they’re echoed by so many that I talk to; and it bothers them that this may be a mock trial, or just for show, with some token scapegoat contractor and politician offered down the line, to appease the public.

My second ‘iceberg’ question is just as far-reaching. If this has been happening for decades at Public Works, who’s to say that Education, Human Settlements, Transportation, Health, and other departments are not also part of some nefarious octopus-like scheme to bleed the national coffers, and enrich the individuals who pledge to Public Service, yet mock us by doing so?

I ask this because while the DPWH may be a start, you can’t clean house and just clean one room in the house. For now, no one seems to be asking about the other departments, boards, and commissions. But let’s face it, there’s nothing like spending and dispensing money that isn’t hard-earned or your own - especially if some of that money comes back to you; and if not flood control projects, why not classrooms, housing estates, transport terminals, or health centers.

If, as most observers decry, this has been institutionalized, and is systemic; then good luck to the ones trying to bring about substantive change. Overhauling this ‘sickness’ will take determination, perseverance, and extreme patience.