There will be no Merry Christmas to those involved in the massive multi-billion peso flood control anomalies, President Marcos warned, telling them that their happy days are numbered.

Speaking at a press conference at Malacañan Palace on Thursday morning, Nov. 13, Marcos made a pronouncement that some of those involved would be imprisoned before Christmas.

"Palagay ko, bago, hindi palagay ko, alam ko, bago magpasko marami dito sa napangalanan dito ay palagay ko nasa, matatapos na yung kaso nila, buo na yung kaso nila, makukulong na sila (I think—no, I don’t just think, I know—that before Christmas, many of those who have been named here will have their cases completed, and they will be imprisoned)," Marcos said.

"Wala silang merry Christmas. Before Christmas, makukulong na sila (They won’t have a merry Christmas. Before Christmas, they’ll be in jail)," he pronounced.

The President made a public statement amid growing concern that after 100 days, there is still no accountability in the massive infrastructure mess.

He showed up for his President's Report three months after he declared the investigation of anomalous and non-existent or "ghost" flood control projects during his last State of the Nation Address (SONA).

In his lengthy report, Marcos reiterated the three key objectives of the investigation conducted by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI)—to hold the culprits accountable, to recover the money they have stolen, and to implement reforms.

"Mapapanagot ang mga kasabwat dito sa korapsyon. Pangalawa, maibabawi ng gobyerno ang pera na ninakaw nila. Pangatlo, na gumawa tayo ng reporma para lahat na itong klaseng korapsyon na ito ay hindi na mauulit (Those who are involved in this corruption will be held accountable. Second, the government will recover the money they have stolen. Third, we will implement reforms so that this kind of corruption will never happen again)," Marcos said.

"Kaya't yang mga taong 'yan na kasabwat diyan, ito mga walang hiyang ito na nagnanakaw ng pera ng bayan, tapos na ang maliligaya ninyong araw. Hahabulin na namin kayo (So to those people who conspired in this—those shameless individuals who steal the people’s money—your happy days are over. We’re coming after you)," Marcos warned.

According to the President's report, 37 individuals including senators and congressmen, former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials, and contractors have been referred to the Ombudsman for filing of criminal charges such as graft and corruption, malversation, falsification, and plunder; and administrative charges for violation of code of conduct for public officers.

Criminal charges have also been filed against six public officials and private entities before the Ombudsman. Ten tax-evasion cases worth P8.86 billion were also lodged by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), involving 39 contractors and nine DPWH and Commission on Audit (COA) officials.

Fifteen bid-rigging cases have also been filed by the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC). Sixteen licensed professionals have also been charged before the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

According to Marcos, the government  may recover P3 billion to P5 billion in penalties from the bid manipulation and bid-rigging cases filed by the PCC, and P6.3 billion from frozen assets.

He, however, said that they have no timeline yet in terms of recovering the money lost from these irregularities as they continue to uncover more after three into the investigation of the massive flood control irregularities.

"Wala tayong buo na timeline, kasi marami pa kaming nakikita, e (We do not have a full timeline yet, because we are still finding more)," Marcos said.

"Marami pa kaming nakikitang iba. So yung mga nabanggit ko na halaga, yun pa lang ang aming nakikita pero ako, nakakatiyak ako, marami pa tayong mababawi dito, e. So patuloy naming gagawin 'yan (We are still seeing other things. So the amounts I mentioned earlier are just what we’ve found so far—but I’m sure we’ll be able to recover even more. So we’ll continue doing that)," he added.

In September, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) started issuing freeze orders to immobilize assets linked to flood control project corruption.

Marcos said by Nov. 5, a total of seven freeze orders, covering P6.3 billion in assets have been issued.

"Nagsimula na ang SolGen na magbuo ng forfeiture case para itong PhP6.3 billion ay mababawi ng pamahalaan at itong perang ninakaw ay maibabalik sa taong-bayan (The Office of the Solicitor General has begun preparing a forfeiture case so that this P 6.3 billion can be recovered by the government and the stolen money can be returned to the people)," Marcos said.