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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider No internal probe in Cabinet over flood control scandal—Palace

No internal probe in Cabinet over flood control scandal—Palace

Published Nov 20, 2025 03:53 pm
Palace Press Officer and PCO Undersecretary Claire Castro (Betheena Unite)
Palace Press Officer and PCO Undersecretary Claire Castro (Betheena Unite)
Malacañang said there is no internal investigation in the Cabinet over the flood control anomalies after some of its members resigned while some are being linked to the massive infrastructure corruption.
Palace Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said there is no internal probe as far as they know, considering that there is an ongoing investigation conducted by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).
"Sa ngayon ay wala pa pong ipinapaabot sa atin kung may internal investigation dahil sabi nga natin kung anuman po ang issue patungkol sa flood control projects at infrastructure nandiyan naman po ang ICI para mas maging independent naman po ang pag-iimbestiga (At the moment, nothing has been communicated to us regarding whether there is an internal investigation, because, as we said, whatever issue concerning flood control projects and infrastructure, the ICI is there to ensure that the investigation can be more independent)," Castro said in a Palace briefing on Thursday, Nov. 20.
The Palace official said she cannot say whether everyone in the Cabinet are under investigation, but stated that the regular performance evaluation of Cabinet members continues.
"Hindi ko po masasabi. Wala po akong masasabi na lahat ay under investigation. So, ang maaari lamang pong isinasagawa ng Pangulo iyong performance ng bawat gabinete at iyon naman ay usual at regular (I cannot say. I have nothing to say that everything is under investigation. What the President can only do is assess the performance of each Cabinet member, and that is usual and regular)," Castro said when asked if it was safe to say that all Cabinet secretaries are under investigation.
"Pero kung patungkol po sa mga sinasabi nating maanomalyang flood control projects at wala naman pong nababanggit or nasasabi parang hindi naman po kailangang mag-imbestiga patungkol dito (But regarding the so-called anomalous flood control projects, if nothing specific has been mentioned or reported, it seems there is no need to conduct an investigation on this)," she added.
Castro also said that the resignation of some of the Cabinet members does not give them a free pass to run away from accountability, stressing that they can still be investigated by the ICI, Ombudsman, or the Department of Justice (DOJ) as private citizens.
"Wala pong puwedeng lumagpas. Kung kinakailangan pong imbestigahan private citizen, public official – kung kailangan imbestigahan, dapat imbestigahan (No one is above it. If it is necessary to investigate a private citizen or a public official—if it needs to be investigated, it should be investigated)," she said.

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President Marcos CABINET Cabinet resignations flood control mess
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