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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Nadala na?': Here's why Leila thinks Marcos won't focus on flood control issue in SONA

'Nadala na?': Here's why Leila thinks Marcos won't focus on flood control issue in SONA

Published Jul 26, 2026 06:36 pm

At A Glance

  • Rep. Leila de Lima believes President Marcos will avoid revisiting the flood control scandal in his 2026 SONA, noting last year's focus backfired and fueled allegations against him.
  • She criticizes the Palace's Independent Commission for Infrastructure as weak, while urging stronger investigations and prosecutions of officials still in government.
  • De Lima says confronting the scandal head-on would be "refreshing," but doubts Marcos will risk reopening the controversy in his penultimate SONA.
Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima (left), President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Facebook)
Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima (left), President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Facebook)


Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima believes that President Marcos will downplay the flood control projects corruption scandal instead of giving it focus for the second year in a row in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 27.
According to De Lima, Marcos--whether deservedly or not--went through so much mud the first time around that he might not see the point of doing it again.
"It has the tendency of reopening the can of worms that he unwittingly opened in his last SONA when he castigated the scammers," the House senior deputy minority leader said of the prospect of Marcos calling back to his now famous "Mahiya naman kayo (Please have shame)" line that became his battle cry against the flood control projects mess that he himself exposed. What's happening
Only, it spectacularly backfired on him.
Since then, Marcos' critics have jumped on the narrative that the President himself was the biggest name in the scandal, with allegations of kickbacks in cash luggages ("maleta") serving as the symbol of alleged corruption in his administration.
De Lima, who is on the other side of the political fence from Marcos, is aware of this miscalculation.
"He won't repeat the same mistake because the flood control scam is the one single issue that Malacañang was not able to handle properly after PBBM (President Bongbong Marcos) himself called out the corrupt officials involved," she said.
"Up to now he is still dealing with the fall out from that SONA," underscored De Lima, a former senator.
While De Lima has supported the Marcos-led investigation on this corruption scandal, the way it has been conducted has, for her, left a lot to be desired.
For example. she has said that the Palace-formed Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) lacked the teeth to carry out a meaningful probe, even as she filed legislation to correct this misstep.
"Despite this, it will be surprising and refreshing if PBBM does not hide from the elephant in the room and he confronts the flood control issue head on in his SONA," the congresswoman said as she looked forward to Monday's speech.
"We know that there are more investigations to be conducted and more guilty parties to be prosecuted. Some of them are still in government," she noted.
De Lima reckoned that Marcos "should prosecute the flood control scam to the bitter end, even if this means jailing more allies".
"Then again, this might be too much to ask from PBBM," she lamented.
The 2026 SONA is Marcos' second to the last SONA.

Related Tags

SONA Leila de Lima flood control project PBBM Marcos Maleta
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