Philippine authorities have deployed arrest teams after a special anti-corruption court issued warrants for 18 suspects in a flood-control corruption scandal that has become a major test for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The Sandiganbayan warrants cover former representative Zaldy Co, government engineers and executives of Sunwest Corp. Prosecutors say the case involves irregularities in a 289 million peso river dike project in Oriental Mindoro, and they want no bail because of the scale of the alleged abuse.
The scandal has triggered protests and forced some implicated congressional leaders to step down. That political fallout reflects how closely the case is tied to the everyday reality of flooding in the Philippines, where badly built or missing projects can leave poor communities exposed whenever typhoons hit.
According to AP, the broader investigation now covers at least 9,855 flood control projects worth more than 545 billion pesos that were supposed to have been undertaken since Marcos took office in mid-2022. Many were found to be substandard, overpriced or never built at all. Those findings have made the scandal far larger than a single procurement failure.
Marcos said in a video message that there would be no special treatment and that the suspects would be made to answer to the law. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla and the National Bureau of Investigation said arrest teams had been deployed. Officials also said they may seek Interpol assistance if Co remains outside the country.
The case has become especially sensitive because it involves not just local contractors but influential political figures. AP reported that several former and incumbent senators were under investigation, along with lawmakers allied with and opposed to the president. That means the fallout could reach deep into Manila’s political networks rather than stopping at one office or one region.
The financial scale is what has given the scandal such force. Finance Secretary Ralph Recto told lawmakers in September that as much as 118.5 billion pesos intended for flood control may have been lost to corruption since 2023. In a country that regularly suffers deadly floods and typhoons, that is not just a budgetary loss; it is a direct hit to resilience.
Co is reported to have fled to an unspecified country after resigning from the House of Representatives, with officials saying he was last seen in Japan days earlier. The government has also moved to stop suspects inside the Philippines from leaving while the case is active.
Whether the arrests lead to convictions is still an open question. But the scandal has already shifted public debate from who got rich to who left the country vulnerable. In that sense, the political damage may already be irreversible.
