P805 BILLION FLOOD CONTROL SCANDAL: REVILLA TRIAL OPENS, OMBUDSMAN TARGETS ROMUALDEZ AND ESCUDERO FOR PLUNDER

On April 7, a prosecution witness took the stand at the Sandiganbayan and described what he found at the Pandi, Bulacan site of a P92.8 million flood control project.

"No seen structures," testified DPWH official Fernando. "Bushes and lushes are already in the site."

A field team had visited the site on March 26. The P92.8 million had allegedly been released in full, accomplishment reports filed, and the project declared complete. The land had gone back to overgrowth.

REVILLA'S TRIAL BEGINS — NO STRUCTURES FOUND AT P92.8M FLOOD CONTROL SITE

That testimony opened the graft trial of former Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. before the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division. The Ombudsman filed charges in January. Revilla refused to enter a plea in February — the court entered "not guilty" on his behalf. He has been detained at New Quezon City Jail since January 2026, held on the non-bailable malversation case.

Revilla's defense counsel noted that no signature, name, or direct evidence of his involvement appeared in the documents presented on April 7.

A separate plunder complaint against Revilla is also pending before the Ombudsman, based on testimony from ex-DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, who alleged he personally delivered P125 million to Revilla's residence in December 2024.

THE OMBUDSMAN PIPELINE — ROMUALDEZ AND ESCUDERO PLUNDER CHARGES EXPECTED MAY 2026

On April 6 and 7, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla announced that plunder charges against former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and former Senate President Francis Escudero are expected within the month of May.

His words: "We have been zealously preparing a case for plunder against former Speaker Martin Romualdez and former Senate President Chiz Escudero. There's conspiracy involved."

The cases are based on analysis of the 2024 and 2025 national budgets. Budget officials and possibly the tenure of former Speaker Lord Allan Velasco may also be examined. Neither Romualdez nor Escudero has been formally charged as of April 8.

WHAT'S FROZEN AND WHAT'S BEEN RECOVERED — P24.7B IN ASSETS, P611.4M RECOVERED FROM STATE WITNESSES

The Anti-Money Laundering Council has frozen P24.7 billion in assets: 379 bank accounts, 55 real properties, 4 e-wallet accounts, 10 insurance policies, 9 securities accounts, 10 investment accounts, plus vehicles and aircraft. Three civil forfeiture petitions have been filed to make recoveries permanent.

Separately, state witnesses have returned P611,381,500 to the Bureau of the Treasury. Roberto Bernardo returned P290 million across seven tranches. Henry Alcantara (former DPWH Bulacan district engineer) returned P181 million. Gerard Opulencia (former regional director) returned P120 million. Contractor Sally Santos returned P20 million. Alcantara and Santos were cleared as respondents in exchange for their cooperation.

ZALDY CO — FUGITIVE, PASSPORT REVOKED, INTERPOL RED NOTICE SOUGHT, LAST SEEN JAPAN

Former Ako Bicol party-list representative Elizaldy "Zaldy" Co has been declared a fugitive from justice by two Sandiganbayan divisions — the First Division in December 2025 and the Sixth Division in February 2026. His Philippine passport and those of three Sunwest Corporation directors have been revoked. The Philippines is seeking an Interpol red notice. Co was last reported seen in Japan. He left the Philippines in July 2025 before charges were filed and did not return.

Co faces malversation and graft charges over a P289.5 million road dike project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro that inspectors found built with sheet piles less than a quarter of the specified depth.

THE ICI IS GONE — ITS REFERRALS, CRITICISM, WHAT THE OMBUDSMAN HAS NOW

The Independent Commission for Infrastructure officially closed on March 31, 2026, six months after its creation under Executive Order No. 94. Chair Andres Reyes Jr. was its only remaining member — both commissioners resigned in December 2025 and were never replaced.

In its active period, the ICI filed nine referrals to the Ombudsman covering 65 individuals, coordinated immigration lookout bulletin orders for 66 people through the DOJ, and identified 421 ghost projects (later revised to 416 after duplicate entries were removed). On March 12 it delivered about 200 boxes of documents to the Ombudsman; the DOJ received the same materials March 23.

Rep. Edgar Erice called the closure "the height of insincerity," arguing not even 10% of the ICI's mandated work was done. Rep. Leila De Lima said "disappointed is an understatement." The Palace said the DOJ and Ombudsman are "overwhelmed" by the caseload and that ICI had completed its mandate.

WHAT STILL HASN'T MOVED — BONOAN, VILLAR, THE 416 GHOST PROJECTS, DOJ'S PACE

No charges have been filed in court against ex-DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan. Complaints sit at both the Ombudsman and DOJ. Task Force Kasanag filed at the Ombudsman in February 2026 over alleged rigged bidding on five foreign-funded projects. A separate DOJ complaint names him as a co-respondent in a plunder case.

Senator Mark Villar, former DPWH Secretary from 2016 to 2022, was referred to the Ombudsman by the ICI in December 2025. No formal charges as of April 8.

The DOJ is handling 24 infrastructure irregularity cases and says it is still studying the ICI evidence. Of the 416 ghost projects identified, only 14 have been confirmed definitively non-existent as of January 2026. The three Sandiganbayan case batches so far cover projects worth P289.5 million (Mindoro), P96.5 million (Davao Occidental), and P92.8 million (Bulacan). Against a scandal that conservative government figures put at P118.5 billion in losses, the gap between what was found and what is actually in court remains large.