Arinola scandal to flood control project ‘ghosts’

“Until someone is prepared to lay out the systemic problem, we will simply go through cycles of finding corruption, finding a scapegoat, eliminating the scapegoat, and relaxing until we find the next scandal.”

—Newt Gingrich

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

FILIPINOS never ran out of scandals and controversies.

From golden arinola (bedpan) scandal that nearly resulted in the impeachment of President Elpidio Quirino in the 1950s, to the flood control projects anomaly in 2025 that will most likely implicate and bring down several elected public officials, especially members of the House of RepresentaTHIEVES.

The degree of humiliation absorbed by Philippine public servants accused of irregularities and dishonesty is almost parallel in both scandals, but the amount involved is oceans apart.

In the flood control projects anomaly, an initial review found that P100 billion worth of 20 percent of all flood control projects in the past three years were undertaken by only 15 contractors, according to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

In the golden arinola scandal, “only” P250 was involved, plus P5,000 for the arinola complementary bed.

The amount of P250 at that time could be around P250,000 today; P5,000 could be at least P500,000 today (this is only my own rough estimate).

 

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But it was enough to send thunderbolts in Malacanang; in fact, it reportedly cost Quirino his reelection bid in 1953 when he was soundly defeated by the well-loved Defense Secretary Ramon Magsaysay in the presidential race.

Critics accused Quirino of allegedly owning a golden arinola (glossed as chamber pot or bedpan as it was used for urination and often kept under a bed).

It was Jose Custodio, a military historian, who narrated that the scandal had been brought up by journalist Armando J. Malay in The Manila Chronicle.

It was the golden arinola’s and bed’s extravagant cost for 1950s standards that reportedly raised concerns government funds may have been used to purchase the set.

Magsaysay (2,912,992 votes) of Nacionalista Party clobbered Quirino (1,313,991 votes) of Liberal Party in the 1953 presidential election.

The voters, however, elected Magsaysay because of his anti-insurgency and anti-communist campaign, not because of the arinola scandal.

The purported golden arinola was never found, and the bed’s actual cost was only reportedly ₱300.

Quirino’s reputation, however, had taken enough toll even as he also faced allegations of nepotism and misappropriation of funds to boot.

 

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In the flood control project scandal, Mr. Marcos Jr. said P545 billion in public funds went to flood control projects nationwide since July 2022, citing the preliminary report of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The DPWH identified a total of 2,409 contractors for both local and national flood control projects.

“However, this is another disturbing assessment, statistic: 20 percent of the entire 545 billion budget napunta lang sa 15 na contractors. Sa 15 na contractor na ‘yan, lima sa kanila ay may kontrata sa buong Pilipinas,” said the Chief Executive.

President Marcos ordered the ongoing audit to investigate further why 20 percent of flood control projects went to only 15 contractors.

“That for me was the one that stood out very much. Five of these contractors had projects in almost the entire country. So those are the ones that immediately pop out na sa aking palagay ay kailangan natin tingnan,” said the President.

 

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WE were still under alert in New York, including the rest of East Coast as of this writing, even if the forecast said hurricane “Erin” may not make landfall, but it still could have devastating consequences for residents.

 

ABC News reported that the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season was forecast to cause rough surf, large waves and life-threatening rip currents for much of the East Coast despite churning northward several hundred miles offshore.

Average sea levels for many East Coast communities were now about a half foot higher August 20 than they were just a few decades ago, climate scientists said, intensifying coastal erosion along the U.S. coastline.

Some of the biggest waves from “Erin” could occur in the evening during high tide, Kimberly McKenna, interim executive director of the Coastal Research Center at Stockton University in New Jersey, told ABC News. But states will have to "wait and see" just how harmful Erin is to the coasts, McKenna added.

Coastal erosion is part of the planet's natural cycle but warming global temperatures and rising sea levels are worsening the damage to the coast's natural barriers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

Frustrated taxpayers feel like they want to lynch the crooks

“Money and corruption are ruining the land, crooked politicians betray the working man, pocketing the profits and treating us like sheep, and we're tired of hearing promises that we know they'll never keep.”

—Ray Davies

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

SWIFT justice? Yes, if there is such thing. Prolong investigations? No way.

We aren’t convinced anymore especially when a partylist solon recently disclosed that a “tri-committee” composed of the House of Representatives committees on public accounts, public works and good government will lead an investigation into alleged anomalies in flood control projects nationwide.

C’mon, give us a break. Refrain from mesmerizing us, Mr. Congressman.

“We will wait for the completion of the members of the committees,” Bicol Saro party-ist Rep Terry Ridon said, adding that the House is awaiting the full list of infrastructure projects expected to be submitted to President Marcos by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Ridon said the investigation will cover not only completed projects but also those that are “uncompleted,” “delayed,” “substandard” and “ghost” or non-existent.

We all know people won’t be satisfied with mere investigation, or prolonged investigation by any legislative body where politicians will only strut around like peacocks, grandstand, and pretend they care for the taxpayers’ money.

 

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Not anymore. No more. Heads must roll. We know who these thieves are. We know where they are “hiding.”

The President has disclosed their identities. Law enforcements must act quick; and they must act now.

Legislative investigations are good and sometimes necessary to ferret out some vital facts, but history shows they are not assurances the taxpayers will get justice from the ruffians who steal billions of pesos.

In fact, if we ask the people one by one, they want to lynch corrupt contractors and their political benefactors who pocketed the hundreds of billions of pesos in those wasted, ghosts, and useless flood-control projects.

The people are aware these dishonest and good-for-nothing contractors and contractor-dummies, the DPWH sycophants and elected public officials who acted as contractors know how to easily wiggle out from the mess by using the oodles of funds they have fleeced from public coffers.

They can bribe their way out from any responsibility and culpability. We have bunch of corrupt members of legislature, prosecutors, judiciary, law enforcers, media, local chief executives.

People are getting hopeless and tired of hearing expose after expose about massive graft and corruption. They continued to pay taxes and their lives don’t improve.

 

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The crooks and rascals continued to steal and get away with their shenanigans—and get elected every election.

No less than DPWHS Secretary Manuel Bonoan has confirmed that there were ghost flood control projects in Bulacan worth billions of pesos that were supposedly carried out from 2021 to 2022.

Bonoan made the revelation during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on massive flooding and the government’s flood control program.

“In all honesty, I think so. Yes. As mentioned in my statements, there are district offices that try to continue the validation. Let me just point out that some of the projects (were) implemented in 2021 -2022,” Bonoan admitted.

Bonoan said that of the P9 billion worth of projects secured by Wawao Builders nationwide, 85 projects were in Bulacan, amounting to P5.971 billion, and that “some seem to be ghost projects.”

Wawao Builders is among the top 15 contractors named by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that received a large chunk of the government’s flood control projects over the years.

 

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NEW FORMAT. Don’t be surprised if we have a new format in the US Open, which has blasted off here in New York City.

The revamped US Open mixed doubles tournament has drawn plenty of criticism for everything from its format (shorter matches) to its field (only 16 teams).

Nevertheless, it got underway August 19 and was already down to its final four as of this writing, with the trophy and $1 million prize at stake August 20 night.

Casper Ruud and Iga Swiatek, the No. 3 seeds, easily won their two matches and would be facing the top-seeded duo of Jessica Pegula and Jack Draper in one semifinal August 20.

Defending champions Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, the only traditional mixed doubles team in the fast-pace event, were scheduled to meet Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison—who weren't even the draw until Jannik Sinner and Katerina Siniakova withdrew August 19 morning because of Sinner's illnes— in the other.

"This is the official mixed doubles. If we get to the final tomorrow, I'm sure everyone is going to be pretty determined to try to win this thing," Ruud said, quoted by ESPN.

 

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With mostly singles players, some who rarely play doubles at all, and an unusual scoring system, it felt so much like an exhibition that Pegula had to scold partner Draper when he called it just that in their news conference, reported the ESPN.

Those types of Grand Slam singles champions are exactly the types of players the U.S. Tennis Association was seeking when it revamped the tournament and cut it in down from 32 teams.

Now played over two days, mixed doubles started well before the singles tournaments begin on August 24, with organizers believing singles stars would be more interested in playing if it didn't interfere with their rest and recovery during that event.

Traditional doubles specialists like Errani and Vavassori were among the biggest critics of the changes, according toESPN. The prize of $1 million to the winning team would be a huge boost to doubles players, but most of them never had a chance of competing for it this year. Errani and Vavassori said they were playing for those teams but also acknowledged the potential benefit of the new event.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)

 

Our money, their honey; flood control, our high blood control

“Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.”

—Karl Kraus

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

IT is often said that “if there is no money, there is no honey”, or simply ”no money, no honey.”

It essentially means that without financial resources, we can’t expect to attract romantic interest or companionship, suggesting a materialistic view of relationships where wealth is a prerequisite for affection.

Also, it can imply that without effort or investment, one will not achieve good results.

If the taxpayers are in the receiving end (as always) when grafters in government commit plunder after plunder by stealing their money through shady deals and “ghost” infra projects, it can be metaphorically called “our money, their honey.”

The Philippines is now being scandalized by another titanic highway robbery: flood-control projects anomaly that amounts to billions of pesos.

Because of the gargantuan amount involved, it may cause the blood pressure of many taxpayers to skyrocket anew what with these never-ending episodes of graft and corruption committed by the high and mighty in government while their lives remain in the pit and don’t seem to improve from poverty level.

From “flash” flood-control to “high” blood control.

 

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It is possible some of the private contractors that cornered the bulk of the P4 billion worth of flood-control projects in Iloilo City that are poorly constructed, missing, and unfinished have connections with dishonest and insincere politicians who helped them secure the projects from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

It is also possible that some of these politicians are themselves the contractors and are only using the construction firms as dummies.

If this is the case, the politicians involved—if ever it will be confirmed that they mishandled the P4 billion funds intended for the projects—must have raked in or amassed a fortune at the expense of the taxpayers.

As we have emphasized in our previous article, we are being robbed by corrupt politicians and their minions of not only hundreds of millions of pesos, but now hundreds of billions of pesos.

From millions to billions.

So what else is new?

In every anomalous transaction in government, there is always a politician or politicians behind.

 

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Meanwhile, It is interesting that the revelation made by Iloilo City Mayor Raisa Treñas-Chu coincided with the scheduled arrival of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in Iloilo City to inaugurate the “upgraded” Iloilo Fish Port Complex August 13.

It was the president who revealed earlier that P100 billion, or 18 percent of the entire P545-billion budget for flood mitigation projects undertaken by his administration from July 2022 to May 2025, was awarded to only 15 out of 2,409 accredited contractors.

The list provided by the DPWH showed that, as what the President had noted, five have projects in “almost all regions nationwide.”

The President showed the 15 contractors that hold a virtual monopoly on flood control contracts: Legacy Construction Corp.; Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Development Corp.; St. Timothy Construction Corp.; QM Builders; EGB Construction Corp.; Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc.; Centerways Construction and Development Inc.; Sunwest, Inc.; Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corp.; Triple 8 Construction & Supply, Inc.; Royal Crown Monarch Construction & Supplies Corp.; Wawao Builders; MG Samidan Construction; L.R. Tiqui Builders, Inc.; and Road Edge Trading & Development Services.

According to Treñas-Chu, Timothy Construction Company and the Alpha and Omega General Contractor and Development Corporation were two of the companies involved in these projects.

Each of the two companies was awarded over P7 billion and that four flood control projects in Iloilo City, undertaken by the two companies, have reached a cost of P600 million, but two of them have no description of where they will be constructed while the two listed areas have no ongoing projects.

 

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Online gambling that destroyed many lives and families will soon be nipped in the bud if the senate succeeds in its efforts to rid this social cancer from our system.

The proposal by the senate to put a halt on online gambling is now being treated by most gambling-crazed Filipinos like a national tragedy; like they lost a prime property to a hurricane, or they weren’t able to withdraw a single centavo before the rural bank, where they saved all their money, declared bankruptcy.

For some it was like a matter of life and death.

Give us online gambling or give us death.

It exposed a grim reality that without organized gambling, many Filipinos can’t go on with a normal life; they can’t function effectively as normal social beings.

 

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For some whose main livelihood and day-to-day existence are 100 percent reliant to online gaming, it was like a sudden death from a thousand cuts.

It demonstrated the fact that many Filipinos exist on a game of chance; that if the government or any higher authority will permanently clamp down on both legal and illegal online gambling in the country, life will also abruptly end for many gamblers and gambling operators.

We teach our children the basic Christian virtues and the values of hard work, sacrifice, fair play, simple living; yet, many of us openly pay homage to gambling—online and otherwise—and treat it as a be-all and end-all of how to survive and exist in this world.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)