Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano submitted the complaint on Friday, January 16, regarding a P92.8-million ghost flood control project in Pandi, Bulacan, seeking non-bailable charges against seven individuals, mostly from the Bulacan District Engineering Office.

The respondents include:

• Former Sen. Bong Revilla
• Assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez
• Engineer Jaypee Mendoza
• Engineer Arjay Dumasig
• Engineer Emelita Juat
• Accountant Juanito Mendoza
• Cashier II Christina Pineda

The respondents are charged with malversation of public funds and falsifying public documents under Articles 217, 171, and 172 of the Revised Penal Code, and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Clavano said the complaint alleges that Revilla and the six other officials conspired to release the payment of P76 million for the flood control project. However, official inspection and witness accounts showed the project was never implemented.

“Despite the absence of any actual construction, the respondents declared the project completed. Thereafter, to facilitate the release of the entire project cost, the respondents are found to have falsified accomplishment reports, issued fraudulent billing documents and endorsed disbursement vouchers,” he added. 

Clavano further explained that non-bailable charges meant respondents would be detained pending trial, just like contractor Sarah Discaya, who has been detained since December 2025.

“This sends and should send a clear message: those who misuse public funds will be held accountable under the law. … As we have stated before, this is only the beginning,” he said. 

He added that the Ombudsman is still handling several other cases, with preliminary investigations and fact-finding efforts currently underway.

On January 5, Revilla attended the Department of Justice’s preliminary investigation into the ghost flood control project in Bulacan, filing his counter-affidavit and denying the bribery and malversation charges. He called the allegations “baseless” through his legal counsel.

Revilla faces accusations from former Public Works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo of receiving kickbacks worth 25 percent of flood control projects. Bernardo also said he delivered P125 million to Revilla’s home in 2024 and a separate P250 million before the 2025 midterm elections. 

The DOJ also confirmed that a plunder case against Revilla over the flood control projects is underway, with former Rep. Elizaldy Co and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada facing separate complaints.

The former senator filed his counter-affidavit in December 2025 in response to the complaint tied to SYMS Construction.

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Friday, Dec. 19, called the death of former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral “unfortunate and tragic”, since she could have greatly helped expose the extent of corruption in the department’s infrastructure program.

Lacson, who also chairs the Blue Ribbon Committee that’s looking into the flood control mess, says he hopes Cabral left notes or files that could help in the ongoing investigations.

“It was unfortunate and tragic that former undersecretary Catalina Cabral would end her life at a time when she could have significantly contributed to blowing wide open the extent of corruption not only in flood control projects but all other anomalies in the infrastructure program of the DPWH,” he said.

Lacson narrated that Cabral, through her lawyer, met with him and two of his legislative staff upon her initiative, for a preliminary discussion on how she could proceed with her testimony before the Blue Ribbon Committee hearing. This was right after former DPWH undersecretary Roberto Bernardo first mentioned her name in his sworn testimony, he said.

At the time, Lacson said he had the impression that Cabral “was showing some signs of cooperating with our investigation but with a lot of pressure which we could not explain”.

“What bolstered my confidence was her lawyer’s statement that she could completely put her trust in me being the chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee, with the knowledge that I have never dipped my fingers in any of the lists of projects – ‘pork’, ‘allocables’ or whatever name/s invented that she used to prepare for legislators and other personalities, she being the Usec for Planning,” he said.

“That being said, I hope she left some notes or files that may have evidentiary value worth pursuing in the ongoing investigations,” Lacson added.

“Finally, may she rest in peace,” he said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Wednesday, December 17 dismissed claims made by Rep. Antonio Tinio alleging the inclusion of a P17.9-billion pork barrel fund for the Senate in the 2026 national budget saying it is just mere “lazy work” or a malicious attempt to destabilize the Senate.

According to Lacson, the supposed “pork barrel” in the Senate are actually realignments to increase the subsistence allowance of the uniformed personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and also the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

“Rep. Tinio is either too lazy to do his research, or he is malevolently destabilizing the Senate to take the heat off the House of Representatives,” he added.

Lawmakers of the House of Representatives earlier earned flak after the massive increase in the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients (MAIFIP) under the 2026 national budget was disclosed. 

The House contingent had requested to raise the MAIFIP budget to P51-billion. 

Senators also questioned the allocation of billions of funds for potentially unvetted farm-to-market roads (FMRs) under the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Lacson earlier said he would not sign to ratify the bicameral conference committee report on the 2026 budget unless these are corrected.

Following this, Tinio was quoted in reports Tuesday as saying the Senate had an alleged ₱17.9-billion “LGU pork” in its version of the 2026 budget bill. 

The lawmaker also alleged that the Senate version had massive cuts to benefits for rank-and-file government employees, which was then realigned to “discretionary pork barrel funds for local government units (LGUs).

“I want to clarify that what Tinio said was wrong. The amount was realigned from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF) but went to the additional subsistence allowance of uniformed personnel,” Lacson said in an interview on DZBB radio.

Lacson also pointed out that the amount was an institutional amendment, with the proponent not standing to gain from it.

The senator also reiterated his and the Senate’s commitment to keep the budget process transparent.

To this, he called on the media and the public to stay vigilant to prevent manipulations in the budget bill, especially now that the proceedings in the bicameral conference committee are being livestreamed.

“All our (Senate) amendments are institutional and openly proposed on the Senate floor during the period of individual amendments. Everything was transcribed and is now part of the Senate records for all future generations of senators to see,” he added.