EDITORIAL | The Silent Yet Haunting Voices Behind Ghost Projects

The silence of corrupt leaders is slowly creeping in. The voices of the masses are taunting and lurking. The public funds and projects are vanishing and disappearing.

The public purse is not especially available just to be given to public leaders who will thrive to put this money into their own pockets, leaving a substandard, unfinished, and wasteful infrastructure. According to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), at least 1,058 flood control projects were initiated from July 2022 to May 2025, amounting to a total of 52.48 billion pesos (Gavilan, 2025). However, these projects lack transparency, leaving hundreds to billions of Filipino money stashed away. While the issue continues to persist, accountability is nonexistent. The voices of these leaders, who were provided with enough funds, silently removed themselves from the ongoing issue of corruption behind these projects—just like a ghost that continuously entangles every Filipino with an emotional burden that weighs heavily and severely damages their daily lives.

With the release of the 2025 World Risk Report, the Philippines was regarded as one of the most disaster-prone countries (Gera, 2025). Now that the country is experiencing a never-ending sight of corruption most especially with building infrastructures that would abruptly help Filipinos move forward with the effects of intensified devastation, flooding, and loss of lives from the spike of natural disasters— it is an indicative measure that there has been an improper handling with the flood control projects that would, at some point, stabilize the living conditions of Filipinos if properly made. According to Argosino (2025), President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. stated that Pacific-facing provinces, such as Northern and Eastern Samar, Surigao, Isabela, Southern Leyte, Bicol, and Aurora remained without designated evacuation centers, resilient infrastructures, and even seawalls, which makes them more exposed to catastrophic calamities. The projects that were supposed to serve as public support during the surge of calamities were deliberately utilized and anchored with mutual benefit under the dishonest private contractors and corrupt leaders who plundered huge public funds. Now that the voices of the masses are slowly seeping in, they fear that even the shadows of these projects would not be seen, hence taunting leaders to stop the embedded protection and impunity of individuals involved.

The call to action seemed to be a Filipino cry, a need for a collective effort to fight against the wrath of injustices that emerged as experiences of inability to adapt and feel protected during calamities, where fatalities were clearly present and evident. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧-𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙮𝙘𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙣𝙚𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙖𝙛𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡-𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙮𝙢𝙗𝙤𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚. This was clearly evident during the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing, where contractors Sarah and Curlee Discaya disclosed the names of numerous well known figures, such as congressmen, staff members, and even DPWH officials who were extensively involved in the corrupt conduct of flood control projects and malicious practices. Some of the names identified are Rep. Roman Romulo, Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas, Rep. Florida Robes, Rep. Dean Asistio, DPWH Regional Director Virgilio Eduarte, and Director Ramon Arriola III of Unified Project Management Offices (Ombay, 2025). This goes beyond how delayed a project was, but a more crucial issue where selfishness and dereliction of duty of involved individuals cuts deep towards the safety of Filipinos. Despite the continuous and courageous strong call— there was never even a single individual who was put behind bars. The truth was still hard to reach, the agony of Filipinos maintained, and the infrastructures were seemingly unfinished drawings that lacked color putting it into life. Thus, as the continued corruption in the Philippines haunted many, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛-𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙥𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙮𝙘𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮.

The cruel and harsh reality of these funded projects were faced by the Filipino masses who did every effort to put every involved individuals into their right place; hence, intensifying the chances that sustained public attention and active citizen participation are significant to push further a well-sustained investigation into how ghost projects under the DPWH instantly vanished (GMA Integrated News, 2025). While the private contractors and corrupt leaders are still enjoying their glamorous and extravagant lifestyle coming from the public pocket, Filipinos experienced life-threatening consequences of deep floods that evoked frustration and distress. They are not just resilient towards the impacts of calamities, but a symbol of unfaltering bravery towards changing the system — voicing out reformations within the vicious and corrupted cycle of ineffective judicial processes, leaving them with stacked unresolved cases of accountability and public betrayal. Certainly, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙙. The evident incapability and incompetence were so loud that it made noises beyond their reach. These noises came from the on-going battles of stolen taxes up until the unresolved cases of flood control projects. Hence, the government's role was not merely about having an enjoyment of putting wishful words and hope towards the Filipinos, but rather putting an end to this vicious cycle of severe selfishness where involved individuals' duty to serve public interest led to serving themselves, anchoring any public project to their self interests.

In the end, the deafening silence of the involved authorities reflects the shadows of injustices. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚. 𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩. 𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 — our collective voices will push for a better reformation, keeping every flood control and infrastructure project to remain transparent and progressive. We are not just "the public;” we are capable of changing the broken system. 𝙏𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙬𝙚, 𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙨, 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙩, 𝙡𝙪𝙧𝙠, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧; 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙣.

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References

Argosino, F. (2025, October 6). Funding, completion of flood control, other projects pushed. INQUIRER.net. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/.../libanan-on-realignment...

Gavilan, J. (2025, August 11). MAP: Flood control projects in Metro Manila. Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/.../map-flood-control-projects.../

Gera, W. (2025). Flood-control fiasco: A policy reckoning for accountability in the Philippines’ climate risk governance. UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies. https://cids.up.edu.ph/flood-control-fiasco-a-policy.../

GMA Integrated News. (2025, August 31). A closer look at failed flood control projects in Pampanga, Tarlac, and more. GMA News Online. https://www.gmanetwork.com/.../kmjs-flood-control.../story/

Ombay, G. (2025, September 9). Discaya couple names gov’t execs allegedly linked to flood control projects. GMA News Online. https://www.gmanetwork.com/.../discaya-names-govt.../story/