Prompted by Sen. Pia Cayetano’s questions surrounding all the 30 Discaya-owned luxury cars, Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno detailed how importers cheat the government with the help of some customs personnel. To illustrate, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) chief used as example a Bugatti sports car that they suspect was brought into the country through the port in Batangas. The luxury car would then be recorded in the BOC’s IT system but it would be deleted later on. And since the point of entry was in Batangas, the certificate of payment should have also been issued there. But the BOC found out the document was issued in the port of Davao. Even the X-ray images of luxury cars were also tampered, according to him.

The flood-control scandal has not only flooded headlines — it’s now flooding law offices with cash.

An official of a Batangas community environment and natural resources office (CENRO) was caught allegedly demanding P7 million in exchange for the issuance of an alienable and disposable land certificate, the police said on Monday.

Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Mario G. Lipana is supposed to serve as the public’s watchdog against the abuse of funds. Instead, Lipana — appointed to a five-year term by then President Rodrigo Duterte in 2022 — allegedly leveraged his position to follow up flood-control and street-light projects in Bulacan that, investigators say, benefited his own riverside property and that of his neighbor, former congressman Zaldy Co.

Under the alleged scheme, Co would have received the following portions:

• NEP: A project proposed during the NEP would allegedly give Co 10%, with an additional 10% to 15% once it is approved in the General Appropriations Act (GAA), the measure that creates the national budget.
• Bicam: A project proposed during the bicam would allegedly give Co 10% after the budget is submitted to the House, with the remaining 10% to 15% once the GAA is signed into law.
• Unprogrammed Allocations (UA): For projects proposed under the UA, Co would allegedly request the full 25% of the kickbacks.

The ICI has previously recommended filing charges against Co over his alleged involvement in an anomalous P289.5-million flood control project in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.

A graft complaint has been filed against former Land Transportation Office chief and lawyer Vigor Mendoza and private citizen Annabelle Arcilla-Margaroli before the Office of the Ombudsman over a P470-million payment made to a private firm for implementation of the Motor Vehicle License Plates Standardization Program (MVLSP).

Three “underutilized” state facilities built by Sunwest Construction and Development Corp. have been flagged by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

The report, titled "The Next Chapter Unfolds: Bloomberg and WHO's Expanding Shadow Over Global Health Sovereignty," details how donor-driven agendas, particularly in tobacco control, are being embedded into national policies, sometimes at odds with local needs and harm-reduction strategies. Bloomberg Philanthropies is the largest private funder for tobacco control efforts in low- and middle-income countries and the architect of the WHO’s MPOWER strategy.

Adding to the transparency concerns, a recent BMJ Global Health report and a Guardian investigation revealed that the WHO Foundation has been accepting growing amounts of "dark money" from undisclosed donors. By the end of 2023, about 60 percent of corporate funds were undisclosed, and 80 percent of donations over $100,000 came from anonymous sources.

The report also cited cases in Pakistan, the Philippines and India as illustrations of "foreign-funded advocacy" steering national policies. In Pakistan, Bloomberg-linked organizations were reportedly shut down by the Ministry of Interior in early 2025 for "financial irregularities" and violations of registration laws. Authorities were quoted in local media as accusing the groups of interfering in domestic policymaking.

In India, a 2017 Reuters investigation revealed that Bloomberg-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including the Institute of Public Health in Bengaluru, lost their Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licenses after being accused of lobbying that bypassed democratic scrutiny.

After finishing the grueling task of overhauling the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) proposed 2026 budget, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon vowed to investigate exactly who proposed projects for funding that later turned out to be duplicates or already completed.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian revealed on Wednesday that over P10 billion worth of FMRs programmed under the 2023 and 2024 national budgets have been “extremely overpriced.”

He said the suspension follows reports of road reblocking projects—particularly in Bocaue, Bulacan, and Tuguegarao City—being carried out despite the absence of actual issues.

“Why does the DPWH keep tearing up roads that seem perfectly fine, only to redo them? Well, in many cases, we probably already know why… it’s because some people are making money out of it”

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian revealed on Wednesday that over P10 billion worth of FMRs programmed under the 2023 and 2024 national budgets have been “extremely overpriced.”

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Ted Herbosa disclosed on Wednesday, Oct. 1, that there are health facilities in the country whose construction has been left unfinished despite providing full payment to contractors.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has identified substandard and non-existent farm-to-market roads (FMRs) across two provinces in Mindanao, based on the initial findings of its ongoing audit to investigate alleged corruption.

More than 1,000 classrooms built by the Department of Public Works and Highways for the Department of Education remain unfinished or unusable despite being turned over and potentially paid for in full, Education Secretary Sonny Angara revealed Friday, September 19.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has discovered at least 18 foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have been wittingly or unwittingly financing the operations of local communist terrorist groups (CTGs).

Related:

• DOH whistleblowers seek Herbosa probe on alleged ₱1.29-B Unicef anomaly
  An anonymous group claiming to be employees of the Department of Health (DOH) has asked the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa over an alleged P1.29 billion unliquidated cash transfer to the United Nations’ Children’s Fund (UNICEF).. Aside from this, the group said that the cash advances to Unicef were tagged as “Advances to Contractors” when they should have been labeled as “Due from NGOs/CSOs,” noting that “Unicef is not a contractor, but a third-party international organization.”
• Swedish pension funds criticized over Myanmar junta links
  Three NGOs said Friday that Swedish pension funds had invested $485 million in companies selling arms to or doing business with Myanmar’s military rulers.
• Belgian NGO: ALCADEV funding for growing greens, not raising Reds
  "They teach the children to be radicals, to disassemble M-16s. In their curriculum, they put there 'A' for arms, 'B' for bullets, 'K' for kaaway (enemy), 'D' for dahas (violence)," Parlade, who also claimed last year that films about martial law are being used to recruit rebels, alleged.
  Oh, the far-left do really like children don't they.
• P53M NGO deposits traced to Napoles’ bank account
  Benhur K. Luy, the principal whistle-blower, said that according to records he had personally prepared as he was tasked to do by Napoles, there were cash deposits and withdrawals from the NGO accounts that were deposited in the account of Napoles in the Metrobank branch during a nine-day period in 2009:

Current and former high-ranking officials of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) have called for the “immediate and irrevocable” resignation of Jose Arnulfo “Wick” Veloso, the president and general manager of the state-run pension fund, accusing him of “poor investment decisions” that resulted in losses amounting to P8.8 billion.

Related:

• Gov’t workers, teachers: ‘Heads must roll’ in GSIS probe
  State employees urged the Office of the Ombudsman to hold top executives of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) accountable for what they described as an “unauthorized” and “irresponsible” investment of P1.45 billion in perpetual preferred shares of Alternergy Holdings Corp. (AHC).
• GSIS clings to sinking Del Monte investment despite mounting losses
  “This investment has already incurred an estimated paper loss of ₱19.1 million for GSIS, representing a 32.5% decline in its stake,” Hontiveros said. Despite the warning signs and sharp decline in value, GSIS has refused to divest.
• GSIS flagged for P2 billion investment in 3 companies
  The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for investing P2.3 billion in stocks of three companies with no record of profitability..
• GSIS-Alternergy investment scandal: Ombudsman finds ‘strong evidence of guilt’ in Wick Veloso’s P1.45 billion buy-in of Vince Perez’s start-up

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has fired a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) undersecretary from office over alleged unexplained wealth.. Tulfo, a former Cabinet member under Marcos, revealed the dismissal in an interview withAbante, describing the official as “the richest DPWH undersecretary in the world.”

A dike project in Balagtas, Bulacan worth P151.5 million is undergoing repairs even though it was only finished late last year.

In stark contrast, the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s findings reveal a calculated, meticulous operator who grew a P9-million sole proprietorship in 2017 into a billion-peso empire, allegedly built on state contracts won through corruption.

Dismissed Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)–Bulacan engineer Brice Hernandez on Tuesday told the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that he helped deliver suitcases filled with cash—about ₱1 billion in total—to Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co through the lawmaker’s aide.

Dismissed engineers from the Department of Public Works and Highways' (DPWH) Bulacan First District came clean at the House flood control hearing, confessing how their office was involved in gathering kickbacks for proponents — two of whom are senators.

In the second part of his privilege speech, “Flooded Gates of Corruption”, Lacson also bared Maglanque’s eyebrow-raising ties with senior Department of Public Works and Highways officials — former Secretary Manuel Bonoan and former Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo — through a property venture that developed the ₱1-billion Wyndham Garden Hotel in Clark, a company owned and run by their children.

Senator Panfilo Lacson says two members of the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) have no business sitting on the regulator’s board because they are also contractors for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)—the very ecosystem they’re supposed to police. With their role as gatekeepers, Lacson argued, Baggao and Escalante enjoy an unfair edge over competitors—able to scrutinize, suspend, or even revoke rivals’ licenses while bidding for government work themselves.

Related:

• PH contractors board chief quits amid 'registration for sale' allegation

A construction company linked to Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Mario Lipana’s wife bagged nearly P200 million worth of flood control projects from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), according to government data, raising concerns of conflict of interest in the agency that is conducting a fraud audit in several flood control projects.

The number of alleged "ghost" flood management projects in the country has increased to 472, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said Friday.

Related:

• P19B sunk into flood control projects in one Mindoro town still stuck in watery nightmare

The Enrile mayor specifically cited the collapse of the newly constructed P5,924,253.19 bridge in Barangay Alibago during the first week of December last year. He had previously filed a case against the bridge project, but it was dismissed. Adding fuel to the controversy is the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) designation of the area near the bridge as a “no-build zone,” which raised questions about why the DPWH proceeded with the project.

The Commission on Audit (COA) is set to conduct an investigation into alleged fraudulent transactions of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE) of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) amounting to some P2.22 billion.

Bariou, who has lived on the island for 11 years, said he decided to break his silence after enduring years of harassment, intimidation, and alleged extortion attempts from local politicians.. Barrio recounted how he and actress Nadine Lustre opposed the Union-Malinao Bridge project, which he claimed had falsified approval documents.. Before the elections, individuals claiming to represent certain politicians approached Nadine and me, offering to ‘resolve’ the bridge issue if we provided P50 million in cash.. According to Bariou, their refusal led to waves of harassment, including random business inspections, delayed permits, and unauthorized soil testing on his property. “My business permit renewal was unlawfully put on hold,” he said. “When ARTA investigated further and sent hidden agents on site, these investigators from Manila were reportedly shocked by the level of violations, lawlessness, and absence of due process rampant here.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has frozen 726 financial accounts and 53 vehicles belonging to IM Construction (IMC) and its owner Robert Imperio, the fourth contractor charged by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) with graft over alleged ghost flood-control projects in Bulacan’s 1st District.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has frozen the sole bank account of Roma Angelie Discaya Rimando, the niece of alleged flood-control king Curlee Discaya, after tracing millions of pesos in government-sourced funds to the account.

Senators are seeking the arrest of a portly Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official who reportedly drives an exotic car to work and frequents casinos almost every night, after snubbing a subpoena from the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee.

Related:

• AMLC says Henry Alcantara used Loren Cruz and wife to launder over P2 billion through deposits, shell firms, and dollar investments
• Alleged ‘BGC Boys’ boss Alcantara racked up P2.5B in casino transactions in 2 years — AMLC
• DPWH engineers blew over P300 million in casinos, says Lacson

A government engineer was arrested in an entrapment operation after allegedly attempting to bribe Rep. Leandro Leviste (Batangas, 1st District) with around P3.1 million in cash to stop a probe into anomalous projects in the district, according to the Batangas Police.

Related:

• Personalities linked to anomalous flood control projects already out of country
• COA official tagged in flood scam out of the country

(“Regarding escape, I'm not saying they really escaped but those who told me, I forgive them, are actually in America already.)

-Senator Marcoleta

Continuing his manual inspection of flood control programs, Marcos found one alleged ghost project after another. In Baliuag, Bulacan, he checked a supposed concrete river wall project, only to discover nothing was built. Marcos noted that the act of marking the project as finished counted as falsification on the part of the Department of Public Works and Highways officials who supervised the area.

At Tuesday’s Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing, Gatchalian noted that five of the 15 top firms that secured multi-billion contracts for the government’s flood control projects from 2022 – 2025 had a paid-up capital of less than P100 million.

• QM Builders – P1.2 million paid-up capital; awarded P7.3 billion worth of flood control works
• Centerways Construction and Development Corp. – P45 million paid-up capital; secured P5.1 billion worth of projects
• Triple 8 Construction & Supply, Inc. – P90 million paid-up capital; won P3.9 billion worth of projects
• Wawao Builders – P50 million paid-up capital; awarded P4.2 billion worth of projects
• MG Samidan Construction – P250,000 paid-up capital; won P5 billion worth of projects

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. blasted the Discaya-linked St. Timothy Construction Corp. for seemingly abandoning its half-baked flood projects in Bulacan, calling them “ghost projects.”

Authorities have arrested the mayor of San Simon, Pampanga after he was accused of extorting P80 million from a steel manufacturing company.

Related:

• Army soldier linked to Pampanga mayor in extortion case

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson has exposed the alleged multibillion-peso “pork barrel” allocations of some lawmakers, with one congressman receiving as much as P15 billion.

Related:

• 67 solons in 2022 doubled as contractors for their own projects -Sen. Lacson

Ombudsman Samuel Martires has put 13 Tarlac City officials, composed of department heads and Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) members, under preventive suspension over allegedly overpriced, ghost deliveries and irregular purchases of medicines worth at least P100 million in 2017 and 2018.

The Sandiganbayan has found former Palawan governor Mario Joel Reyes and his provincial planning and development coordinator Samuel Madamba II guilty of 11 counts of graft in connection with misuse of some P1.53 billion in royalties from the Malampaya gas field in 2009.

Thousands of temporary workers were hired by the Cebu City government last year to perform duties usually assigned to regular employees.

Drivers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) charge high taxi fares because they have to give 40 percent of their earnings to the airport police, according to the viral taxi driver.

Two customs brokers, who were reportedly involved in an extortion activity targeting a local freight forwarder, were arrested on Tuesday in Manila, according to the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

The National Electrification Administration (NEA) filed criminal complaints on Tuesday against seven former officials of two electric cooperatives (ECs) for the alleged embezzlement of their groups’ retirement funds.

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has launched a formal investigation into a controversial ₱1.4-billion land acquisition and a ₱100-million tax misdeclaration by the previous board of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

Former Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) chairman Efraim Genuino and four other former top officials of the state gaming firm have been sentenced to over 100 years of imprisonment for multiple counts of graft and malversation involving the alleged misuse of P50.05 million in agency funds.

The scene of the tragedy? A flimsy steel bollard that crumpled on impact, failing to stop the vehicle from barreling into the airport’s departure area. The verdict from engineer and social media personality Clark Ferrer, a.k.a. Mr. Contractor: substandard work, likely fueled by corner-cutting and pocket-lining.

During an investigation conducted by the House of Representatives Joint Committee, it was revealed that Mansilungan had falsely claimed to have attended the University of the Philippines, further proven by a certification from the university’s registrar confirming that there was no record of his enrollment.

Filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2022, the charges stemmed from the alleged misuse of P5 million in Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel of former La Union congressman Manuel Ortega in 2007.

“Allegedly, sometime in 2019, respondent sought the complainant's help in securing contact with the financier of jueteng operating in their locality... Respondent asked that, in exchange for protection, he would receive his regular payola and that the complainant would act as his conduit or ‘bag man,’” It added that Lagman received weekly protection money from November 2020 to January 2021.

A video circulating online shows a barangay captain and a candidate for councilor in Lapu-Lapu City explaining why they will deduct P3,300 from the P4,300 that beneficiaries of the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program are supposed to receive.

Arevalo alleged that 1,089 voters from the town were able to cast their votes in the last three elections despite being deceased.

In addition to deceased voters, Arevalo also raised concerns about active voters who were delisted and individuals who were registered despite not being original residents of the town. More

According to the MMDA in a statement, some personnel in its payroll division manipulated the agency’s payroll system to take small amounts in the salaries of targeted employees. They were then diverted to their own accounts.

In its ruling dated January 15, 2025, the Ombudsman rejected Rama’s arguments, emphasizing that his appointment of his wife’s two brothers as casual employees in City Hall was a clear violation of Civil Service rules.

The Supreme Court has affirmed the graft conviction of former Pagsanjan, Laguna Mayor Emilio Ramon "ER" Ejercito, popularly known as Jeorge "ER" Ejercito Estregan, for illegally awarding an insurance contract to an unlicensed company without conducting the required public bidding.

Mariano, whose firm sells office and school supplies, alleged that it was used as a “front supplier” by the Marikina officials between 2020 and 2021 even if the contracts were awarded to other suppliers. Mariano said checks signed by the mayor as well as Gamad and Rebanal were deposited into his firm’s bank account.

A lawmaker wants the axe to fall on corrupt Bureau of Customs (BOC) employees who reportedly tried to sell P270 million worth of smuggled cigarettes seized by the agency.

Taguba also claimed that corrupt Bureau of Customs officials and personnel, especially those belonging to the Customs Command Center, are earning billions from tara or grease money.

During the hearing, Taguba said prior to his recent conviction for multiple charges of drug smuggling involving P6.4 billion worth of illegal drugs from China seized by authorities in Valenzuela City in 2017, business for him had been very profitable. He said this profitability came after paying P5 million in “enrollment fee” to the “Davao Group,” which he described as a mafia-type syndicate in smuggling allegedly headed by Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, son of former president Duterte.

The Sandiganbayan has set aside the graft conviction of a former Manila City traffic enforcer but found him guilty of direct bribery, resulting in a longer prison sentence for the man who was caught demanding monthly “protection money” from a trucking firm in exchange for not apprehending its vehicles from 2018 to 2020.

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced former Quezon City mayor Herbert Bautista and former city administrator Aldrin Cuña to prison and imposed a lifetime ban from public office following their conviction for graft.

A branch manager of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya has been sentenced to 21 to 38 years in prison for allegedly pocketing P8.1 million in educational policy claims.

The Sandiganbayan has rejected for the second time the bail petition of Maslog, one of the accused in the 1998 textbook scam case who last year was found to be alive after she faked her death in the last five years to escape prosecution.

Maslog, however, was being pursued by authorities for another suspected scam—an investment scheme where she was alleged to have defrauded people of millions of pesos while using another identity.

The Mayors for Good Governance (M4GG) suspects that local government units (LGUs) were being “shortchanged” by the national government of the 40 percent they were entitled to from the annual revenue collection, instead of the 31 percent that they have been receiving, according to their calculations.

COA found that DepEd paid out the billion-peso sum — over 78% of the project's P1.356-billion total cost — to a contractor with a questionable financial capacity and a record of delayed projects. According to the annual audit report, COA flagged nearly every facet of the procurement process for the DERPS project, the second phase of which was procured directly by the department in 2019. (No date was stated for the procurement of the first phase.)

...COA's 2023 audit report on TUPAD found that there were cases of beneficiaries availing twice within a year by using different names while changing contact details and addresses.

State auditors have flagged the Department of Agrarian Reform for distributing agricultural lands to 235 unqualified recipients ... In Ilocos Sur and Pangasinan, 30 beneficiaries who received land were neither agricultural lessees nor farmworkers. Instead, they were "PSG Policeman, retired PNP, government employee, seaman, and OFW in Canada," according to state auditors' observations.

Former Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and 11 other government officials are in hot water for allegedly forcing through Duterte crony Dennis Uy’s controversial purchase of Chevron’s 45 percent stake in the Malampaya gas project.

A total of P10 billion was allotted for the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program (RAFPMP) in 2024, but was reallocated to unprogrammed funds.

• Marie Louis C. Jurales, nurse (first cousin)
• Dorris Garma, administrative office (sister-in-law)
• Howard Manzan, consultant for information technology (first cousin, mother’s side)
• Howard Manzan’s wife, private secretary
• Police Sergeant Enecito Ubales Jr., security detailed to PCSO (first cousin)
• Garma’s daughter as confidential agent

“...I will tell you the qualifications of a confidential agent. One is a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Two, she has to have experience, previous experience in law enforcement. Does she have experience in law enforcement, your daughter?”

-Fernandez

“None, Mr. Chair,” Garma replied. “[But] she’s very competent in report-writing, Mr. Chair, in editing, in communications.”

-Garma

Related:

• House to probe Garma’s ‘money laundering’ in United States

A barangay treasurer in Baguio City has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for allegedly pocketing cash prizes of winners in a sports competition. Meanwhile, the treasurer of Sagay City in Negros Occidental is under investigation for allegedly failing to distribute P7.3 million in emergency allowance of health workers who served during the COVID pandemic.

The director of the National Library of the Philippines (NLP) faced questions again on Friday, September 20, regarding the legality of his appointment since he is not a licensed librarian.

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced former Department of Finance (DOF) executive director Uldarico Andutan Jr. to up to 50 years in prison for another set of graft cases in connection with the multibillion-peso tax credit scam in the 1990s.

• Tulfo then bared that P15.79 billion for the PUV service contracting program remains unpaid as of December 31, 2023.
• Tulfo also mentioned that the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the P3.114-billion Land Transportation Management System project.
• He also slammed the P511-million budget of the Manila Air Control Center which remains unutilized since 2009.
• Tulfo then blasted the Land Transportation Office (LTO) for failing to deliver over 1.7 million licensed plates that motorists paid for since 2015. According to the 2o22 COA report, the replacement plates amounted to P808 million.

Each breathalyzer, which is meant to assist law enforcers in implementing the anti-drunk driving law, costs P68,000... According to Tulfo, a breathalyzer in the United States just costs P5,000 to P14,000, while a unit from Thailand costs P3,000, and a unit in China costs P22,000.

United States authorities are seeking the forfeiture of a $1.2-million property in San Francisco, California believed to have been purchased by former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Andres Bautista using bribe money he allegedly received from election technology provider Smartmatic.

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced to up to four years in prison an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources based in Olongapo City for asking P15,000 from a private citizen seeking services from his office.

It was Finance Secretary Ralph Recto who ordered the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) to remit P89 billion to the Bureau of the Treasury in April 2024.

Related:

• Screenshot from a nursing group chat on Pasay General. Is that a valid reason to delay the nurses' salaries?
• Solon seeks probe on hospitals shunning guarantee letters
• Solons ask House to check on unpaid hospital claims
• PhilHealth’s unpaid claims led to some hospitals’ closure -Luistro
• COA flags PhilHealth anew over data management mess resulting in 'oversubsidy'
• PhilHealth’s ‘broken system’ needs fixing, says DOH chief
• 30-year study: Households, not gov’t, shoulder bulk of health spending
• Watchdogs question PhilHealth fund transfer
• PhilHealth owes gov't hospitals P14.8 billion in unpaid claims
• PhilHealth owes PRC P320 million for COVID-19 tests -Gordon

“That’s why their emphasis has been to protect the fund and resist paying the health benefits of its members!”
“We need to fix this broken system.”
“PhilHealth needs to pay the health benefits of its members! PhilHealth must not invest government funds in the bank. PhilHealth must invest in the Filipino people!”

-Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa

The case stemmed from DBP’s grant of P150-million and P510-million loans to DVRI in April and November 2009, respectively, allegedly with undue haste and in violation of its own lending policies and of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas regulations. In the complaint filed in August 2011, DBP, under new leadership, questioned the grant of a P510-million loan to a “puny company” that had a paid-up capital of only P625,000.

The five former DOTC officials were members of Bids and Awards Committee that approved the questionable procurement of P6 million worth of cellphones in 2005.

A head nurse at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) in Quezon City was implicated as the alleged leader of the organ trafficking syndicate, the National Bureau of Investigation said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court has ordered a municipal trial court judge in Calamba City, Laguna, dismissed and disbarred for falsifying public documents in order to continue receiving the salaries of her contractual driver who had already resigned.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires has ordered the suspension of seven Marikina City Engineering Department personnel of up to six months over alleged solicitation of bribes in exchange for issuance of a building permit.

The ghost employee scandal at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is unlikely to die anytime soon despite the reported resignation of the four workers who received generous benefits and salaries without reporting to the office.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo has ordered Court Administrator Raul Villanueva to look into the allegation that a Regional Trial Court Judge from Pasay City had asked for a P6-million bribe money from a litigant in exchange for a favorable decision.

I found out that my funds were being embezzled. The bank called me yesterday to inform me they are releasing checks worth P120,000 each. I was shocked because I did not release anything like that

Criminal charges were filed yesterday against five security officers who allegedly extorted money from a Chinese at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA-3).

Citing estimates by his office, Gatchalian said on Sunday that in School Year (SY) 2021-2022, the majority — P7.21 billion or 53 percent—of the P13.69-billion allocation for the SHS-VP went to students who were not considered poor. The lawmaker also questioned earlier the alleged existence of more than 19,000 “ghost students” under the SHS-VP, which he branded as another leakage plaguing the program.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Western Visayas has stopped the construction of a flyover project in Pavia town, Iloilo, on suspicion that substandard materials have been used to build the structure.

Iloilo City and provincial officials expressed disgust over the failure of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Western Visayas (DPWH-6) to provide them with updates about two controversial flyovers.

The Supreme Court has found former police general and Special Action Force (SAF) chief Leocadio Santiago Jr. administratively liable for the anomalous purchase in 2009 of two brand new police helicopters that later turned out to be secondhand.

The dismissal order against Escoto stemmed from a complaint filed by lawyer James Mier Victoriano, in connection with the alleged irregularities in the awarding of a P2.097-billion contract to British company SRT Marine Systems Solutions Ltd. - United Kingdom in 2018.

Bondoc alleged that the Yulo family came to own the land in 1976, a year after former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. issued Proclamation 1387 on the Busuanga Pasture Reserve.

“That contradicted Proclamation 1387. Government sequestrations and ill-gotten wealth cases ensued starting 1986. YKR’s cattle ranch was branded the largest agrarian anomaly”

-Bondoc

The Sandiganbayan has sustained the ruling of a Cebu City court convicting a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) intelligence officer of graft charges for demanding P60,000 from a Bohol resort owner in exchange for reducing the resort's tax dues.

The Sandiganbayan has sentenced three officials of the now defunct state firm National Agribusiness Corp. (NABCOR) to up to eight years in prison over the allegedly anomalous procurement of P95.5 million worth of post-harvest facilities and equipment in 2007 to 2008.

Among the information discovered was Reyes asking for money or “pabaon from a certain lawyer whenever he attended seminars and trainings; asking another lawyer to be his dummy in a transaction involving a 900-square meter lot; and receiving money, a car, guns from private practitioners in exchange for favorable actions.

Panel chairperson Elizaldy Co told reporters in an online interview that there are documents circulating on social media that show that Davao City was allotted P13 billion in the first year of the 18th Congress, P35 billion in the succeeding year, and P13 billion in the third year. Co explained that on the average, districts are allocated P500 million to P2 billion per year.

The Sandiganbayan on Tuesday convicted for graft and malversation three former officials of the defunct Technology Resource Center (TRC) for greenlighting the disbursement of a former Laguna lawmaker’s “pork barrel” funds worth P10 million for a ghost livelihood project in 2007

A victim from Brgy. Balongbato in San Juan City states that he was approached by the staff of a councilor. He was given a transaction code for the Palawan Express. And he was ordered to claim the 7,500-peso TUPAD.But according to Councilor, only P1,000 was given to the victim. The remaining P6,500 will be reduced and set aside for ‘Mayor’.

GE is infamous for flexing her privilege at government agency she works at. From flying first class to having five-star accommodation, GE milks every perk she can from her position.

A lady driver who was flagged down for illegally using the Carousel Bus Lane in Makati City on Thursday night, April 11, has evaded getting cited for traffic violation after she used her alleged connection to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Libre’s dismissal from service stemmed from complaints that he appointed his relatives to positions under his direct supervision, CHED said.

In a 36-page decision promulgated on December 20, the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division dismissed the appeal of accused Esther Pagano who allegedly embezzled P4.1 million.

The Commission on Audit (COA) has flagged the Department of Education (DepEd) for failing to remit billions of pesos in employee deductions as the Supreme Court sifted through issues raised in three petitions against the secret funds of Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte.

Related:

• House panel flags 158 'bogus' OVP receipts linked to confidential funds
• Another DepEd official confirms receiving cash envelopes during VP Duterte's term
• OVP spent P16 million in confidential funds on 34 safehouses in 2022 — COA

Since we found out that the third-party auditor has no office, is not paying taxes, and did not even attend the hearing, we see that the auditor has credibility issues… I’m dismayed because the government finds ways to earn, but we approve a third-party auditor who gives wrong figures.

“That’s what the 12 billion pesos project looks like now. It has been abandoned until now. What’s scarier is that repair and maintenance costs P50 million per year. What are we even maintaining? Their pockets?”

-Senator Raffy Tulfo

As active and retired military and uniformed personnel (MUP) may be made to contribute part of their income to help stave off a possible “fiscal collapse,” lawmakers should do their share by shunning corrupt practices like getting kickbacks from government projects, according to Baguio City Mayor and retired police general Benjamin Magalong.

“Only about 45 percent to 52 percent will be left (to the actual contractor and project). In short, if the project is worth P100, they said Sir, they will have to settle for P42.50 to P55, including their profit so they will be forced to make substandard projects”

-Mayor Magalong

Two 1-year old projects in Iligan City which crumbled from heavy rains this year. Also prompted another budget for repairs.

Related:

• Sandigan sentences Sajid Ampatuan to 128-year jail term over multiple graft, malversation

• Chong also founded the Lyka e-commerce platform ... until it was shut down by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas because it was not licensed as an online payment system.
• ..the Court of Appeals junked drug trafficking charges against Chong after it found that Chong was just an investor and had in fact divested from the cargo company linked to the P1.8-billion shipment of “shabu” intercepted in 2019.
• He also founded Brenterprise International Inc. which is at the center of the value-added tax (VAT) fraud scam that was first uncovered in December last year.
• The NBI Anti-Organized Transnational Crime Division said about 1,000 big and small companies used Brenterprise to fraudulently manipulate tax input credits to allow them to dodge their VAT obligations. Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla declined to identify the companies but said some were the biggest corporations in the food and real estate industry.
• The NBI Anti-Organized and Transnational Crime Division (AOCTD) filed a motion for reconsideration after the DOJ said it found no probable cause to charge Chong and his co-respondents for falsification of Commercial Documents under Article 172 of the Revised Penal Code.

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The camera included in the Facebook post, which circulated after being shared on Twitter by activist Renato Reyes, had a sticker label that indicated its acquisition cost was P155,929 — far from its price of P33,998 on the official Canon website.

The Commission on Audit (COA) has affirmed a notice of disallowance (ND) against the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) over the unauthorized payment of P2.125 million in consultancy fees to four private lawyers in 2014.

The COA said that its Circular 95-011 and Circular 86-255 as well as MC No. 9 all explicitly state that government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) like the GSIS “are prohibited from hiring private lawyers to handle their cases and legal matters, save for exceptional cases, which require the approval of the OGCC and the COA.”

The Office of the Ombudsman has suspended Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes for a year over the “irregular designation” of an officer in charge (OIC) of the City Social Welfare Services (CSWS) in 2022.

• Bondoc flagged in particular the reportedly overpriced P700 million deal to replace baggage conveyor belts at Terminal 1 which only needed repairs.
• P600-million facelift of Terminal 2.
• The hiring of service firms and airport taxi fleet owned by NAIA managers.
• The grant of franchises and concessions to their relatives and associates, to name a few.
• He also cited the anomalous award of a 25-year rehabilitation contract to a firm worth P18 billion, merely one-third of MIAA’s P47-billion assets, thus violating the Build-Operate-Transfer Law.

The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the filing of graft and bribery charges yesterday against a provincial official of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for allegedly extorting money and tuna in exchange for a favorable decision in a case he was handling.

The COA also flagged DepEd for spending P4.5 billion of its budget on the Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan. ₱58,300.00/$1,166.00 unit price of 1 Intel Celeron Laptop

Suppliers: Sunwest Construction and Development Corp. (SCDC) and LDLA Marketing & Trading Inc. (LDLA).

The Office of the Ombudsman on Tuesday said it was preparing to file charges against a government worker who had amassed P290 million in bank deposits while working as a “security guard” for a state agency in the past 21 years.

The senator, who in July alleged that P10.4 billion in SAP funds were unaccounted for, raised several questions about how Starpay was able to corner a P50-billion share of the cash aid for distribution to DSWD beneficiaries despite acquiring a license only in 2018 and declaring a loss in 2019.

..Of the P11 billion in cash, it turns out that P10 billion was intended for the cash aid—cash aid that they did not immediately distribute to our people and kept dormant in their account so it could earn interest,”...“According to a reliable source, Starpay earned P200 million in interest from their account in the private bank,” but Sen. Pacquiao declined to name the bank during the public hearing, saying he did not want to damage its reputation, but that he could do so in executive session.

The Commission on Audit (COA) has asked an Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) deputy administrator to explain why sanitary napkins were purchased from a construction and trading company and not drug stores near the Central Office.

The Commission on Audit flagged the Department of Information and Communications Technology for purchasing P170.273 million worth of electronic devices from Lex-Mar General Merchandise and Contractor.

• One component of the project flagged as “anomalous” by the Commission on Audit (COA) and PhilHealth’s resident auditors in three separate reports was the planned procurement of various equipment worth P734 million, which was not contained in the original budget proposal submitted by the state insurer.
• An Adobe software, which cost P168,000 per unit, was listed as P21 million each in the proposed budget submitted by PhilHealth’s IT sector, a whopping 12,400-percent increase from its original price, the auditors said in their report also in May.
• The price of items under “application servers and licenses” was increased to P40 million from its initial budget of P25 million, the internal auditors said.
• The latest corruption scandal came a year after the Inquirer published a series of investigative reports about how the state-owned insurance company lost P154 billion through various forms of fraud, such as reimbursements for “ghost dialysis,” overpayments, false claims and “upcasing” of common ailments.

Balutan drew controversy in 2018 over a supposedly lavish PCSO Christmas party, where the agency spent about P6 million.

The Commission on Audit said Discovery Shores Boracay should charge former officials of the Department of Tourism a total of P456,000 for their stay in the luxury resort in 2018, saying the expenses were higher than what government allows.

According to CNN Philippines, Police Commissioner Mr. Sombero was under investigation in a corruption case for allegedly facilitating a PHP 50 million bribe from gambling tycoon Jack Lam, who tried to bribe immigration authorities to release approximately 1,300 Chinese nationals who were working in his resorts illegally.

Some of the Filipinos included in the Forbes magazine's annual billionaires list are also listed in the biggest leak of tax records from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Hundreds of millions of pesos in funds intended for the relief and rehabilitation of disaster victims did not reach them in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013 because government offices used them up for operations or kept them in banks.

The country's restrictive, archaic Bank Secrecy Law remains a major stumbling block in weeding out corruption and should therefore be amended, the head of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said yesterday.

She added that the law has been a big hindrance to effective investigations into tax evasion as it has allowed tax cheats and money launderers to use banks to hide their ill-gotten wealth

President Aquino yesterday vowed to hold the generals involved in the controversial pabaon scandal in the military accountable.

Two former officials of the now-defunct Technology and Resource Center (TRC) have been found guilty of graft and malversation of public funds over the unlawful release of at least P20 million to three non-government organizations (NGO) in 2007.

In his testimony at the inquiry conducted by the Senate blue ribbon committee into the NBN-ZTE deal in 2007, IT expert Lozada exposed the supposed cost-padding and corruption that marked the $329-million contract to install a broadband network linking government offices nationwide.

“From an accuser to an accused to a convict facing a maximum of 10 years in prison; The fate of whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada is an indictment of the Philippine justice system”

-Senator Panfilo Lacson

Joseph Estrada was accused of pocketing P4 billion in jueteng bribes and excise taxes from tobacco.

Many coconut farmers have died waiting in vain, and with them went the hope they would one day reap the 'rewards' of what's seen as among the biggest scams of the century.

The issue is still ongoing up to this day, with coconut farmers fighting for justice against the forced taxation, and a share of the Coco Levy Fund's investments. The Coco Levy Fund is estimated to have ballooned anywhere in the range of ₱100 billion to 150 billion in assets.

One of the most notorious cases in Credit Suisse’s history involved the corrupt Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda. The couple are estimated to have siphoned as much as $10bn from the Philippines during the three terms Ferdinand was president, which ended in 1986.