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Sunday, November 23, 2025 Vol. 21 No. 46
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ACCOUNTABILITY
Revisiting the system slowing the flood control probe
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ANDREW ANGELOV | DREAMSTIME.COM/GENERATIVE ILLUSTRATION VIA FIREFLY
ROTARY CLUB OF MANILA JOURNALISM AWARDS
2006 National Newspaper of the Year 2011 National Newspaper of the Year 2013 Business Newspaper of the Year 2017 Business Newspaper of the Year 2019 Business Newspaper of the Year 2021 Pro Patria Award PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY 2018 Data Champion
By Justine Xyrah Garcia
VEN as investigations into alleged multibillion-peso flood-control anomalies continue to widen across agencies, the justice system has yet to secure a major conviction. To date, only resigned Ako Bicol party-list representative Elizaldy Co and some former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Region IV-B have been charged with malversation of public funds through falsification of public documents. At a colloquium organized at the UP-BGC by the Office of the UP College of Law Dean, governance experts said on Thursday that this slow pace is consistent with longstanding institutional weaknesses that make corruption cases difficult to prosecute and even harder to conclude. In the view of former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, delays in major graft cases are rooted in a legal framework that permits parties—especially those with resources—to file successive motions and appeals.
She said this has allowed politically sensitive cases to stretch across multiple administrations. “These dilatory tactics [are] employed by these lawyers, especially those who can afford; these rich people who can afford these high-caliber lawyers, they devise, they can resort to all dilatory tactics to delay the case, the progress of the case,” she said at the public accountability forum organized by the University of the Philippines. She explained that motions to dismiss, motions for reconsideration and petitions for certiorari often cause cases to move repeatedly between the Sandiganbayan and the Supreme Court. “They file a motion to dismiss…it gets denied…they file an MR…then they go to the Supreme Court on application for certiorari... It becomes a vicious cycle,” Tang said.
Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice: “These dilatory tactics [are] employed by these lawyers, especially those who can afford; these rich people who can afford these highcaliber lawyers, they devise, they can resort to all dilatory tactics to delay the case, the progress of the case.”
Malou Mangahas, co-founder, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ): “The collapse of investigative media has made it more difficult to report on corruption compared to the ’80s, the ’90s, and the 2000s.”
Solita Collás-Monsod, former socioeconomic planning secretary: “How can we work against Congress? By not electing those people back. And how can we do that? By informing the people. By letting them have all the information that they have. Because as I said, they’re not dumb.”
Christian Monsod, former Comelec chairman and former member of the Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution: “We’re always looking for the angel of hope who will transform our country from top to bottom.... The transformation we are seeking should be from the bottom up.”
According to Tang, courts cannot refuse these motions. “If a remedy is made available under the rules, they have to entertain whatever motions or petitions that they have,” she said. This structure, she added, has contributed to corruption cases pending for decades, especially those involving powerful families or large public-works budgets. Tang said another recurring problem is poor case build-up, particularly the failure to preserve original documents. She noted that
some accused officials were acquitted because the prosecution did not submit primary evidence. “The accused were acquitted on the grounds that the original documents were not presented and there was no valid justification given to justify the presentation of secondary evidence,” she said. The courts, she added, are bound by constitutional standards. “The court is passive. It simply rules based on the evidence presented before it,” she said. “If the evidence…does not
meet the standard required under the Constitution, the highest standard, which is beyond reasonable doubt, the court will have no choice but to acquit.”
corruption cases. “[Freedom of information] or transparency is so important, even for people who want to know if the courts are working or not working,” she said. Mangahas noted that the public once had easier access to Sandiganbayan records, including acquittals, archived cases and convictions. She said the judiciary has become more distant from the public over time, making it difficult for
Declining transparency, shrinking media
FOR Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) cofounder Malou Mangahas, institutional weaknesses are aggravated by declining transparency in the courts and the shrinking capacity of investigative media to monitor
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PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 59.0660 n JAPAN 0.3751 n UK 77.2347 n HK 7.5889 n CHINA 8.2981 n SINGAPORE 45.1678 n AUSTRALIA 38.0208 n EU 68.1031 n KOREA 0.0400 n SAUDI ARABIA 15.7497 Source: BSP (November 21, 2025)