MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines has unveiled a new jail that may soon accommodate numerous powerful legislators, public works officials and others implicated in a massive corruption scandal involving flood control projects, a top official said Monday.
The jail, which could hold up to 800 detainees in metropolitan Manila, was shown to the media by Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla in the latest bid by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration
to quell public outrage over the scandal.
The anomalies have linked dozens of Congress members, government engineers and construction company owners and sparked street protests in one of Asia’s most flood-prone countries. Remulla estimated that about 200 officials and other suspects could be indicted by the Sandiganbayan, a special anti-graft court for government officials.
That led to the decision to build a new jail to detain suspects who could be facing months or years of trial, he said.
Remulla promised that the suspects, who may include former and incumbent members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, would not be given any VIP treatment, as has happened in the past with politicians convicted of crimes.
“What we are preparing are regular jail cells,” Remulla said in a news conference. “If a shoplifter who stole a bottle of lotion worth 100 pesos ($1.7) from a shopping mall could be detained here, the ones who stole billions and billions in my view should be similarly locked up here.”
The jail comprises 80 cells, each capable of holding up to 10 inmates. Facilities include bunk beds, a shared bathroom, toilet, shower and purified drinking water. As in other detention centers, cellphones, computers and other communication gadgets are prohibited. Detainees will have access to their lawyers and an infirmary, he said.
“The same rules of the jail will apply to the rich and poor,” Remulla said.
Prisons in the Philippines are notorious for overcrowding and inadequate facilities. The prison population particularly surged during the so-called war on drugs launched by former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is detained by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity over the drug-related killings.
Marcos first raised alarm over the massive corruption involving flood control projects in his state of the nation speech before Congress in July. He later established an independent commission, which has been investigating potential irregularities, including in the 9,855 flood-control projects worth more than 545 billion pesos ($9.5 billion) that were supposed to have been undertaken since Marcos took office in mid-2022.
Last month, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto told legislators that up to 118.5 billion pesos (more than $2 billion) worth of flood control projects may have been lost to corruption since 2023 alone.
In televised congressional inquiries, construction company owners, government engineers and witnesses testified under oath that several legislators, including House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the president’s cousin and political ally, and Senate President Francis Escudero and four other incumbent and former senators were allegedly allotted huge kickbacks from flood control projects. Romualdez and Escudero have stepped down from their influential posts but have denied the allegations.
