Rowegie Abanto

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signs into law the Judiciary Fiscal Autonomy Act at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacañan Palace in Manila on August 14, 2025. 
The law strengthens the constitutional guarantee under Article VIII, Section 3, ensuring that the Judiciary’s budget cannot be reduced below the previous year’s allocation and must be automatically released. It also authorizes the Supreme Court to submit its budget proposal directly to Congress, mandates the automatic monthly release of funds, and requires quarterly reporting to the President and Congress. Witnesses include Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, Senate President Chiz Escudero, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and other officials. 
Mark Balmores, PPA Pool

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signs into law the Judiciary Fiscal Autonomy Act at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacañan Palace in Manila on August 14, 2025. 

The law strengthens the constitutional guarantee under Article VIII, Section 3, ensuring that the Judiciary’s budget cannot be reduced below the previous year’s allocation and must be automatically released. It also authorizes the Supreme Court to submit its budget proposal directly to Congress, mandates the automatic monthly release of funds, and requires quarterly reporting to the President and Congress. Witnesses include Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, Senate President Chiz Escudero, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and other officials. 

Mark Balmores, PPA Pool

Article (news)

MARCOS

Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

<div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175971755966520250814-marcos-judiciary-fiscal-autonomy-PPA-8 (2).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false" style="text-align:left">President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signs into law the Judiciary Fiscal Autonomy Act at the Ceremonial Hall of Malacañan Palace in Manila on August 14, 2025. <em>Mark Balmores, PPA Pool/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the government would not stop hounding officials involved in anomalous flood control projects even after they stepped down from office, adding that the resignation of these individuals “is not enough.”</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/17/romualdez-resigns-as-house-speaker-1525">Romualdez resigns as House Speaker; Dy elected as successor</a></div><p>“That’s not sufficient. That’s not enough,” Marcos said in his latest podcast episode, when asked about government officials who resigned from their posts amid investigations into anomalous anti-flood programs.</p><p>“There is a great deal of damage that has been caused, not only financial damage or economic damage but actual damage to people’s lives,” he said.</p><p>“I mean how can you live with that? I can’t live with it. I won’t live with it so we will keep pushing,” he added.</p><p>When asked about the possibility of investigations leading to the “backyard of his allies,” Marcos said: “I think we are already there.”</p><p>“The reason I brought it up and made it part of the national discourse quite simply is because this could not go on,” he said.</p><p>“Why would I start such a thing if it is for political advantage?”</p><p>Marcos did not mention particular officials but the scandal has sparked leadership changes in both chambers of Congress, with House speaker Martin Romualdez, a cousin of the President, tendering his resignation as an investigation got underway. </p><p>Zaldy Co, who founded a construction company linked to substandard flood control projects, also <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/29/resignation-shields-zaldy-co-from-house-ethics-probe-doj-urged-to-take-over-1938">resigned as Ako Bicol Party-list representative</a> in late September. </p><p>Romualdez had said efforts linking him to alleged kickbacks in flood control projects were <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/25/romualdez-denies-receiving-suitcases-of-money-from-co-s-ex-security-consultant-1832">&quot;an outright and complete fabrication&quot;.</a> Former Senate President Francis Escudero, who was also implicated in supposed kickbacks, said the allegations were part of a <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/25/escudero-says-bernardo-s-kickback-claims-part-of-well-orchestrated-plan-to-attack-the-senate-1121">“well-orchestrated plan to attack the Senate and its members.”</a></p><p>Meanwhile, Co <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/29/zaldy-co-resigns-as-house-representative-amid-flood-control-scandal-1600">denied deliberately allowing last-minute insertions</a> in the 2025 budget and rejected allegations that he and his family indulged in extravagant displays of wealth in the eye of the public.</p><div><strong>&#x27;NATION FEEDING UPON ITSELF&#x27;</strong></div><p>Marcos described the scale of corruption in flood control projects as “shocking,” and partly attributed its prevalence to the previous administration’s alleged failure to adhere to “standard procedures” such as seeking the <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/15/marcos-to-reinstate-local-gov-t-power-to-inspect-dpwh-projects-before-turnover-1141">approval of local government units</a> before the turn over of a project.</p><p>“Apparently, in the last administration, they removed that entirely and I didn’t, I was shocked because this is standard procedure and you don’t think about this anymore,” he said.</p><p>“There’s always been a sniff and suspicion of corruption in government but not this scale. That was a shocking part and I said that this cannot [go on],” he said.</p><p>“Nothing will happen to the Philippines if this goes on. Wala na talagang mangyayari sa atin. The economy will not grow properly, people will not get help, schools will not get better, the hospitals will not get better. We will not go anywhere,” he said. “All of these will just disappear and we will just be a little nation that is feeding upon itself.”</p><p>Marcos added that previous leaders seemed to have resigned themselves into thinking that they could not do anything to address corruption. </p><p>“If you resign yourself to that I cannot do anything, you cannot do anything,” he said.</p><p>“This is what we’ve seen over so many decades. I did not want to be another one. I did not want to be part of that kind of attitude especially in terms of public service,” he said.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS: </strong></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kEk00d0GNyI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/traQJ3XxX7k?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the government would not stop hounding officials involved in anomalous flood control projects even after they stepped down from office, adding that the resignation of these individuals “is not enough.”</p>

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the government would not stop hounding officials involved in anomalous flood control projects even after they stepped down from office, adding that the resignation of these individuals “is not enough.”

Marcos says resignation of officials linked to flood control anomalies ‘not enough’

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Marcos says resignation of officials linked to flood control anomalies ‘not enough’

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published October 06, 2025 12:00 PM PHT

Read More:

Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

flood control projects

corruption

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