Jamaine Punzalan

House Speaker Martin Romualdez greets President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as he arrives for his fourth State of the Nation Address at the House of Representatives in Quezon City on July 28, 2025. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

SONA 2025

Katrina Domingo

ABS-CBN News

<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/175790369598920250728-marcos-sona-congress-JC9 (1).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">House Speaker Martin Romualdez greets President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as he arrives for his fourth State of the Nation Address at the House of Representatives in Quezon City on July 28, 2025. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said that his cousin House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and their allies in Congress “will not be spared” from an independent investigation into flood control and other infrastructure projects in the last decade.</p><p>Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, the president’s cousin-in-law, earlier claimed that Romualdez and former House Appropriations chairman Zaldy Co were behind the billions of pesos worth of insertions that funded infrastructure programs that were either substandard or non-existent.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/8/tiangco-idiniin-si-zaldy-co-sa-umano-y-budget-insertions-1212">Tiangco idiniin si Zaldy Co sa umano&#x27;y budget insertions</a></div><p>“There is only one way to do it: They will not be spared,” Marcos Jr. told reporters when asked how he could convince the public that his relatives and allies would not receive preferential treatment from the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), which the President created last week.</p><p>“Anybody will say, ‘Wala tayong kinikilingan.’ Wala namang maniniwala sa iyo hanggat gawin mo,” he said.</p><p>The ICI — which is composed of <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/15/marcos-picks-ex-justice-andres-reyes-as-head-of-independent-panel-probing-flood-control-mess-0903">former Justice Andres Reyes</a>, former Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, SGV Country Managing Partner Rossana Fajardo and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong — “will be completely independent,” the Chief Executive said.</p><p>“If the Senate conducts [an investigation], madaming nababanggit na senador. If the House conducts an investigation, maraming nababanggit na congressman. They are investigating themselves… It’s hard to be fair,” he said.</p><p>“Hindi kami makikialam sa trabaho nila. We are not going to direct them as to how they will conduct their investigations,” he said.</p><p>“We have to make it nothing less than a turning point in the conduct of governance in the Philippines… We have to make a change, a fundamental change in the way we do business,” he said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/15/marcos-on-anti-corruption-protests-if-i-wasn-t-president-i-might-be-out-in-the-streets-0950">‘Show that you are enraged’: Marcos backs mass protests vs flood control mess</a></div><div><iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CTEsVR8_jRo" title="LIVE: Pres. Marcos Jr. holds press briefing on the Independent Commission for Infrastructure" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p>The ICI has committed to hold daily meetings, but as to when and how they would deliver their findings would be completely up to the panel, Marcos said.</p><p>The investigations should not be politicized, the President said.</p><p>“The problem here is not the amount, the problem here is the use of those funds,” he said, when asked about the huge allocations that his allies in Congress inserted in the national budget.</p><p>“The problem lies in the actual implementation of the projects and that is what we are investigating… Simple lang ito: Magkano ang ninakaw na pera ng mga balasubas na ito?” he said.</p><p>“Remove politics, don’t politicize.”</p>

<p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said that his cousin House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and their allies in Congress “will not be spared” from an independent investigation into flood control and other infrastructure projects in the last decade.</p>

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said that his cousin House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and their allies in Congress “will not be spared” from an independent investigation into flood control and other infrastructure projects in the last decade.

Marcos: Romualdez, allies ‘will not be spared’ in independent probe on flood control projects

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Marcos: Romualdez, allies ‘will not be spared’ in independent probe on flood control projects

Katrina Domingo,

ABS-CBN News

Published September 15, 2025 10:39 AM PHT

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