What do we do now?

The Speaker of the House has resigned. It may seem that a large head has rolled. The government seems to be responding to the raging anger of citizens over the corruption that has cost our taxpayers at least a trillion pesos.

But the long hard journey to cleaning our political system has barely started. The resigned Speaker must still explain how his net worth seems to have grown exponentially over the past few years.

True or not, he must credibly explain stories about multiple homes in Forbes Park, a business jet and some helicopters. After all, ordinary people buying condo units are routinely asked by the BIR where they got the money.

The Speaker was a businessman before he became a politician and is the son of Imelda Marcos’ favorite brother. Can that explain his visible wealth?

The former Speaker must also account for his role in the scandalous way the National Expenditure Program for this year was mangled by Congress under his leadership. The Constitution gives the House primary responsibility on money matters. He surely knew what his appropriations committee chairman and vice chairman did that so angered our people.

Members of the House and the Senate might have thought they could get away with legalizing a shameless robbery through the NEP, year in and year out. But torrential rains poured down from the heavens as if God was declaring enough is enough.

And the rains caused massive flooding and exposed how our officials in Congress and the DPWH conniving with COA had been stealing funds through ghost flood control and other public works projects.

For years we took for granted that 30 percent of public works funds were stolen. But BBM was shocked to tears upon learning that 100 percent of public works budgets are being stolen today.

So, the first thing we should do is to keep the pressure of angry public opinion going. Walang bibitiw.

Let’s make sure the newly created Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) gets enough evidence to send so many people to jail for a very long time.

The Commission itself is an aberration because it is doing the work of the Ombudsman, a constitutional body supposed to be investigating corruption but had not been inclined to do its duty.

The last Ombudsman even prevented citizens from viewing SALNs. BBM is about to appoint a new Ombudsman and hopefully we get a better one like Justice Conchita Carpio Morales. Pressure BBM not to appoint a politician.

There are congressional investigations going on. From experience, these are for grandstanding, some headlines for a few weeks and forgotten.

It might be different this time. Sen. Ping Lacson seems genuinely interested in finding out who the crooks are and how much they have stolen from the people. Let’s make sure he succeeds.

We must test the sincerity of BBM, that he was not shedding crocodile tears. BBM knew what his cousin, the former Speaker, was doing.

Also, BBM’s own son, Sandro, is a Deputy Speaker who must also know what was going on.

BBM said: “So, there will be no budget for flood control in 2026, because there is still P350 billion for 2025 that has not really been spent.”

Let’s make sure the zero budget for flood control in the 2026 budget remains zero. Sec. Vince Dizon reported that P252 billion was cut after he reviewed the DPWH budget.

Also, they should call on the guarantees of the contractors that delivered substandard projects or ghost projects. Force them to make good. Get civic groups to inspect all public works projects and report status.

We should work with LGUs whose mayors or governors are committed to good governance. For example, in Quezon City, Mayor Joy Belmonte found out that 20 percent of the 331 flood control projects worth P17 billion don’t have coordinates and are difficult to track and verify.

Worse, Mayor Belmonte said 305 out of 331 projects are not aligned with the city’s drainage master plan. Six projects were declared completed but upon inspection were found to have ongoing construction works.

Three different projects in Brgy. Pasong Tamo, with a total contract cost of P58 million, have the same location. Two drainage systems projects in Brgy. Tatalon and Brgy. South Triangle are only repainting jobs and manhole covers but cost P119 million.

Mayor Joy turned over the City’s findings to ICI, the first and only city so far to give the ICI a report about flood control projects in their jurisdiction.

There are good signs. BSP must be commended for quickly responding to our suggestion to regulate large cash transactions.

Under new BSP rules, large value transactions above P500,000 (or its equivalent in foreign currency) must be conducted through traceable channels such as checks, online fund transfers, direct credit to deposit accounts or digital payments.

Moving on… Let’s reallocate funding taken from flood control projects to education.

Before DepEd can improve learning quality, children must first be admitted to a classroom.

But DepEd faces a supply gap of 165,000 classrooms. Over 5.1 million of the 24 million in basic education are “aisle learners.” These are enrolled students crowding classrooms designed for less students. Parang saling pusa lang sila. A thousand new classrooms delivered by DPWH are unusable.

Since DepEd cannot build enough classrooms quickly enough, the tried and tested remedy is the voucher system. Private schools are compensated through a voucher.

Most voucher beneficiaries belong to the lower economic sectors. Moving these children to private schools enhances learning quality. International tests show that private school children record slightly better scores. It will also cost the government less.

Some 12,000 private K-6 schools can offer DepEd children classroom seats. This would reduce demand for DepEd classrooms.

We must act beyond expressions of anger. The crooks are beyond shaming. And we must not forget to get our money back.

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X @boochanco