The Department of Justice (DOJ) has officially confirmed the existence of 14 "ghost" or non-existent flood control projects, marking a significant development in the ongoing investigation into alleged anomalies. The announcement came during the resumption of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee probe on Monday, January 19, 2026.
DOJ Builds Cases Against Fictitious Projects
DOJ officer-in-charge Secretary Fredderick Vida stated that prosecutors have identified the 14 projects and are convinced of their fraudulent nature. "At present, the Department of Justice has identified 14 projects that we are convinced are ghost projects," Vida told senators.
He explained that while some cases have already been filed before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court, others remain under preliminary investigation. Vida emphasized the need for strong evidence, noting that prosecutors are exercising caution before endorsing cases for arrest warrants to ensure they can withstand judicial scrutiny.
Validation Challenges and a Shrinking 'Universe'
A major hurdle in the probe has been the painstaking process of on-site validation. Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Undersecretary Ricardo Bernabe acknowledged that 421 projects are currently undergoing site validation.
This lengthy process is necessary to distinguish between projects that were genuinely never built and those that may have been constructed but were incorrectly recorded in the official Multi-Year Planning and Scheduling (MYPS) system with wrong grid coordinates.
Secretary Vida outlined the strategy to narrow the focus. He suggested that if the DPWH could first certify a large number of projects as legitimate, it would shrink the "universe" of suspect projects, allowing investigators to concentrate resources on the remaining high-priority cases.
Senate Scrutiny and Systemic Issues
During the hearing, Senator Erwin Tulfo raised concerns about systemic data problems, highlighting discrepancies between the MYPS system records and actual project locations. These errors have complicated the task of definitively labeling projects as "ghost."
The investigation traces back to field inspections, such as the one conducted on September 25, 2025, where former ICI adviser and Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong and then-Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon inspected a PHP96.5-million flood control project in Jose Abad Santos, Davao Occidental, which had been flagged as suspicious.
The DOJ and DPWH's coordinated efforts now aim to build airtight cases to present to the Office of the Ombudsman and the courts, focusing on projects proven to be entirely fictitious and a misuse of public funds intended for critical infrastructure.
