They came forward not as faceless whistleblowers, but as 18 men who once wore the uniform of the Philippine Marines. On February 24, 2026, at Club Filipino in San Juan, led by Atty. Levi Baligod and standing beside the earlier exposer Orly Guteza, they laid it all out: documents, timelines, and the chilling admission that they themselves hauled suitcases and paper bags of cash—P805 billion in total—to the homes of the powerful.

The names they named? Former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself.
This wasn’t rumor. This was “we drove the vans, we carried the maletas, we know exactly where they went.” They did it, they say, on orders tied to the biggest open secret in Philippine infrastructure: the flood-control ghost projects that swallowed more than ₱545 billion in public funds since 2022, with up to ₱118.5 billion allegedly looted through overpriced, substandard, or completely non-existent dikes, pumps, and river works.
Let that sink in.
While families in Bulacan, Pampanga, and Metro Manila wade through waist-deep floodwater every rainy season—losing homes, livelihoods, even lives—billions meant to protect them were allegedly siphoned off and delivered in luxury luggage to the very people who control the budget and the Palace.
Martin Romualdez, the cousin who ran the House like a family enterprise, inserting and realigning funds. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who once grandstanded about “exposing” corrupt contractors, now accused of being the mastermind who benefited from the kickbacks.
And the defense from the usual suspects?
“Wala pa rin silang makita na ebidensya.”
🤪🤪🤪
One senator (you know exactly who) and the Palace scriptwriters are still singing the same tired tune: “lousy script,” “grandstanding,” “unsigned affidavits,” “some of them weren’t even real Marines.” The same playbook they used when Guteza first spoke out in the Senate Blue Ribbon hearings last year. The same denial machine that kicked in every time a whistleblower dared to connect the dots between ghost projects, congressional insertions, and Malacañang envelopes.

Here’s the brutal truth they don’t want you to say out loud:
If even a fraction of what these 18 ex-Marines are swearing to is true, this is not just corruption. This is grand larceny on a scale that mocks every flood victim, every drowned farmer, every child whose school was washed away while the elite counted their kickbacks.

This is the same dynasty that lectures us about “unity” and “moving forward” while allegedly moving billions backward—straight into their own pockets.

The flood-control budget was supposed to be sacred. It was sold to the public as the answer to climate disasters. Instead, it became the biggest ATM for the ruling family and their congressional allies. Ghost projects in Bulacan. Overpriced contracts cornered by a handful of favored firms. Budget insertions only the Speaker’s office could approve. And now, according to the bagmen themselves, physical delivery of the loot to the very top.

The Palace can call it a “script” all they want. The ex-Marines are offering to testify under oath. They have names, dates, addresses, and vehicle plates. Let them face the Senate—a real Senate probe, not a whitewash. Let the Ombudsman, the COA, and yes, even independent international auditors open the books.

Because the Filipino people are tired of the same cycle:
1. Announce billions for flood control.
2. Projects disappear.
3. Floods come.
4. More billions announced.
5. Repeat.

Enough.
The 18 ex-Marines didn’t risk their safety and their families’ futures to be dismissed with memes and “lousy script” one-liners. They did it because they could no longer stomach being the delivery boys for the biggest betrayal of public trust in recent memory.

To Marcos Jr., Romualdez, and every congressman, contractor, and bagman still hiding behind denials: the maletas have been opened. The contents are spilling out in broad daylight.
The flood of evidence is coming.

And this time, no amount of Palace spin can dam it.

The people are watching. The water is rising. And history will not be kind to those who stole the funds meant to hold it back.

(TAMBULI NG BAYAN-Ronnie Estrada)#PBBM #MartinRomualdez #ZaldyCo #ClaireCastro #VinceDizon #BojieDy #DPWH #Senado #kongreso #gervilleluistro #BongbongMarcos #PingLacson #OrlyGuteza #BoyingRemulla #TitoSotto