MALACAÑANG said Friday more personalities linked to the flood control scandal will be “thrown behind bars in the New Year.” Presidential Communications Acting Secretary Dave Gomez also assured the public President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. would continue his administration’s efforts to hold to account all individuals involved in corruption-tainted infrastructure projects. Gomez also said the detention of contractors Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya and Cezarah Rowena “Sarah” Discaya over the Christmas period is just the start of a broader accountability drive. “The flood control investigation does not end on Dec. 25. It’s only been a little over four months,” he said. “The Napoles probe took almost a year before people were sent to jail. There will surely be more thrown behind bars in the New Year,” he added. Janet Lim-Napoles was accused of running a pork barrel scam for at least a decade, using a network of bogus non-government organizations to siphon off about P10 billion in lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund to ghost projects in exchange for massive kickbacks. Napoles was eventually convicted of plunder. Gomez said the scale of the Discayas’ ill-gotten wealth far exceeds previous cases. “Some quarters are calling the Discaya couple as the new Napoles, but their unexplained wealth is ten times over. Both spent Christmas in detention,” he said. While the Discaya couple and several officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are already in detention and awaiting trial, the public continues to question why more prominent personalities — such as former speaker Martin Romualdez and former House Appropriations Committee chairman Zaldy Co — have yet to be placed behind bars despite their alleged involvement in the corruption scheme. Sarah Discaya was arrested on Dec. 18 over a P96-million ghost flood control project in Davao Occidental and is locked up at the Lapu-Lapu City Jail., Her husband, Pacifico, is detained at the Senate premises after being cited in contempt by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee for inconsistent testimony. Co remains at large weeks after similar charges were filed against him in relation to a substandard flood control project in Oriental Mindoro. In a separate statement Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said the Marcos administration’s fight against corruption was “far from over.” She said that all relevant investigative bodies, including the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), were working to gather evidence to prosecute the culprits.