PUBLIC Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan on Friday suspended all applications by department officials and employees to travel abroad for personal reasons while the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects are being validated. The travel freeze will last until the end of November, unless circumstances warrant an earlier lifting or an extension, Bonoan said. Only urgent medical reasons will be exempted from the travel ban. He said the suspension is part of the agency’s commitment to transparency, accountability and service integrity. The DPWH has been caught in a swirl of controversy following revelations of massive corruption in government flood control projects. In a press briefing on Friday, House Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno called for the “complete overhaul” of the DPWH, and lawmakers should not be blamed for the systemic corruption plaguing its infrastructure projects. “My thesis here is, lawmakers are not the problem. I think it is the problem of the agency. I think the Department of Public Works and Highways needs a complete overhaul, their processes and systems, it should be overhauled,” Puno said. Puno also said the DPWH is to blame for the anomalies in the building of classrooms, and not the Department of Education (DepEd), which proposes and funds the projects. “The funds of the DepEd for the school building program is moved automatically to the DPWH. DepEd does not do the construction, it goes to the DPWH, and in that sense, we could say that there are sinister moves in the funds parked in the DPWH,” Puno said. He agreed with lawmakers’ suggestions that the construction of school buildings be handled by local governments. “Many are saying that if you put it in the local government, the gravel is free, and they don’t need to haul it anywhere. And also based on their experience, all local government works are faster because they are only focusing on a specific project,” Puno said. Puno, who is chairman of the National Unity Party, has filed House Resolution 201 calling for an investigation into the alleged sponsors of anomalous and fictitious construction projects in the 2025 national budget. On Friday, the Akbayan Partylist denounced contractors accused of cornering billions in flood control projects while flaunting lavish lifestyles, saying taxpayers’ money should not be squandered on luxury. The group held a protest at St. Gerrard Construction, one of the top 15 contractors that reportedly cornered 20 percent of the flood control projects. The company, owned by Sarah Discaya, recently drew public ire after a television feature revealed her extravagant lifestyle. Deputy Minority Leader Perci Cendaña, who belongs to Akbayan, said contractors such as the Discayas must be held criminally liable. “The widespread uproar and condemnation of such flagrant displays of wealth by the likes of Discaya is deserved. But more than condemnation — they should be charged and jailed for stealing people’s taxes,” Cendaña said. Cendaña commended netizens for helping unearth evidence of corruption, urging the revival of the policy of publishing public officials’ Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth to deter misuse of funds. Student Council Alliance of the Philippines Secretary-General Matthew Silverio also underscored the youth’s anger over the scandal, saying that stolen money could have built classrooms, hired teachers and improved lives. “While millions drown in floods and study in dilapidated schools, contractors drown in luxury,” Silverio said. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. urged to ask Ombudsman to initiate probe on flood control projects. A nongovernmental organization whose founding chairman is Bienvenido “Ben” Tulfo, of the Bitag Media Unlimited, on Friday exhorted President Marcos to ask the Office of the Ombudsman to launch an investigation into the anomalous flood control projects. Tulfo told a press conference in Quezon City an investigation could be fast-tracked if the President would be the one to ask the Ombudsman. He said he sent a letter on Aug. 27 to acting Ombudsman Mariflor Punzalan-Castillo, requesting an “immediate, urgent and honest-to-goodness investigation on what is turning out to be the worst corruption scandal in the country.” “Let the Senate do its own inquiry, but it’s only in aid of legislation and ultimately, whatever it may find out, it would still ask the Ombudsman to investigate whatever they have discovered, so why wait for the senators when the latter can do it by its own?” Tulfo said. The Ombudsman can, on its own, investigate alleged improper official acts or omissions, he said. “Unfortunately, there is a deafening silence, and we are all wondering and asking at the same time why the Ombudsman has never initiated any legal moves about this hot issue which could involve several elected and nonelected government officials,” Tulfo said. He said no less than Secretary Bonoan confirmed that “shameless pocketing of billions and billions of flood control fund has been and still being carried out by unscrupulous individuals masquerading as DPWH directors, engineers and other public officials in conspiracy with politicians who had received pork barrel allocations which were not found in the approved General Appropriations Act.”