(UPDATE) PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said he would create an independent commission that would look into anomalies connected to the government’s flood control projects. “We are putting together the EO (executive order) that will create the independent commission. The independent commission will be the investigative arm so that they will continue to investigate whatever information is received,” Marcos said in a media interview in Pasay City. The chief executive said the commission will make recommendations on how to proceed against liable parties and whether to file cases with the Office of the Ombudsman or the Department of Justice (DOJ). “They will recommend to the executive what to do with certain parties who have been found to be part of all of this corruption that’s been going on, not only in flood control but also in all of the workings within DPWH,” he said. Underscoring the wide scope of the independent commission’s tasks and the sternness of his administration’s commitment to addressing corruption, Marcos said he wants it to be comprised of individuals with diverse backgrounds and expertise. “We haven’t put the structure together yet. But the names... we need forensic investigators; we need, of course, lawyers, justices, (and) prosecutors who will look at the evidence and look at the information that we have, and they will put together that information and make the recommendation to either DOJ or the Ombudsman depending on who is found to be liable for some of these nefarious activities,” he said. Malacañang on Monday said members of the independent commission will undergo strict screening to ensure impartiality and credibility. “This independent commission will be under the executive. They will investigate all documents and complaints and recommend cases to the proper agencies. If government officials are involved, the cases will definitely go to the Ombudsman,” Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said in a media briefing. “Its members must be truly independent and not engage in politics,” she said in Filipino. Time is of the essence in creating the investigative body, given that deliberations for the national government’s 2026 budget have begun. Marcos lamented how more and more irregularities are being uncovered in the course of the investigation, hence the need for intensified efforts to clean up the DPWH. “Unfortunately, the more we look, the more we find. Even in the 2026 budget, there are still many insertions. So, it really needs to be cleaned out properly,” he said. Command responsibility The creation of the commission comes after the resignation of former Public Works secretary Manuel Bonoan in the face of the growing scandal at the DPWH. “Secretary Bonoan, basically, he took responsibility because all of these things happened, all of these problems happened under his watch. So, under the principle of command responsibility, he felt that he should leave his post,” he said. Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon replaced Bonoan. Taking over from Dizon at the DOTr is lawyer Giovanni Lopez. Audits launched Meanwhile, the Commission on Audit (COA) has launched a high-priority, comprehensive performance audit of the government’s flood control projects. The audit was initiated by an Aug. 23, 2025, memo from COA Chairman Gamaliel Cordoba to Director Michael Racelis of the Performance Audit Office (PAO). The subject of the memo, “Conduct of Performance Audit entitled Flood Risk Management and Resiliency Program (FRMRP),” directs the PAO to “prioritize and immediately conduct a performance audit on flood control projects, and submit a report thereon upon completion,” underscoring the need for “immediate and strict compliance.”