Davao City Rep. Paolo "Pulong" Duterte publicly opposed the proposal to make Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez a state witness in the multibillion-peso flood control scandal, calling it the "biggest joke of the century" and likening it to a "crocodile testifying against crocodiles." Malacañang Press Officer Claire Castro clarified that the final decision rests with the Department of Justice (DOJ), dependent on the value of Romualdez's disclosures to the ongoing probe by the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).