MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Most flood control projects, road and other infrastructure projects built in a Philippine province near the capital in the last six years were substandard or overpriced to compensate for huge kickbacks given to congressmen and senators, a televised Senate inquiry was told on Tuesday.
The allegation was made by two former government engineers who helped oversee the works since 2019 in Bulacan, one of the country's most flood-prone provinces with more than 3.7 million people.
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Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairperson Senate Blue Ribbon committee speaks during investigations on flood-control projects in Pasay city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Former DPWH District Engineer Henry Alcantara talks during investigations on flood-control projects at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in Pasay city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Private contractors Pacifico Discaya, left, and wife Sarah talk during a break on investigations on flood-control projects at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in Pasay city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Former DPWH Engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez, third from left, speaks during investigations on flood-control projects at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in Pasay city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Former DPWH Engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez speaks during investigations on flood-control projects at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in Pasay city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
The sworn statements made by Brice Ericson Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee further deepen a corruption scandal involving mostly flood control projects which have sparked public outrage and protests in the capital region over the weekend.
On Sunday, police quelled a rampage by black-clad demonstrators, who hurled rocks, bottles and firebombs at anti-riot police and burned a container van barricade near the presidential palace in Manila. More than 200 people were arrested during the disturbances in which 100 law enforcers were injured.
Newly designated Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon separately said in a news conference Wednesday that an internal investigation found another 10 regional officials and engineers in his department who either have “lavish lifestyles beyond their means,” like traveling in private jets, or were implicated in infrastructure anomalies.
“The gravity of the problem is unthinkable,” Dizon said.
Under questioning by senators, Hernandez alleged that since 2019, infrastructure projects in Bulacan province have not been built according to approved specifications. Cheaper and longer-drying cement and low-quality construction materials were used to cover kickbacks, usually about 20% of the project cost or higher, for corrupt legislators and officials, he claimed.
“Not one of the specifications in the plans were followed,” Hernandez said. “All of those were not met.”
When asked by Sen. Erwin Tulfo if Bulacan schools and hospitals could crumble in a strong earthquake because of the anomalies, Mendoza said government buildings were built in Bulacan based on approved specifications, but that construction costs were bloated to compensate for the kickbacks.
Manuel Bonoan, whose recent resignation as Public Works secretary was accepted by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., told the inquiry he was unaware of the irregularities.
"This is the first time that I have heard about all these shenanigans,” Bonoan said when asked by senators to comment.
Hernandez and Mendoza have been dismissed from the Public Works Department's district office in Bulacan after acknowledging their role in the anomalies. Both have been accused of using huge kickbacks they pocketed to finance expensive lifestyles.
The pair are facing criminal complaints and have sought government protection in exchange for their disclosures against powerful legislators and politicians.
Hernandez and Mendoza also backed a statement by their former superior, engineer Henry Alcantara, who told the inquiry on Tuesday that legislator Rep. Zaldy Co received kickbacks from them through the legislator’s representatives in two hotels and in his upscale residence.
Co, an ally of Marcos, said the allegations against him were “false and baseless” and added that he would answer them before the proper forum.
Several House legislators, two senators and other public officials have been identified and implicated in the largescale corruption but have denied any wrongdoing.
As well as claims of existing substandard infrastructure, other flood-control projects have been reported as completed but allegedly were non-existent, including one Marcos said he discovered during a recent personal inspection in Bulacan, a notoriously flood-prone province.
The president first highlighted the flood-control corruption scandal in July in his annual state of the nation speech. He later established an independent commission to investigate what he said were anomalies in many of the 9,855 flood-control projects worth more than 545 billion pesos ($9.5 billion) that were supposed to have been undertaken since he took office in mid-2022.
Marcos has described the alleged scale of corruption as “horrible.”
Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairperson Senate Blue Ribbon committee speaks during investigations on flood-control projects in Pasay city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Former DPWH District Engineer Henry Alcantara talks during investigations on flood-control projects at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in Pasay city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Private contractors Pacifico Discaya, left, and wife Sarah talk during a break on investigations on flood-control projects at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in Pasay city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Former DPWH Engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez, third from left, speaks during investigations on flood-control projects at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in Pasay city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Former DPWH Engineer Brice Ericson Hernandez speaks during investigations on flood-control projects at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in Pasay city, Philippines on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A Navy admiral told lawmakers Thursday that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but grave questions and concerns remain as Congress scrutinizes an attack that killed two survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters near Venezuela.
Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley “was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, as he exited a classified briefing.
While Cotton, R-Ark., defended the attack, Democrats who were also briefed and saw video of the survivors being killed questioned the Trump administration’s rationale and said the boat strike was deeply concerning.
“The order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Smith, who is demanding further investigation, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water.”
Lawmakers want a full accounting after The Washington Post reported that Bradley on Sept. 2 ordered an attack on the survivors to comply with a directive from Hegseth to “kill everybody.” Legal experts say the attack amounts to a crime if the survivors were targeted.
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American Oversight said Thursday that it filed its lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., because the Defense Department and Justice Department failed to provide records sought under the Freedom of Information Act.
“According to experts, if survivors of the initial strike were killed as reported, such conduct could amount to a war crime,” a copy of the lawsuit released by the nonprofit watchdog stated.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is challenging the authority of an acting U.S. attorney in Albany who is investigating her.
Her lawyers argue John Sarcone’s appointment was improper, making subpoenas he issued invalid.
A court hearing Thursday centered on Sarcone’s role in investigating cases against Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association.
James’ attorney Hailyn Chen argued that the subpoenas are invalid due to the improper way Sarcone was placed in the position by U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. In response to a question from U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield, Chen said Sarcone should be disqualified from the investigation and the office.
Justice Department lawyers say Sarcone was appointed properly and the subpoenas should stand. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Belliss argued that disqualifying Sarcone would be “drastic and extreme.”
Schofield did not say when she would rule.
Trump said the United States was signing bilateral agreements with the Congo and Rwanda that will unlock new opportunities for the United States to access critical minerals. The deals will benefit all three nations’ economies.
“And we’ll be involved with sending some of our biggest and greatest U.S. companies over to the two countries,” Trump said. He added, “Everybody’s going to make a lot of money.”
The region, rich in critical minerals, has been of interest to Trump as Washington looks for ways to circumvent China to acquire rare earths, essential to manufacturing fighter jets, cellphones and more. China accounts for nearly 70% of the world’s rare earth mining and controls roughly 90% of global rare earths processing.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday she planned to discuss trade and the remaining tariffs on imports from Mexico with Trump on the sidelines of the draw for the 2026 World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The Mexican leader said she would also meet with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The three countries are co-hosting next summer’s soccer tournament.
“Everything appears to indicate that we are going to have a small meeting” with Trump, Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing Thursday. She had announced Wednesday that she would be attending the event.
It will Sheinbaum’s first face-to-face meeting with Trump. She said she wants to advance negotiations over tariffs on automobiles, steel and aluminum. among other things.
The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services panel is calling on the Pentagon to release video of a U.S. attack that killed two survivors of a strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters earlier this year.
Reed and the other leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services and intelligence panels viewed the video at classified briefings by top national security officials in the Capitol on Thursday. He said afterward that the Pentagon should release the video and also the legal opinion authorizing the strike in waters near Venezuela.
“The video will I think answer all of the questions that are floating around and the legal opinion will provide the justification for the general operation,” Reed said.
Republicans and Democrats have vowed to investigate the incident. Reed said the video was disturbing but declined to provide any additional details.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said even without a direct verbal command from Hegseth or anyone else to “kill them all” the order for the mission was to kill those on board.
“Admiral Bradley was very clear that he did not say ‘kill them all.’ However, there were 11 people on that boat, and the order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” Smith told the AP.
He described the video showing “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”
The Trump administration has instructed U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to prioritize visa applications from foreigners wishing to visit the United States to either invest in America or attend the 2026 World Cup, 2028 Olympics and other major sporting events.
The administration also has added new criteria for highly skilled foreign workers seeking a particular visa.
The new rules would deny entry to applicants deemed to have directed or participated in the censorship of American citizens on social media through content moderation initiatives that have sprung up throughout Europe and elsewhere to combat extremist speech.
The steps were outlined in cables sent this week to all U.S. diplomatic missions and obtained by The Associated Press.
“No one was asking President Trump to take up this task. Our region is far from the headlines,” said Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the signing ceremony. “But when the president saw the opportunity to contribute to peace, he immediately took it.”
Dan Bongino, the deputy director of the FBI, said authorities identified Brian Cole Jr. as a suspect in the Washington, D.C., pipe bomb case based on the FBI’s investigation.
“This was not a new public tip that this came from,” Bongino said. “This was our own internal work at the FBI.”
Brian Cole has been charged with use of an explosive device.
“We were going to track this person to the end of the earth. There was no way he was getting away,” Bongino said.
No attorney information was yet available and attempts to reach family and a cellphone listed as Cole’s were not answered.
The long-running bromance between the U.S. president and Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, is still going strong. Trump nodded to Infantino at the DRC-Rwanda peace deal signing, calling him a “great leader in sports and a great gentleman.”
Infantino is in town ahead of the World Cup draw on Friday. The event is being held at the Kennedy Center, or the “Trump Kennedy Center,” as the president called it.
“Oh, excuse me — at the Kennedy Center,” Trump jokingly corrected himself. “Pardon me, such a terrible mistake.”
Trump also said ticket sales for next year’s World Cup, which the U.S. is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, have broken records.
“I can report to you that we have sold more tickets than any country, anywhere in the world at this stage of the game,” he said.
FIFA said late last month that nearly two million tickets had been purchased during two phases of ticket sales. The third phase begins Dec. 11.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau and Department of Justice brought in a new team of investigators and experts to sift through existing evidence and chase down leads. He said that was, “Something the prior administration failed to do.”
Patel went on to call the arrest “flawless,” saying no officers were hurt taking down what he characterized as a dangerous suspect.
“We solved it. He will have his day in court,” Patel said.
Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda are signing a deal aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening access to the region’s critical minerals.
Tshisekedi offered a hopeful message about the precarious peace.
“I do believe this day is the beginning of a new path, a demanding path, yes. Indeed, quite difficult,” Tshisekedi said. “But this is a path where peace will not just be a wish, an aspiration, but a turning point.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi says a man named Brian Coles Jr. was arrested Thursday in with the Jan. 5, 2021, pipe bombs left outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Cole is charged with use of an explosive device, Bondi said during a news conference. She said the investigation is still underway, and more charges could be filed in the future.
“As we speak, search warrants are being executed,” Bondi said.
Trump celebrated a peace agreement between the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda on Thursday by praising the building hosting the event.
“It’s a spectacular building and we all appreciate it,” Trump said. His administration is involved in a court battle over the think tank.
The State Department on Wednesday said that it renamed it as the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.
“Thank you for putting a certain name on that,” Trump said to Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the event. “That blew up last night.”
The White House is expected to submit plans for its new ballroom to a planning commission later this month, the Trump-appointed head of the panel said Thursday.
“Once plans are submitted, that’s really when the role of this commission, and its professional staff, will begin,” Will Scharf, the chair of the National Capital Planning Commission, said.
In Fairfax, Virginia, federal agents gathered outside an office marked “Brian Cole Bail Bonds,” its entrance wrapped in yellow crime-scene tape that flicked in the afternoon wind.
A man in an FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force jacket stood near the entrance, conferring with local officers who were guarding the building.
The business shares the suspect’s name. In public records, it appears to be associated with members of his family, though authorities have not detailed the connection.
The Republican and Democratic leaders on the Senate Armed Services Committee offered diverging takeaways from the Pentagon inspector general report on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal to share sensitive information.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chair, said in a statement that Hegseth “acted within his authority to communicate the information in question to other cabinet level officials.”
But Wicker said that senior leaders also need more tools to share classified information “in real time and a variety of environments.”
Sen. Jack Reed of Oregon, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said Hegseth violated military regulations and showed “reckless disregard for the safety American servicemembers.”
Reed said in his statement that anyone else would have faced “severe consequences, including potential prosecution.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to have a brief meeting with Trump while at the Kennedy Center in Washington for the World Cup draw Friday.
Carney’s spokesperson Audrey Champoux says Carney will also have a brief meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
The United States, Canada and Mexico are hosting the 64-nation World Cup next year.
A Navy admiral has told lawmakers that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
That disclosure Thursday comes as Congress scrutinizes an attack that killed two survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters near Venezuela.
Sen. Tom Cotton told reporters about what he heard from Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley in classified briefing and Cotton is defending the attack. But a Democratic lawmaker who was also briefed says he’s deeply concerned by video of the second strike
The Pentagon inspector general’s report released Thursday criticized the use of unapproved messaging apps and devices across the department.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had the authority to declassify the material he shared with others in a Signal chat, the watchdog found. But it also says the release of details about the strike on Houthi militants in Yemen violated internal Pentagon rules about handling sensitive information that could put service members or their missions in danger.
The report noted that the information that Hegseth sent — the quantity and strike times of manned U.S. aircraft over hostile territory about two hours to four hours before those strikes — “created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots.”
Hegseth wrote on social media: “No classified information. Total exoneration. Case closed. Houthis bombed into submission.”
The South Carolina Republican told reporters during a virtual news conference on Thursday that she’s going to finish her term but is “100%” frustrated with the slow pace of the House.
Mace was asked about reporting by The New York Times that she is looking to meet with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to discuss following the lead of the Georgia Republican, who has announced she’s leaving Congress in January.
Mace said she’s expressed her frustrations to House Speaker Mike Johnson, whom she supports and said she expects to outlast recent criticism of his management of the House.
Mace, first elected in 2020, is seeking the GOP nomination for South Carolina governor in next year’s elections and is not expected to run for another House term.
Protesters held signs that read “No Collaboration with ICE/DHS” and begged city leaders to create “ICE-Free zones” during a City Council meeting Thursday. It was the second day of a federal immigration enforcement operation in the city.
After public comment was suspended, and protesters refused to yield their time at the podium, City Council members paused the meeting and left the room.
As protesters chanted “Shame,” city police officers ordered them to leave the building. While some protesters complied, multiple others were pushed or physically carried out by officers.
Trump administration lawyers on Thursday accused plaintiffs of “throwing in the towel” with “procedural gamesmanship” after they moved to dismiss their lawsuit over the aggressive tactics of federal immigration officers in the Chicago area.
The coalition of protesters and journalists behind the suit called the dismissal a victory, saying the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” had largely wound down. But the case was on its way to a skeptical appeals court that had already frozen an order limiting agents’ use of force.
“The moment they have to explain themselves to an appellate court, they run for the hills,” said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer says a bill Democrats will bring to the Senate floor for a vote next week would allow for a three-year extension of enhanced health insurance subsidies set to expire at the end of this year.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune promised Democrats a vote on a proposal of their choosing as part of a path forward to ending the historic, 43-day government shutdown earlier this fall.
Schumer said every Democrat will support the bill. It’s most likely to fail, though.
“Republicans have one week to decide where they stand. Vote for this bill and bring health care costs down or block this bill and send premiums skyrocketing,” Schumer said.
A White House official said Trump would be making the trip Tuesday to discuss ending the inflation crisis he says was inherited from his predecessor, Joe Biden. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the trip hasn’t been formally announced. It wasn’t immediately clear where in Pennsylvania Trump would be visiting.
Last month’s off-year elections showed a shift away from Republicans as public concerns about affordability persist. White House officials said afterward that Trump — who has done relatively few events domestically — would put a greater emphasis on talking directly to the public about his economic policies.
The president has said that any affordability worries are part of a Democratic “hoax” and that people simply need to hear his perspective to change their minds — an approach also embraced by Biden, who in early 2024 went to the Pennsylvania borough of Emmaus to take credit for economic improvements after inflation spiked in 2022.
— Josh Boak
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U.S. Navy Adm. Frank M. Bradley, accompanied by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, right, walks to a meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump speaks during an event on fuel economy standards in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
