From Debt to Durability
From Debt to Durability: Integrating Magalong's Role in Philippine Governance Reform
by Amiel Roldan
September 14, 2025
The Philippines faces an acute governance crisis: a ₱15.589 trillion national debt, a projected ₱1.712 trillion budget deficit in 2025, and rampant ghost flood-control schemes siphoning up to 20 percent of public funds. Recent events—from high-level graft charges to the creation of specialized investigation bodies—underscore both the depth of structural rot and the momentum for reform. This essay weaves in the latest presidential actions, notably the launch of Executive Order No. 94 and the designation of Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong as special adviser, aligning policy proposals with on-the-ground shifts to chart a path toward accountable, resilient governance.
1. Fiscal Fragility Meets Sovereign Risk
Despite efforts to manage borrowing, the government's debt load hit a record ₱17.56 trillion in July 2025, surpassing targets and amplifying concerns over fiscal sustainability. International partners have taken notice: South Korea suspended a ₱28.7 billion development loan pending verification of corruption risks in Philippine projects. These signals erode investor confidence and risk imposing higher borrowing costs, compounding the urgency of domestic reforms.
2. The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) and Magalong's Advisership
On September 11, 2025, President Marcos signed Executive Order No. 94, creating the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to investigate alleged corruption, irregularities, and misuse of funds in flood-control and related projects over the last decade. The ICI is empowered to receive complaints, conduct hearings, issue subpoenas, and recommend prosecutions or administrative sanctions to the Office of the Ombudsman, the Department of Justice, and other bodies.
To bolster investigative rigor, the President named former Public Works Secretary Rogelio "Babes" Singson and SGV & Co. partner Rossana Fajardo as commission members, and tapped Mayor Benjamin Magalong as a special adviser—leveraging his law-enforcement background and reformist reputation to guide fact-finding efforts and ensure operational independence. Magalong's involvement signals a shift toward expert-driven probes insulated from political interference, while regular public reporting requirements embed transparency at the commission's core.
3. Administrative and Judicial Crackdown
Concurrently, the Department of Public Works and Highways filed non-bailable graft and malversation charges against 24 officials and contractors implicated in anomalous flood-control works. Secretary Vince Dizon ordered courtesy resignations from all DPWH personnel, permanently blacklisted implicated firms, and referred cases to the Ombudsman for life-imprisonment prosecutions. This multi-front assault translates audit findings into concrete accountability and underscores the administration's gap between detection and enforcement.
4. Civil Society and Faith-Based Mobilization
Grassroots and faith communities have amplified institutional actions. A coalition of 30 business and civic organizations demanded an independent probe into systemic corruption, citing audit revelations that thousands of flood-control schemes were substandard or non-existent and that 15 contractors cornered 20 percent of funds. The Philippine Jesuits called for nationwide investigations, the passage of the Information Act, and an expanded Whistleblower Protection Law—emphasizing that infrastructure integrity is inseparable from wider political transparency.
5. Legislative Responses: IPC and Related Bills
In the Senate, Minority Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III filed Senate Bill No. 1215 to create an Independent People's Commission (IPC) with a retired justice, a forensic accountant, a civil engineer, an NGO representative, and an academic. The IPC would investigate anomalies across all public works, recommend charges, and publish findings, enshrining permanent expert oversight within the constitution. Complementing EO 94, the IPC ensures continuity beyond ad hoc commissions and aligns with calls for institutionalized accountability.
6. Reinforcing Laws
While new bodies form, existing statutes require urgent recalibration:
- RA 3019 (Anti-Graft Act): Mandate binding corrective actions on COA findings within 90 days, with automatic referral to prosecutorial agencies for non-compliance.
- RA 9184 (Procurement Law): Require geo-tagged, video-verified progress milestones before tranche releases, embedding digital proof of work.
- RA 11364 (Whistleblower Protection): Expand confidentiality guarantees, financial rewards tied to recovered assets, and guaranteed legal counsel to deter delay and intimidation.
These amendments strengthen transparency frameworks already familiar to agencies, closing loopholes that enable ghost projects.
7. Driving Civic Participation and Counter-Archives
Legal reforms gain force when citizens co-create oversight:
- The “Sumbong sa Pangulo” portal logged over 12,000 complaints on infrastructure anomalies in its first month.
- Universities and civic-tech innovators can build counter-archives combining geotagged photos, annotated budget logs, oral histories, and interactive maps of project sites.
- Mobile reporting apps integrated with COA and DPWH dashboards enable real-time anomaly detection and community verification.
These digital memory infrastructures resist erasure and make it harder for patronage networks to mask malfeasance.
8. Cultivating Ethical Leadership and Accountability
Laws alone cannot guarantee integrity without cultural shifts:
- Elected officials and senior civil servants should sign "Integrity Pledges" committing to lifestyle audits, full disclosure of interests, and independent performance evaluations.
- Committee assignments and leadership roles must hinge on ethical standing, with automatic reassignment or suspension upon credible misconduct allegations.
- The Office of the President can release monthly ICI updates, reinforcing norms of transparency cascading through executive and legislative branches.
Leadership by example bridges the law-practice divide, making accountability an honor rather than a burden.
9. Bridging Reform and Resilience
A reformed governance architecture yields dividends across multiple fronts:
- Transparent flood-control management reduces disaster risk and builds climate resilience.
- Participatory budgeting and public oversight foster social cohesion and co-stewardship of public goods.
- Swift asset recovery through an Asset Forfeiture Court returns critical funds to healthcare, education, and disaster preparedness.
Aligning institutional reform with community engagement and ethical leadership transforms a crisis of confidence into a renaissance of democratic practice.
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By integrating EO 94's independent commission under Magalong's advisership with administrative crackdowns, legislative innovation, and civic-tech initiatives, the Philippines can convert specters of corruption into scaffolds for systemic change. In this synergy—between commission and citizen, law and leadership, memory and mechanism—the path from brittle governance to durable institutions becomes clear.
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Amiel Gerald Roldan
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Amiel Gerald A. Roldan: a multidisciplinary Filipino artist, poet, researcher, and cultural worker whose practice spans painting, printmaking, photography, installation, academic writing, and trauma-informed mythmaking. He is deeply rooted in cultural memory, postcolonial critique, and speculative cosmology, and in bridging creative practice with scholarly infrastructure—building counter-archives, annotating speculative poetry like Southeast Asian manuscripts, and fostering regional solidarity through ethical collaboration.
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