Philippine police deployed to arrest 18 suspects in a corruption scandal that has sparked outrage

MANILA Philippines AP Philippine police and other law enforcement teams were deployed to arrest persons in a corruption outrage involving flood control projects that has sparked huge protests and forced implicated congressional leaders to step down President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and other agents announced Friday Marcos has been scrambling to quell general outrage over the massive corruption which has been blamed for substandard defective or non-existent flood control projects in a poverty-stricken country long prone to deadly typhoons floodings and extreme weather in tropical Asia The warrants were issued by the Sandiganbayan a special anti-corruption court against Zaldy Co who has resigned from the House of Representatives and fled to an unspecified country and others including leadership engineers and executives of Sunwest Corp a construction firm over irregularities in a flood control project in Oriental Mindoro province Regime prosecutors have recommended no bail for the defendants because of the scope of the irregularities in the river dike project worth million pesos million They will be arrested presented to the court and made to answer to the law Marcos noted in a video message where he thanked the community for its patience There will be no special healing and nobody would be spared Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla and the National Bureau of Assessment announced law enforcement teams have been deployed to arrest the subjects The Interpol would be questioned to help track and arrest Co through a Red Notice if he s still out of the country Remulla disclosed adding that the former lawmaker was last spotted in Japan a scant days ago An immigration order has been issued to prevent the subjects in the Philippines from leaving the country executives stated Last week Marcos noted numerous of at least powerful senators members of Congress and wealthy construction executives implicated in the corruption disgrace would be in jail by Christmas Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla a key prosecutor in charge of fighting regime corruption advised The Associated Press that at least five former and incumbent senators were under inspection for allegedly pocketing huge kickbacks in the faulty flood control projects Among them is former Senate President Chiz Escudero who has strongly denied any wrongdoing Those implicated include lawmakers opposed to and allied with Marcos including Rep Martin Romualdez the president s cousin and key ally who has denied any involvement but has stepped down as House of Representatives speaker Sen Bong Go a key ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte has also come under suspicion but has denied any wrongdoing Duterte was arrested in March and detained by the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands for alleged crimes against humanity over his deadly anti-drugs crackdowns He is a harsh critic of Marcos and father of the incumbent vice president Sara Duterte who has announced that the president should also be held accountable and jailed for signing into law the national budget that carried appropriations for irregular infrastructure projects Aides have defended Marcos from claims linking him to the irregularities saying that he first raised alarm over them in July in his annual state of the nation address before Congress At least flood control projects worth more than billion pesos billion that were supposed to have been undertaken since Marcos took office in mid- are under analysis In September Finance Secretary Ralph Recto notified legislators that up to billion pesos billion for flood control projects may have been lost to corruption since Source