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MANILA: The Philippines is preparing a new jail that may soon house numerous powerful politicians, as authorities estimate that about 200 people, including officials, could be indicted in connection with a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal involving flood control projects.

Public outrage has grown since August in the Philippines, as investigators uncovered massive fund misappropriation in flood prevention and mitigation projects.

An audit ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. found in August that out of the 545 billion pesos ($9.32 billion) allocated to the projects since 2022, thousands of projects were found to be substandard, lacking proper documentation, or nonexistent.

In an effort to quell public anger over the scandal that has implicated a number of powerful political figures, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla led the media earlier this week on a tour of a detention facility in metropolitan Manila, which could take in hundreds of detainees.

“We assume that the first round of indictments will come in the next few weeks … In my estimate … I believe around 200 people could be included in the flood control scandal cases,” he told reporters.

“I just want to show that the BJMP (Bureau of Jail Management and Penology) is ready, that our facilities are prepared, and that we will not back down from our duty to fulfill our responsibility as the agency in charge of all jails in the Philippines.”

The Philippines has one of the world’s most overcrowded prisons, with some estimates putting current overcapacity at around 362 percent.

The Sandiganbayan, a special anti-graft court for government officials, is expected to begin indictments soon, as investigators continue to build cases against those allegedly involved in the corrupt projects.

“If those who steal a small amount and shoplift lotion are imprisoned here, those who steal billions, in my opinion, should also be detained here … The rules of the jail will apply to the rich and to the poor the same,” Remulla said.

Jayrex Bustinera, spokesperson and jail superintendent at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, told Arab News that there are 80 vacant cells in the jail, which is located in Quezon City.

“Each cell has a capacity of a maximum of 10 people. So that’s around 800 vacancies for that facility,” he said.

The cells include bunk beds, a shared bathroom, toilet, shower and purified drinking water. Similar to other detention centers, cellphones, computers and other communication gadgets are prohibited.

“Even if an accused is a politician, high government official, a contractor or anyone … There are no special cells, there’s no special design for that, and we will not construct anything just to accommodate their needs. It is what it is,” Bustinera said.

Corruption emerged as one of the main national concerns among Filipinos for the first time in four years, according to a survey released by OCTA Research earlier this month.

During a Senate hearing in early September, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto estimated that economic losses due to corruption in flood control projects averaged $2.1 billion annually from 2023 to 2025, mainly due to ghost projects.

The findings have ignited public outrage, with activists, former Cabinet members, Catholic church leaders, retired generals and anti-corruption watchdogs organizing numerous protests and calling for sweeping criminal prosecution.

YANGON: SpaceX has cut service to more than 2,500 Starlink devices at Myanmar scam centers, a company executive said Wednesday, after reports revealed that their use had exploded in the illicit industry.
Sprawling compounds where Internet tricksters target foreigners with romance and business cons have thrived along Myanmar’s loosely-governed border during its civil war, sparked by a 2021 coup.
A highly-publicized crackdown starting in February saw some 7,000 workers repatriated and Thailand enact a cross-border Internet blockade.
But an AFP investigation this month revealed construction has continued apace, while Starlink receivers have been installed en masse, seeming to connect the hubs to the Elon Musk-owned satellite network.
SpaceX’s vice president of Starlink business operations, Lauren Dreyer, said the company “disabled over 2,500 Starlink Kits in the vicinity of suspected ‘scam centers’” in Myanmar.
Her post on X did not outline when the terminals were disconnected.
Myanmar’s military announced this week it had raided KK Park — one of the country’s most notorious scam centers — and seized 30 Starlink satellite Internet terminals.
Those are only a tiny fraction of the number used at the site, according to AFP’s investigation as well as independent analysis.
An AFP journalist on Wednesday saw more than 1,000 people traveling away from the site on foot, by motorbike and crammed into pickup trucks.
One departing KK Park worker said the crackdown was ongoing.
“Around 10:00 a.m. Myanmar military soldiers in four trucks arrived to our site,” said one worker who declined to give his name for security reasons.
The scam centers have emerged as a key plank in the wartime economy of Myanmar, where the military has been fighting an array of rebel groups since seizing power.
Frustrated that Chinese citizens were ring-leading scams, being trafficked into the hubs and defrauded by them, Beijing in February led the pressure campaign to curb the booming black market.
The junta relies on military backing from China to maintain its grip on power.
But it also relies on powerful militias controlling the border regions on their behalf, in return for profiting from the scam centers, analysts say.
“They need to be able to enrich those militias,” said Nathan Ruser, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “But then they also have the pressure from China.”
The result is a “balancing act,” he said, with the junta “tokenistically” taking action “while actually not doing anything.”