Senate creates Blue Ribbon Subcommittee on flood control under Marcoleta, hearings resume June 4

Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano announced on Friday, May 29, 2026, that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee will spin off a dedicated subcommittee on flood control, to be chaired by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, with the first hearing set for June 4, 2026. The structure formalizes a separate evidentiary track for the flood control kickback probe within the chamber, apart from the parent committee's broader docket. The subcommittee inherits the line of inquiry the Senate has run since 2025 around DPWH budget insertions, the Bernardo and Alcantara sworn testimony, and the Romualdez ledger framing. The arrangement places Marcoleta in the lead role on flood control even as he himself faces a separate Ombudsman plunder complaint over P75 million in undeclared campaign donations, with a precautionary hold-departure order from the Sandiganbayan Seventh Division in force since May 26, 2026. Cayetano framed the move as continuing chamber scrutiny under the reshuffled Senate leadership that took shape after the May 2025 elections. Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Marcoleta were named Blue Ribbon vice chairs on May 25, 2026, then days later both became flood control respondents themselves: Estrada was indicted on plunder, two graft counts, and bribery on May 28 and posted graft bail on May 29; Marcoleta is the subject of the May 22 Ombudsman preliminary investigation order on the P75 million SOCE plunder complaint. The conflict-of-interest framing was raised across the press on May 29 through 31; the Senate Secretariat had not published a formal resolution or full subcommittee roster at the time of filing.