Residents of Antique filed five complaints on July 16 before the Office of the Ombudsman against public officials and executives of major construction firms, alleging environmental, procurement, graft, and land law violations linked to billions of pesos worth of public infrastructure projects.
The complaints stem from infrastructure projects undertaken between 2019 and 2025, including flood control works that the complainants allege damaged marine ecosystems, agricultural lands and Indigenous ancestral domains.
They are seeking administrative sanctions, including the removal from office of government officials accused of violating environmental and other laws.
The respondents include current and former officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Region VI, the DPWH Antique Engineering District, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Region VI, as well as executives of several construction firms involved in the projects.
Among those named are businessman Zaldy Co of Sunwest Inc., Alfonso Tan of International Builders Corp., Rep. Jojo Ang Jr. of Allencon Development Corp., and officials of A.M. Oreta & Co. and J.E. Tico Construction Co.
The complaints were supported by the Amlig Antique Alliance, a non-partisan environmental and civic advocacy group, which said the complainants requested that their identities be withheld “for security reasons.”
According to the alliance, the projects resulted in “the complete burial of critical, documented marine turtle nesting habitats and the severe degradation of vital fish sanctuaries in San Jose and Bugasong.”
It also alleged that “massive soil erosion has triggered severe siltation across rivers, creeks, and agricultural farmlands in Pandan, Laua-an, Valderrama, and San Remigio,” and cited “unlawful construction and operations cutting directly into the protected Ancestral Domains of the Iraynon-Bukidnon indigenous communities.”
The alliance also questioned what it described as the failure of national agencies to act on earlier complaints.
It said the DPWH secretary has yet to act on a petition for investigation filed by Amlig on May 8, 2026, involving at least ₱7 billion worth of infrastructure projects across Antique.
The alliance said “the Secretary’s ongoing non-action severely undermines the national government’s supposed effort to cleanse the ranks of the DPWH. It deepens the people’s anger and further erodes public trust.”
The group also criticized the Commission on Audit for what it described as five months of inaction after receiving a request for a special audit on Feb. 9, 2026.
According to the group, the request followed the issuance by the DENR-EMB of revocations of Environmental Compliance Certificates and Certificates of Non-Coverage, as well as cease-and-desist orders affecting the projects.
The alliance also called on Sen. Loren Legarda to publicly address the issue, saying, “We call on Senator Legarda to finally break her silence on the devastation these projects have brought to the province she claims to champion.”
It said similar appeals had been directed at Antique Gov. Paolo Javier and Rep. Antonio Legarda, whom it accused of remaining silent on the environmental concerns surrounding the projects.
The group said the Ombudsman complaints were filed after residents exhausted what it described as peaceful and democratic means of seeking government action, including sending formal letters, filing petitions, and holding public demonstrations in San Jose.
“The citizens of Antique have done everything right, yet our leaders have chosen to remain completely silent. We do not deserve this abandonment,” the group said.
