October 28, 2025 | 12:05pm
MANILA, Philippines — There are two things that Rep. Kiko Barzaga got wrong in the fire that hit a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) office.
First, he alleged that the fire that gutted the Bureau of Research and Standards destroyed documents linked to the flood control investigation. Second, he claimed that the Marcos administration was behind the blaze.
In a Facebook post on October 22, Barzaga wrote:
DPWH Office Fire destroys evidence linking Martin Romualdez, Sandro Marcos, Arjo Atayde, Roman Romulo, and Jay-Jay Suarez to Flood Control Anomalies.
Later that day, he circulated an image formatted to appear as a “breaking news” report, seemingly attempting it came from a credible news source. The image had the headline:
“Marcos Administration sets fire to DPWH Office to destory Flood Control Anomaly Evidence”
Rating: These are false.
Facts
A day after the fire took place, the DPWH set the record straight that not a single document crucial to the investigation into the anomalous flood control projects was affected.
“Walang dokumento related sa ongoing investigations [ang naapektuhan] at ‘yun din pinaabot ko sa ICI (Independent Commission for Infrastructure) kahapon,” he said at a press conference on October 23.
(No documents related to the ongoing investigations were affected, and that’s also what I relayed to the ICI Independent Commission for Infrastructure yesterday.)
Some documents that were affected, according to Lara Esquibil of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), included manuals, design guidelines, standard specifications, calibration reports, field-testing reports, procurement records of the BRS, inventory reports, training materials, correspondence of requests and the personal files of the bureau’s employees.
She also clarified that the procurement documents only covered the bureau’s equipment and consultant hires. Dizon added that records from district engineers, including those of dismissed Bulacan 1st District official Henry Alcantara, were not affected.
Instead, the affected infrastructure-related documents consisted of project standards used to compare actual work against required specifications.
“Meaning, ‘yung ebidensya para ipakulong ‘yung mga loko loko dito wala doon sa building na ‘yun,” Dizon said. (This means that the evidence needed to prosecute the scammers here was not in that building.
Esquibil also said that all affected documents have been scanned and are “100% backed up” on the DPWH’s online and physical drives.
Undersecretary Arthur Bisnar added that since Dizon assumed leadership in September, the agency has been producing digital copies of all records — starting with flood control documents and extending to files from regional and district offices — to prevent tampering during the ongoing investigation.
As for the fire’s origin, initial reports from the Bureau of Fire Protection and the National Bureau of Investigation point to faulty ceiling wiring or a misused octopus electrical connection.
“Initially, the BFP has given its initial result of its investigation, saying there was an electrical failure in one of the ceilings on the third floor. … So this also corrects the initial information na may computer na sumabog (a computer exploded),” Dizon said, adding that the DPWH found one of the electrical wires had short-circuited.
Why we fact-checked this
Barzaga, a lawmaker from Cavite, has been actively posting against the Marcos Jr. administration since he left the National Unity Party, even attempting to challenge speakership bids in the congressional leadership shake-up. He has also been calling for President Bongbong Marcos’ resignation.
The lawmaker’s posts have drawn tens of thousands of reactions and shares, with several comments from users agreeing with his claims.
Barzaga’s Facebook post claiming that evidence in the flood control probe had been destroyed — while accusing certain lawmakers of involvement in substandard and ghost flood control projects — garnered 43,000 reactions, mostly angry or sad. It also received 10,000 shares and 122 comments.
The second post, which claimed that Marcos was behind the DPWH fire, raked in 35,000 reactions, 3,700 comments and 3,300 shares.
Speculation about the fire’s cause continues, with arson not ruled out. No suspect has been named and posts claiming otherwise are misleading.
The investigation into flood control corruption has so far targeted DPWH officials, contractors and a former lawmaker. Other implicated lawmakers remain under scrutiny as the ICI continues its probe.