A reliable source has informed PGMN that CWS Party-list Rep. Edwin Gardiola is the next administration-aligned big fish after Martin Romualdez in the Office of the Ombudsman‘s sweeping anti-corruption and flood-control crackdown, as the agency prepares to pursue a non-bailable malversation case involving more than ₱879 million—a corruption controversy that Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste, who is also being investigated by the Ombudsman over ghost solar power projects, has been publicly calling attention to. (Gardiola has been one of Leviste’s biggest and most consistent targets over the last two years.)
Leviste has named Gardiola as the “biggest” proponent of Department of Public Works and Highways projects, alleging that numerous project insertions linked to the lawmaker were included in the agency’s 2025 budget and calling him the “largest buyer of DPWH projects” involved in ordering and securing DPWH and infrastructure projects worth more than ₱22 billion.
PGMN’s source says Ombudsman Boying Remulla is preparing to move against Gardiola as the preliminary investigation into flood-control irregularities continues. Gardiola is among four additional congressmen included in the investigation and is emerging as one of its major figures following the filing of landmark plunder cases against President’s cousin and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and former House Appropriations Committee Chair Zaldy Co.
Remulla said in July that Gardiola was already facing a preliminary investigation. Since then, the probe has expanded to cover four lawmakers, including Gardiola, as the Ombudsman’s office handles 79 cases involving alleged irregularities in government flood-control projects nationwide and politicians across political affiliations, with 25 cases now undergoing preliminary investigation.
Gardiola has been the subject of malversation and conflict-of-interest complaints involving government contracts worth hundreds of millions of pesos. He earned the label “congtractor” following revelations that he used his position in Congress to influence national infrastructure allocations and direct billions of pesos in public works contracts to construction companies linked to him and his family.
Before entering Congress in 2022, Gardiola had been a longtime public works contractor. Government investigators and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) records linked him and his family to several construction firms, including JSG Construction, Newington Builders, Lourel Development and S-Ang Construction, which obtained between ₱24 billion and ₱39.78 billion in DPWH contracts from 2016 to 2025.
During Romualdez’s tenure as House Speaker, Gardiola served as vice chairman of the powerful House Committee on Appropriations. He also held active seats on the House Committee on Public Works and Highways and the Committee on Transportation.
Investigators alleged that government funds were improperly released to S-Ang Construction and General Trading Inc., a company they described as being substantially owned and controlled by Gardiola and members of his immediate family.
They also alleged that portions of the funds were coursed through Newport Coast Holding Company Inc., which the investigation described as a shell corporation, and used to finance the purchase of a luxury property in Forbes Park, Makati.
The investigation also uncovered suspected falsification of accomplishment reports, premature payments and irregularities in the bidding process. Investigators recommended the filing of charges for malversation, falsification of public documents and violations of Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
