The mother of 3-year-old Christian Candido Paz, the Olongapo toddler who died after being swept away by floodwaters, has shared the devastating aftermath of losing her only son as the family continues to mourn.
In a series of Facebook posts, Ghem Candido wrote that she had barely been able to sleep or eat properly for two days because she could not stop thinking about Christian.
“Nak, 2 days na ’ko ’di nakakatulog at nakakakain nang ayos dahil ikaw lagi kitang iniisip. I love you so much, nak,” she wrote.
In another post, Candido described desperately wanting to hug and kiss her son but being unable to bear seeing him in the condition in which he was found. She wrote of the unbearable pain of losing her only boy.
Christian was swept away after powerful floodwaters entered their home in Olongapo. His body was recovered a day later. His family has since launched a donation drive to help cover expenses following his death.
Christian’s death comes as former House Speaker Martin Romualdez faces a mountain of complaints before the Ombudsman—plunder, direct and indirect bribery, violations of the Anti‑Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and money laundering tied to the ₱56‑billion flood‑control kickback scheme. Investigators accuse Romualdez, ex‑Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, and their allies of siphoning ill‑gotten wealth from 2022 to 2025 through diversion and misuse of public funds.
Romualdez festers at the rotten core of a corruption scandal that dragged Congress into depths of greed the Philippines had never witnessed—while mothers like Glem bury their children and countless flood victims suffer under stolen budgets, casualties of a system of plunder built and sustained by the country’s most corrupt politician.
The scale of the scandal is no longer measured only in government budgets, contracts, investigations, or numbers on paper.
Families are losing their homes. Communities are going underwater. Children are dying.
And after the billions spent, the projects questioned, the investigations launched, and the devastation Filipinos continue to endure, Martin Romualdez still isn’t in jail.
PGMN has attempted to remain courageous and defiant in the face of the over 80 counts/lawsuits Romualdez has filed, fully aware that the whole thing is the former Speaker’s desperate attempt to silence the organization as he currently finds himself in the most vulnerable position of his life. Since declaring war against him 9 weeks ago, PGMN has published 1,671 posts about Romualdez—clearly and honestly exposing him precisely for what he is: the most corrupt Filipino politician of the 21st century.
The barrage has since generated approximately 200 million views across all platforms and is now the most viral anti-corruption campaign against a single person in the history of Philippine social media.
