Rogelio Singson vs. The Apex Predator: Spoiler — The Canary Lost

A Fable of Floods, Suitcases, and the Family Business

By Louis “Barok” C. Biraogo — December 8, 2025

I. The Retirement Party That Wasn’t

A 77-year-old man walks into a press conference carrying the corpse of his own credibility.

Rogelio Singson, the last surviving adult in the Marcos anti-corruption cosplay, announces he’s quitting the Independent Commission for Infrastructure because—get this—his blood pressure can’t handle the hypocrisy anymore.

Somewhere in the background, a suitcase bursts open and ₱100 billion in crisp bills rolls across the floor like confetti at a kleptocrat’s birthday party.

Happy retirement, Babes. The canary has left the coal mine. The gas is now officially free to kill the rest of us.

***“Break the washer or keep wearing the same dirty cash—your call, Philippines.”***

II. The Central, Damning Irony

Singson spent his last days in the ICI pleading:

“Focus on the top, not the small fry.”

Beautiful words.
Until you realize the “top” is the same palace that created the commission, pays its bills, and can dissolve it with a phone call.
The hunter cannot hunt the lion when the lion signs his paycheck.
Singson didn’t resign because his heart gave out.
He resigned because the top finally looked back at him.

III. The “Small Fry” Doctrine: Hypocrisy in High Definition

Let us praise Singson’s logic for a moment — it sounds noble:

Why waste time on clerks and district engineers when the real sharks swim in Malacañang and the House of Representatives?

Now let us demolish it.

In this regime, “focusing on the top” is a euphemism for doing absolutely nothing, because the ICI has no subpoena power, no contempt power, no witness protection worth the name. It is a commission of suggestions, not summons.
Singson himself dismissed Zaldy Co’s allegations as “hearsay” because the accuser won’t appear in person. Translation: Focus on the top — but not THAT top.
The “small fry” he calls “collateral damage” are not fish. They are Filipino engineers, contractors, taxpayers — people whose lives are destroyed so that the apex predators can buy another yacht.

Tell me, Mr. Singson: when Henry Alcantara exposed P300 million siphoned for a senator’s campaign, was he just “collateral”? Or was he the only one with the guts to speak?

IV. The Cast of This Tragicomedy

Rogelio Singson

Not a hero. A canary — decent, technocratic, ultimately loyal to his own survival.
He built a reputation on “Daang Matuwid.”
He ends it as the man who fled the coal mine before the gas killed him.

Zaldy Co

A ghost accusing a vampire.
A plunderer turned whistleblower, hiding abroad, dropping videos like grenades.
Credible? No.
Necessary? In this rotten system, only the damned dare speak.

The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI)

A Potemkin Commission.
Built for Instagram press conferences, not prosecutions.
It has a forensic audit team the way a child has a toy gun — cute, but don’t expect it to fire.

The Marcos Administration

The primary target.
The family business, rebooted.
Same kleptocracy, new branding.
Denials today, suitcases tomorrow.
This is not a scandal.
This is the syllabus.

V. The Ecosystem of Corruption: A Closed-Loop Laundromat

Follow the money. It’s not hard:

Congress → Budget insertions → DPWH ghost projects → 20–25% kickbacks → Suitcases → Election war chests → Back to Congress.

Rinse. Spin. Repeat.

The ICI was never meant to break the cycle.
It was the washing machine — designed to clean the reputation, not the crime.

***“Ghost roads, real cash: the only infrastructure that gets built is the one that launders.”***

VI. The Farce of Possible Resolutions

Best-case fantasy (0.1% chance): Forensic evidence links the suitcases to the palace. Prosecutions. Reforms. Unicorns dance in Intramuros.
Likely tragicomedy (70% chance): A few mid-level scalps. Senate hearings for the cameras. The public forgets by Holy Week.
Worst-case reality (already happening): The commission limps on without Singson. Co gets painted as a bitter liar. The apex predators feast again.

In a system that protects its own, the only real resolution is a revolution in public outrage.

VII. The Final Reckoning

It is about greed.
It is about power.
It is about a staggering contempt for the Filipino people — who pay taxes so that the powerful can deliver their loot in suitcases while the rest of us drown.

So here is the challenge, not a recommendation:

➤ To the legislators still pretending to care: Pass the real ICAC bill with teeth, or admit you are part of the syndicate.
➤ To the President: Open the ledgers. Release the palace CCTV. Or own the suitcases.
➤ To the Filipino people: Stop being collateral damage.

The canary has flown.
The mine is yours to explode.

Follow the evidence to the top — or keep swimming in the flood you paid for.

— Barok