The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) has been directed to prepare facilities in Mindoro for as many as 8,000 potential detainees connected to the multibillion-peso flood control scandal, the agency’s chief has said.

BuCor Director-General Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. said the accused would be held at the Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm, which houses the country’s SuperMax facility.

He declined to identify who issued the order, saying only it came from a high-ranking official.

Catapang said the estimate stems from calculations involving alleged ghost projects in the country.

With roughly 400 suspected fraudulent projects and about 20 signatories per project, the PBBM administration is preparing for the possibility of mass arrests.

“We have to anticipate this if people will be imprisoned,” Catapang said in a media interview, adding that construction of additional facilities is underway.

The development follows DPWH Vince Dizon’s order halting all flood control projects in Oriental Mindoro after investigators uncovered major irregularities in a P3-billion peso flood control project in Barangay Tagumpay, Naujan.

The scale of the alleged fraud and the anticipated number of suspects is one of the largest corruption cases in recent Philippine history involving public infrastructure projects.

In a related development, Rossana Fajardo, a commissioner of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), announced her resignation Friday, effective Dec. 31, 2025 leaving the body with only its chairman as it investigates alleged anomalies in flood control projects.

Fajardo, the country managing partner of accounting firm SGV & Co., said in a statement that she had completed the work she set out to accomplish since her appointment in September 2025, including contributions to recommendations on improving government procurement and budgeting processes for infrastructure projects.

She also cited pending legislation to create a permanent commission with enhanced powers to support prosecutions, saying it would be more effective in aiding the Office of the Ombudsman.

ICI Chairman Andres Reyes Jr., a retired Supreme Court associate justice, described Fajardo’s departure as coming at a “natural point” in the commission’s time-bound mandate to gather evidence, establish facts and propose corrective measures.

He said the body would focus on finalizing submissions to the Ombudsman.

Fajardo’s resignation follows that of fellow commissioner Rogelio Singson, a former DPWH secretary who stepped down earlier this month citing health reasons and the intense nature of the work. A special adviser also resigned previously.

The ICI was established by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in September via executive order to probe corruption in flood control and other infrastructure projects.

Opposition lawmakers have criticized the commission as under-resourced and temporary, with some calling its successive resignations a sign of ineffectiveness and renewing pushes for a stronger, permanent anti-corruption body.