A modern three-bedroom, two-bath residence in Palos Verdes, California, offers 1,605 square feet of living space in a serene, upscale neighborhood just a short stroll from the Palos Verdes Golf Club. Photo: Realtor.com
Los Angeles – The paper trail stretches far from Manila’s floodplains to the manicured lawns of Southern California. Property records reveal that at least four homes in prime Los Angeles and Orange County neighborhoods are connected to Alex Abelido, president of Legacy Construction Corporation—one of the country’s largest recipients of flood-control contracts now under probe in the Philippines.
Between 2018 and 2024, the combined purchase value of the homes reached $4.6 million, or roughly ₱260 million. The acquisitions came during a period when Legacy Construction secured billions of pesos worth of government projects under both the Duterte and Marcos administrations.
Homes under corporate veils
The purchases weren’t made directly in Abelido’s name. Instead, the homes are held under a cluster of corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs) registered in California, where Abelido is listed in various capacities as chief executive, manager, or finance officer.
In Garden Grove, one property worth $1.1 million became the registered address of 14 different business entities linked to Abelido, according to state filings. Another property in Laguna Niguel, acquired for $1.285 million, was later listed for rent. A Palos Verdes home near an exclusive golf club—sold in 2018 for $1.425 million—was placed under an LLC named 3205 Legacy.
All told, at least 19 California corporations have been traced to Abelido, many engaged in real estate and rental ventures. Two new entities—Legacy Drilling LLC and GMP Legacy Drilling LLC—were registered as recently as July 2025.
Legal clouds over business empire
The Department of Justice in Manila has already placed Abelido, his brother Raymund, and 41 other contractors and Department of Public Works and Highways officials on an immigration lookout bulletin. Authorities say many flood-control projects tied to Legacy remain incomplete—or, in some cases, non-existent.
President Marcos himself has acknowledged preliminary findings that question the viability of projects in Cavite, Occidental Mindoro, Cebu, and Romblon.
The scrutiny deepens as investigators examine whether profits from questionable contracts were funneled into assets abroad. The U.S. property trail offers a clearer picture of how local infrastructure funds may have helped build a foreign real estate portfolio.
A pattern of expansion
Analysts note that this model—winning government projects in the Philippines, then shifting capital into overseas real estate through LLCs—is not new. What makes the Abelido case stand out is scale: Legacy Construction reportedly cornered P100 billion worth of flood-control projects under the Marcos administration alone, representing one-fifth of the DPWH’s total allocations from 2022 to 2025.
Whether these California properties represent legitimate investment diversification or something more problematic is now a question squarely before investigators in both Manila and Washington.
For now, the houses stand quietly—one leased out, another tied to a web of business registrations—while back home, questions mount about why entire communities remain under water even as millions flow into estates half a world away.