SEN. Erwin Tulfo has filed a resolution calling for an investigation into the reported “abuse of flood control programs and related projects” in a bid to address the problem of persistent flooding.
“Last year, August 2024, the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) admitted that the Philippines has no integrated flood control master plan despite the massive funding allocated to flood control over the years,” Tulfo said in Senate Resolution No. 21 he filed on Tuesday.
He said the DPWH was allocated P248.08 billion for flood management programs in 2025, and P244 billion for the same purpose in 2024 “to mitigate the impact of major flooding events” but the problem has not been solved.
“Despite the continuous implementation of flood control projects funded under the GAA (General Appropriations Act), widespread and severe flooding continues to affect many parts of the country — indicating gaps in planning, implementation, and the effectiveness of current flood mitigation measures,” he added.
He said the huge budgets earmarked for flood control programs should enable the government to develop and execute a comprehensive and integrated flood control master plan.
“Moreover, it is imperative to assess and determine flood control projects that are inconsistent with the administration’s infrastructure priorities, with due regard to the urgency of need, implementation readiness, and the absorptive capacity of DPWH and other concerned agencies,” he said.
Tulfo said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s veto message on the 2025 national budget is proof that inconsistencies in the said projects are present.
“According to the veto message on the 2025 national budget, the current administration has rejected P26 billion worth of DPWH projects, including the P16.7 billion flood-control initiatives. The said DPWH items were ‘not consistent’ with the programs, projects, and activities under the administration’s Build Better More infrastructure program, on top of taking into account urgency of need, implementation-readiness, and agency absorptive capacity,” he added.
PUNISHMENT
Sen. Panfilo Lacson yesterday said there must be “certainty of punishment” for contractors and their accomplices in government for failed or “ghost” flood control projects after an audit on these projects is done.
“Someone must be held accountable. Because if not, the flood control mess will continue, with the culprits lying low and then going back to business. So that is the most effective mechanism — to see the culprits actually getting punished,” he said in Filipino in an interview on Bombo Radyo Philippines.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., during his State of the Nation Address, instructed the DPWH to submit a list of flood control projects since the start of his administration in 2022 in a bid to stop corruption in the implementation of infrastructure projects.
This was after the President recently discovered that some flood control projects were substandard, with some of them collapsed, while “others were just imaginary.”
Lacson earlier said that around P2 trillion had been allocated for flood control projects since 2011, but these failed to stop floodings. He said half of the P2 trillion may have ended in the pockets of some people involved in implementing the projects.
