NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 21 August) — The photo ops need to end, and it is high time PBBM stops denouncing and starts using the axe immediately on corrupt officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), cancel the license, and freeze the operation of contractors in flood control projects in Bulacan and other sites.
Accordingly, a ₱55.7-million flood control project in said province was reported completed, but upon on-site inspection by the President himself, was found not even started at all. Hence, merely an evil ghost hovering over the place.
Senator Ping Lacson reported that there are 30 such ghost flood control projects in Bulacan.
President Marcos says the total cost of all flood contro l projects since he assumed office in July 2022 stands at ₱545 billion. The President said that ₱100 billion, or 18 percent of the entire ₱545-billion budget for flood mitigation projects undertaken by his administration from July 2022 to May 2025, was awarded to only 15 out of 2,409 accredited contracting firms. Why this happened dirties the imagination.
The President also raised concerns over a mismatch between the country’s most flood-prone provinces and those that received the highest number of flood control projects.
And what is more alarming is that some 64 percent of all flood control projects lacked clear project descriptions or were in different locations but had the exact contract cost, which could mean the same designs, materials, lengths, etc. used despite differences in location, terrain, and other physical circumstances.
This is what Senator Ping Lacson called distinct projects, referring to 28 projects in Bulacan, which are all worth ₱77 million each, reflected in the General Appropriation Act (GAA) and awarded contracts, whether the projects are close to or distant from each other.
A “distinct” project is a congressional insertion in the GAA, which is tagged as the project of the member of the House who inserted it. Being the proponent, he has a say, as practiced, in its implementation if he so desires—in the choice of a contractor, suppliers of construction materials, labor, equipment, etc. Corruption, thus, may begin as early as in the GAA preparation.
Senator Lacson reported that in the last three years from 2023 – 2025, around ₱1 trillion was budgeted for flood control—about 53% of the entire budget for 15 years.
With these trillions of pesos, our streets and low-lying communities should have been flood-free when the rains pour, said the senator. Yet, at the onslaught of the southwest monsoon, Typhoon Crising, Dante, and Emong, a few weeks ago, all the newly constructed flood mitigation projects, which were supposed to protect residents and communities, were destroyed like a house of cards, betraying a grave anomaly in their construction.
Nature nakedly exposed corruption.
It is likely that the other nine provinces that were recipients of flood control allocations also suffer from the same exploitation, considering that most of the contracting entities also operate in these places.
A composite independent team of experts from credible contracting firms, DTI, NBI, and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines needs to be created to investigate those involved in the anomaly in the House of Representatives and the DPWH, local government units and other instrumentalities of the government.
Those entrusted to ensure the protection of lives and properties but instead put them in danger should be made accountable and pay a high price.
Shame on them.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental.)
