RAGING CURRENT An excavator is left unattended as raging floodwaters from overflowing rivers submerge a section of a road in Barangay San Rafael, Puerto Princesa city, Palawan, on Tuesday, following heavy rains. (Picture taken by ROY GREGORIO VENTURA/Contributor)
MANILA, Philippines — Department of Budget and Management (DBM) reveals the executive branch of government has allotted more than P225 billion for flood prevention projects.
DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman on Thursday said Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) alone intends to use P215 billion of government funds for this purpose.
“Under the DPWH project, there’s a flagship project there that is called Flood Management Program,” she pointed out during a Palace briefing.
“In 2023, for this year, we have a budget of P185 billion, and for 2024, we proposed P215.643 billion under the Department of Public Works and Highways’ Flood Management Program,” the Secretary laid out the plan.
Then, two projects will be supported by a loan from Korea Eximbank, the credit agency of South Korea.
Meanwhile, an appropriation of P1.397 billion is being proposed for Pampanga Integrated Disaster and Risk Resiliency Project.
Bulacan Angat Water Transmission Project stands to get P7.4 billion.
More than a billion pesos worth of flood control initiatives have also been recommended for Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
These figures are contained in the proposed National Expenditure Program (NEP) DBM had submitted to House of Representatives.
“Under the MMDA budget, there’s also funding, but this is mostly in Metro Manila,” Pangandaman noted.
“For 2023, it has flood control, 1.9 billion, and then, for 2024, there’s P1.3 billion,” she said.
The breakdown of 2024 programs of the Marcos administration to reduce flooding around the country is as follows:
DPWH Flood Management Program: P215.643 billion
Pampanga Integrated Disaster and Risk Resiliency Project: P1.397 billion
Bulacan Angat Water Transmission Project: P7.4 billion
MMDA’s Flood Control: P1.3 billion
The total amount of the whole campaign reaches P225.74 billion.
DBM had separately proposed an additional P545 billion for climate change mitigation as well.
The department’s budget recommendations comes shortly after Super Typhoon Egay brought torrential rains that ravaged a huge part of the country and caused widespread flooding across the archipelago.
RELATED STORIES:
P545B earmarked for climate change in 2024 budget
Super Typhoon Egay: Half a million affected, billions in damage in Northern Luzon