Senators want closer scrutiny of flood control projects

Residents with their belongings evacuate from their flooded homes in Tumana village, Marikina City on July 24, 2024, amid heavy rains brought about by Typhoon Carina and intensified seasonal monsoon. —photo by Ted Aljibe/Agence France Presse

MANILA, Philippines — Senators called for a deeper investigation of flood control and infrastructure projects, including the entire budget process, following the devastation wrought by Supertyphoon Carina (international name: Gaemi) and the southwest monsoon on parts of the country.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, in a privilege speech during the plenary session on Monday, urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to direct the Department of Budget and Management, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and other involved agencies to post online the names of the contractors for such projects, in addition to location, budget and status.

“Let us pierce the veil of corporate identity by letting the people know who are these individuals, the human beings, who have bagged these lucrative flood-control projects,” he said.

Sen. Grace Poe, after filing Senate Resolution No. 1080 seeking an investigation of the DPWH’s underutilized flood control budget, said the agency must explain the downward trend of its fund disbursement despite its increasing budgets in the last five years.

Substantial sum

Poe stressed that during last year’s Senate committee hearing on the DPWH budget for the fiscal year 2024, it was revealed that the agency’s budget to address the flooding problem in the country would amount to at least P1 billion per day, a projection that its leadership did not dispute.

“P556 billion is too substantial a sum of money to permit anything less than optimal efficiency and effectiveness in our government programs, yet the current state of flood management in the country clearly demonstrates a dire need for a meticulous reassessment of where our hard-earned taxpayers’ money go,” she said.

Sen. Joel Villanueva, in a separate speech, said the government should have a comprehensive plan to address flooding “now more than ever.”

He noted that the billions of pesos spent by the government for flood control should also go to projects aligned with the Supreme Court’s mandamus ruling on Manila Bay, which ordered 13 government agencies to clean up and rehabilitate the waterway.