BEST OPTION | Two boat riders choose the dry route as people around them wade through floodwaters on Taft Avenue, Manila, at the height of heavy rains last week due to Supertyphoon Carina and the southwest monsoon. | Photo by Marianne Bermudez, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Despite the billions of pesos previously allocated for flood control programs, the country still lacks an integrated flood-control master plan, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) admitted during a Senate hearing on Thursday.
Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan explained that the 5,500 completed projects that President Marcos reported in his third State of the Nation Address were just “immediate relief projects.”
“These are immediate projects and engineering interventions all over the country that are not part of the master plan. These are stand-alone projects to provide immediate relief and protection to low-lying areas,” he said.
The Senate committee on public works chaired by Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., grilled Bonoan on the perennial problem, including last week’s widespread flooding in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon at the height of Supertyphoon Carina (international name: Gaemi).
READ: MMDA assures ongoing efforts with 101 NCR flood control projects
Bonoan also admitted that the 5,500 completed flood control projects were just small-scale remedies.
According to him, there are 421 principal rivers nationwide, 18 of these major rivers where river basins are located.
Update under way
He said that while there were master plans for the 18 major river basins, many of these were still being updated “to take into account the climate change phenomenon and other factors.”
“If there is no master plan, how do you choose the projects? Are there guidelines and parameters each time that you submit these billions and billions of [pesos] request? To what do you allocate if there is no integrated master plan for the country?” Sen. Imee Marcos asked.
Bonoan said that there were no allocations for big foreign-assisted flood control projects and they were just lodged under unprogrammed funds in the 2024 General Appropriations Act.
“It’s the same for 2023, big projects got zero budget. So you’re saying that Filipinos can only expect immediate relief from these different minor projects, but there’s nothing for bigger flood control projects? It’s upsetting,” Marcos said.
During the hearing, Sen. Joel Villanueva presented a video clip of Bonoan during a Senate hearing last year, where he said that construction of the Central Luzon floodway project may begin in 2024 to help address flooding problems, particularly in Bulacan and Pampanga.
But the DPWH official admitted in Thursday’s hearing that the project was still in its planning stages. Villanueva noted that the Philippines has spent over P1.14 trillion over the past 10 years for flood control projects while this year alone, P23 billion was allocated for a DPWH feasibility study.
Game changers
“With the amount allocated for flood control projects in the country, the DPWH should ensure that these would be ‘game changers’ in resolving our problems with flooding,” he said.
At the same time, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority also complained of limited funds for flood control projects in the National Capital Region, saying that along with outdated drainages, these were among the causes of the massive flooding in Metro Manila last week.