Why Marcos Wants to Clean Ranks Over ‘Disturbing’ List of Flood-Control Contractors

Acting on his vow to revisit the nation’s flood-control projects during his fourth address to Congress, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. said his government is dead set on cracking down on potential corruption linked to the P100 billion contracts awarded to only 15 contractors.

At a news briefing in Malacañang, he cited initial results of a state review on these projects and noted that about 20 percent of all flood control projects in the past three years, worth about P100 billion, were awarded to only 15 out of 2,409 contractors for both local and national projects.

Since 2022, about P545 billion in public funds have gone to these flood-control efforts nationwide.

“I don’t know about you, but that is a very big number. By any measure, that is an enormous number,” the President said.

ALSO READ:

Today I Learned: Why Metro Manila Is Prone to Widespread Flooding

Today I Learned: Many Flood-Prone Areas Are Where Streets and Creeks Intersect

His government’s audit of these projects was promised during his fourth State of the Nation Address in July and came amid terrible flooding brought about by torrential rain, which has been a regular occurrence since time immemorial.

“We are not accusing anyone of anything yet. However, it gives us an idea of what, how this has been conducted,” said Marcos.

“So, I hope the people will take advantage of this. And as I said, there is always a way for them to give their comments,”

The country has experienced severe floods since the '70s, and it seems to be getting worse. Pundits and critics point to the poor implementation of intended projects.

The President had ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways to revisit flood control projects that have failed to serve the Filipino people because of widespread corruption in infrastructure spending.

After several consecutive typhoons submerged the country's streets last year, Marcos had called out graft-ridden projects and warned those responsible that they may face criminal charges if found guilty.

Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan told lawmakers at the House of Representatives that Metro Manila doesn’t have a drainage master plan.

This came at the heels of worsening flooding in the country’s capital region after weeks of typhoons and southwest monsoon rains ravaging the country’s aging drainage system.

“The main problem in Metro Manila… is actually that the drainage system is very much old," the Public Works chief said. “The issue is we actually need to have a master plan for the drainage system for Metro Manila.”

Manila in July fell victim to heavy flooding brought about by Severe Tropical Storm Wipha (Crising), Tropical Storms Francisco (Dante) and Co-may (Emong), and the southwest monsoon.

Last week, on August 6, the Department of Public Works and Highways said it is tapping the Japan International Cooperation Agency to fast-track updating flood control master plans for the Pasig-Marikin and Cagayan River basins, which are prone to heavy flooding.

JICA last year launched a technical cooperation program to assess the need for flood control dams to counteract flooding damage within the Metro Manila area.

The government and JICA were also working on a flood-control master plan for the San Juan River, which includes suggestions to improve embankments in Manila, San Juan, and Quezon City.

“Five of these contractors had projects in almost the entire country. So those are the ones that immediately pop out na sa aking palagay ay kailangan natin tingnan ( we need to look at),” said Marcos, referring to the peculiar list of contractors.