PBBM notes disturbing assessment, says
‘a little painful’ probe may include allies
Some 15 contractors cornered almost P100 billion – or about 20 percent of the total amount of flood-control projects across the country – from July 2022 to May 2025, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.
In a press conference yesterday, Mr. Marcos bared the initial findings of the audit he ordered in his recent SONA will give the public “an idea of how these (flood-control projects) have been conducted.”
‘’The total cost of all of the projects since July 2022 until today is P545-billion. I don’t know about you but that is a very big number. By any measure, that is an enormous number,’’ he said as he launched the “Sumbong sa Pangulo” website where the public can report their observations on flood-control projects in their respective areas.
Since he assumed office in July 2022 until May this year, the Department of Public Works and Highways implemented at least 9,885 flood-control projects.
Mr. Marcos said some 6,021 projects worth more than P350 billion did not specify the exact type of flood control structures to be constructed or rehabilitated, while others had identical designs and materials.
“This is another disturbing assessment… This is the first step. We have to keep on going. We have to clean up nice,” he said. “It is impossible for one barangay to have the same projects, with the exact same amount, with the exact same contractor…That is impossible.”
“It might be a little painful. Some involved might be people close to us, but our kababayan are closer to our hearts,” the President added.
Based on the data uploaded in the “Isumbong sa Pangulo” website, while the top 15 contractors handled only about 1,209 projects, these were worth P95.56 billion, or about one-fifth of the total cost of all the flood-control projects.
Legacy Construction Corporation was listed as the top contractor with 133 projects for a total of P9.558 billion. Its biggest project in terms of budget was the construction of the Dubduban Flood Control Structure in San Agustin, Tablas Island in Romblon worth P289.49 million.
Sunwest, Inc., which was ranked eighth, handled 79 projects but had a bigger total budget of P10.147 billion.
In terms of the project with the highest budget, Royal Crown Monarch Construction & Supplies Corp. handled the construction of the Camiling-Agno River Floodway in Tarlac Phase 3 worth P289.5 million.
“We are not accusing anyone of anything yet,” Mr. Marcos said. “I need to hear from people first. It will be premature for me to name names.”
“We have to be careful about this. We have to get to the bottom. We want the people who have taken advantage of the system to pay. Let’s be circumspect about pointing fingers and shouting at people.”
“We will still go through every single complaint, whether justified or not…Let’s be fair to everyone and not remove someone from their job unless we have a good idea of what went wrong,” he added.
The President noted that based on available data, the top 10 provinces with the most number of flood-control projects are Bulacan (668 projects), Cebu (414 projects), Isabela (314 projects), Pangasinan (313 projects), Pampanga (292 projects), Albay (273 projects), Leyte (262 projects), Tarlac (258 projects), Camarines Sur (252 projects), and Ilocos Norte (224 projects).
In terms of regions, Central Luzon had the most number of projects worth P98.01 billion, followed by Metro Manila with P52.57 billion, and Bicol Region with P49.61 billion.
But of the top 10 flood-prone provinces, only Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Metro Manila and Ilocos Norte got the greatest number of flood-control projects.
Rounding up the top 10 flood-prone provinces are Nueva Ecija, Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Oriental Mindoro.
“I think you will notice they do not necessarily match. I’m sure there are explanations for that. We have to study this further but you could intuitively say the most flood-prone should have the most number of flood-control projects. We have to see why this (mismatch) happened,” the President said.
