Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro will discuss with President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. the P26-billion infrastructure projects in her province that failed to protect communities during the recent onslaught of Typhoon Tino.
President Marcos is expected to revisit Cebu this Friday, November 7, to personally assess the situation and extend support. He declared a state of national calamity on Thursday, acknowledging the scale of Tino’s impact in the country in terms of loss of lives and damage to properties.
Baricuatro expressed her frustration over what she described as the “deadliest flooding” Cebu has experienced in recent years. It happened while the Central Visayas province was still trying to recover from a fatal earthquake last September 30.
“We will discuss with President Marcos regarding the P26-billion (flood control funds). It’s not enough that Cebuanos are resilient. Justice has to be looked into. Why did this happen now? The Cebuanos deserve justice and an explanation for why the flash flood happened here in our province,” she said.
According to the provincial government, data from the Sumbong sa Pangulo website showed that 414 flood control projects worth ₱26.7 billion were implemented across Cebu from 2022 to 2025. Despite these, however, communities suffered massive flooding in southern, western, and northern Cebu.
Baricuatro confirmed that her office has cooperated with the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) by submitting the requested documents involving the projects.
The NBI will forward these materials, along with its findings, to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), which has been investigating allegations of corruption in flood control projects over the past decade.
Baricuatro also criticized the previous Capitol administration for failing to implement long-term solutions to this problem. She said the disastrous floods could have been prevented had her predecessors done something about it.
