Marcos: 15 firms bag 20% of flood controls, uncover other ‘red flags’

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (Photo: Bongbong Marcos/Facebook)

By Darryl John Esguerra, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has ordered a comprehensive investigation into the government’s multibillion-peso flood control program after an internal review that revealed “disturbing” patterns in the awarding of projects and spending, including 15 contractors securing nearly 20% of the over PHP500 billion budget program.

Speaking at a Palace press conference on Monday, Marcos unveiled sumbongsapangulo.ph, a new public website that maps ongoing flood control projects and allows citizens to submit reports on irregularities.

The move follows his directive in his fourth State of the Nation Address last month to audit the Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) flood mitigation program, one of the largest line items in the national budget.

“We have to clean our ranks. It might be a little painful baka masangkot diyan yung ibang malapit sa atin. Pero kahit malapit sila sa atin, mas malapit siguro sa puso natin ang taumbayan (some close to me may be implicated. But even if they are close to me, the people should be much closer to my heart),” Marcos said.

Anomalies in the numbers

During the media briefing, Marcos reported initial findings on flood control projects from July 2022, totaling PHP545 billion in spending.

While there are 2,409 contracting entities nationwide, Marcos said a fifth of the total amount — about PHP109 billion — went to just 15 contractors.

Of these, five have contracts spanning the entire country, a breadth of reach the President said was “highly unusual” in the construction sector.

Equally troubling, 6,021 projects worth over PHP350 billion were recorded with no details on what type of flood control structure was being built — whether dikes, drainage systems, pumping stations, or other works.

Another irregularity flagged by the review: multiple projects in different locations with exactly the same contract price.

“Imposible ‘yan (That’s impossible)… for one barangay, even if they are next to each other, to have the exact same project, to the exact same amount, with the exact same contractor,” Marcos said.

Mismatch between risk, spending

Marcos also noted that while the National Capital Region (1,058 total projects worth PHP52.57 billion) and Central Luzon (1,617 projects worth PHP98.01 billion) had high volumes — expected for flood-prone areas — the distribution did not always match official hazard maps.

The top ten provinces by number of projects were Bulacan, Cebu, Isabela, Pangasinan, Pampanga, Albay, Leyte, Tarlac, Camarines Sur, and Ilocos Norte.

But in terms of flood risk ranking, Pampanga topped the list, followed by Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Bulacan, Metro Manila, Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Oriental Mindoro, and Ilocos Norte.

“You would intuitively say that the areas most flood-prone should have the most projects. Pero parang hindi tumutugma (It’s seems there’s a mismatch),” the President said.

Another particularly lopsided finding reported by the President: of the country’s 170 pumping stations, 157 are in Metro Manila, where many are rendered ineffective by garbage accumulation in waterways.

Despite the initial findings, the President cautioned that the findings so far do not yet constitute formal charges.

“Of course, we want the people who have taken advantage of the system to pay… But we cannot do all of this without the help of the ordinary citizen,” he said.

Public vigilance as ‘key weapon’

Marcos emphasized that public participation is central to cleaning up the system.

“This whole process will not work unless people are involved… 80 million, 90 million pairs of eyes are better than all the eyes in the entirety of government,” he said.

The sumbongsapangulo.ph platform allows users to search flood control projects within their areas.

Citizens can then report whether projects are completed, substandard, stalled, or non-existent.

“Kung maganda ang naging project, kung hindi naging maganda ‘yung project, bakit hindi naging maganda, anong naging problema (If the project was good, if the project wasn’t good, why wasn’t it good, what was the problem?)… That’s what this website is supposed to do,” Marcos said, promising: “Ako mismo ang babasa ng bawat isa (I will read each one myself).”

In his last July 28 SONA, Marcos ordered the DPWH to review flood control contracts amid questions over ballooning budgets and persistent flooding in urban centers.