DPWH chief: Flood-control insertions go unchecked
Lawmakers may have to come clean on the flood control projects they hastily introduced into the P6.326-trillion 2025 national budget before this was enacted by President Marcos in December last year.
Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan on Wednesday admitted that his agency had no system of monitoring a number of flood control and mitigation projects that congressmen inserted into the national budget at the last minute.
Bonoan said some items that were neither proposed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) nor approved by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) suddenly appeared at the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“The challenge for us are the projects which are introduced as soon as the GAA has been enacted. These new items did not undergo validation or initial engineering assessments,” he said in an interview over dzBB.
He said the DPWH had no access to the bicameral conference committee that reconciled the versions of the House of Representatives and the Senate on the budget measure before it was sent to the President for signing.
‘Inserted’ projects
Even so, the secretary said the agency had to undertake the “inserted” projects, which often ended up being delayed or not implemented at all.
“We will find out later that these added projects have right of way issues, or there are residential houses that will be affected,” he explained.
“But at DPWH, we really have to do the job that we are supposed to undertake, and implement the projects in the most transparent and technically viable manner,” he added.
Bonoan blamed these hastily introduced projects for the “drastic deletion” of the agency’s budgets for “project preparations and engineering activities.”
In his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last Monday, the President shamed officials and contractors who pocketed funds from flood control projects that failed to mitigate floodwaters during the onslaught of monsoon rain, and ordered an audit of these projects on his watch.
It drew a standing ovation from the lawmakers, including many of his allies who cobbled together the 2025 national budget, as well as government officials and foreign dignitaries at the plenary hall of the Batasang Pambansa complex.
‘Third congress’
The President vetoed P26.065 billion worth of public works projects on flood mitigation and control in the 2025 national budget.
Critics have called it the “most bungled” budget in recent history, rife with irregular insertions and last-minute realignments to the DPWH during the bicameral conference. Public works received the second largest allocation of P1.007 trillion.
Public watchdogs have tagged the bicameral conference as the “third congress” because it has the power to realign billions of pesos of public funds and insert major amendments to the general appropriations bill, often away from the public eye.
The 2025 national budget was also roundly criticized for the bloated budgets of the House (P33.67 billion from the proposed P16.3 billion) and the Senate (P13.93 billion from P12.83 billion). 2025 is an election year.
Its huge allocation for doles to the poor—P44.74 billion for the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation, P41.16 billion for the Medical Assistance to Indigent and Financially Incapacitated Patients, P26.15 billion for the Ayuda Para sa Kapos Ang Kita Program, and P18.289 billion for the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers Program—also came under scrutiny.
Reforms
As part of its reforms, the House will soon review infrastructure projects to identify possible ghost projects and bloated contracts, among others.
“We heard the President’s Sona. We take to heart his call—his frustration, even—about the lingering shadow of corruption in our institutions,” Speaker Martin Romualdez said in a speech on Tuesday.
“As Speaker, I share his concern. And I accept his challenge—not with defensiveness, but with determination.”
The President warned in his Sona that he would veto any general appropriations bill that is not aligned with the national agenda, even if this would result in a reenacted budget.
Romualdez did not provide a timeline for the review, which he said would look at “chronic underspending, and abuse of discretion in fund realignment and procurement.”
The Speaker said he would rally the House to pass laws to institutionalize public scrutiny, real-time monitoring, and strong accountability standards across all agencies and contractors.
Among others, he said, he would propose laws that would mandate real-time public reporting of project progress and fund use, compliance with performance standards by contractors and agencies. He would also lobby for national infrastructure audit framework to prevent misuse of public funds.
Drainage master plan
Meanwhile, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said government agencies would tackle the planned convergence budgeting for a drainage master plan in Metro Manila on Aug. 1.
“Our drainage system, at least for Metro Manila, looks like it was 50 years ago, and there’s incompatibility,” Pangandaman said after inspecting the Vitas Pumping Station in Tondo, Manila, with officials of the Metro Manila Development Authority.
“There are areas that are bigger, there are areas that are smaller. So, of course, if the water is big, the small ones will be clogged. There will be flood again,” she added.
The Vitas Pumping Station is a component of the fourth phase of the Metro Manila Flood Control Project. —WITH REPORTS FROM KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING AND PNA
