Senators flag delays in Tarlac dam project
The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) should explain to taxpayers about the wastage of funds poured into a major dam project in Tarlac province, which remains unfinished despite receiving P7.006 billion from 2015 to 2020 alone, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.
On Thursday, Lacson expressed this concern about the status of the Tarlac Balog-Balog Multipurpose Project (TBBMP) during the interpellation of the proposed 2026 budget of the NIA, recalling that he raised similar questions about the project five years ago.
“We should take this up not just in the budget deliberations. I think we should focus on the delayed projects and obvious wastage of public funds, particularly in the Balog-Balog Multipurpose Project,” he said.
The senator noted that for Balog-Balog’s Phase 2 alone, some P7.006 billion had been appropriated from 2015 to 2020.
In 2017, the second phase of the TBBMP began construction and was initially expected to be completed before the end of then President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.
However, in 2019, the NIA requested an extension for the construction until 2022, citing delays caused by poor weather conditions, resettlement challenges, and right-of-way issues. The project’s second phase was initially set for completion in 2018.
In November 2020, Lacson noted a comparison of images of the project as of September 2019 and his staff’s inspection in November 2020, showing virtually no change.
He added that in 2018, the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged Balog-Balog’s five contracts as accounting for P7.7 billion, or 37 percent of P20.7 billion worth of delayed projects nationwide, one of the highest aggregate contract costs among delayed NIA projects.
“I think the NIA has a lot of explaining to do. In the Balog-Balog project’s case alone, there seems to be a lot of anomalies,” Lacson said.
Fund allocation
Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, who raised the issue in his interpellation of the NIA budget on Thursday, noted that the NIA had always requested for maintenance and repair of the Balog-Balog project.
“[The] NIA is regularly requesting for P261 million yearly, until the past year it was the same. That’s why I believe that the data you mentioned were correct,” said Marcoleta, who proposed that a review be undertaken of the project.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, finance subcommittee chair and who sponsored the NIA’s proposed budget, said they would monitor the review proposed by Marcoleta to determine the way forward.
In 2023, Sen. Raffy Tulfo demanded the list of contractors involved with the TBBMP.
Tulfo said the NIA had originally proposed implementing the project in two phases as early as 1992. Phase 1 covers 12,475 hectares, while Phase 2 was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda, now the Department of Economy, Planning and Development, or DepDev) only in 2015.
Between 2013 and 2022, the national government allocated billions of pesos for the project’s completion, with the goal of providing year-round irrigation to 34,410 ha of agricultural land across 10 towns in Tarlac, benefiting about 23,000 farmers. Yet, Tulfo lamented that only about 20 percent of the work had been accomplished.
In response, Eduardo Guillen, who was serving as acting administrator of the NIA that time, explained that the project’s previous contractor had terminated its contract and the agency was coordinating with Neda regarding changes in the project’s scope and its eventual resumption.
“Our target is to rebuild this soon, probably around October,” Guillen said in 2023, adding that the remaining P6.1-billion budget was expected to be sufficient to complete the project by its new target in 2027.
Proposed in 1963
The megadam is also expected to reduce flooding in low-lying areas, support inland fish production, and generate 43.5 megawatts of electricity through its hydropower component. The project is further projected to increase cropping intensity from 124 percent to 200 percent, directly improving crop yields and farmers’ incomes.
The TBBMP dam was first proposed in 1963 by the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., then serving as Tarlac governor, and later revived during the administration of his wife, the late President Corazon Aquino, in 1986.
However, the plan was shelved after the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo caused massive mudflows throughout Tarlac. More than two decades later, the project was revived under their son, the late former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, but again encountered delays in 2015 due to insufficient funding. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
