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MANILA, Philippines — Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon has sent a team to investigate the flood control projects in Cebu wherein at least 139 people were confirmed killed in the recent typhoon.
The government will run after the people who are responsible for the flood control projects, which were found to be ineffective against heavy rains brought by Typhoon Tino, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said yesterday.
Government spending on flood control projects in Cebu reached more than P50 billion over the past decade. However, Dizon said the structures failed, as the province was inundated by floods.
“It’s clear the flood control projects over the past 10 years in Cebu were not effective,” he said in Filipino over dzMM.
The DPWH has submitted to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) a full list of Cebu flood control projects for investigation.
For Dizon, it should never be an excuse that the recent typhoon dumped one month’s worth of rain in Cebu and other areas, stressing that flood mitigation projects should be ready for the effects of super typhoons.
“You can’t make an excuse just because of heavy rains and strong typhoons. A lot of our citizens lost their homes, as well as their lives,” he said.
Dizon lamented that the people responsible for the flood control projects opted to fill their pockets with public funds, instead of ensuring that the structures are effective.
“Instead of planning the projects correctly, implementing them correctly, they opted to profit from them,” he said.
While an investigation is underway, Dizon said the primary concern is providing immediate relief to evacuees in Cebu and other provinces.
Ombudsman’s Cebu probe
The Office of the Ombudsman said a task force has been instructed to prioritize the investigation on the flood control projects in Cebu and other areas in the Visayas affected by massive flooding.
In a statement issued yesterday, the ombudsman vowed that “justice will be pursued,” especially for those who lost their loved ones in the floods.
“The Office of the Ombudsman stands in mourning with the nation for the lives lost in the devastation caused by Typhoon Tino,” the ombudsman’s statement read.
“To the families of all victims of the calamity – we hear you, and we have acted. A special task force previously designated to investigate flood control projects has been instructed to prioritize those projects meant to prevent the onslaught of Typhoon Tino,” it added.
The ombudsman assured the affected families that “justice will be pursued with compassion, diligence and resolve.”
The ombudsman is currently investigating the allegedly fictitious and substandard flood control projects in Bulacan, Oriental Mindoro, La Union and Davao Occidental.
The ombudsman also recently created a separate task force to investigate flood control projects implemented by the Villar family, including the Las Piñas-Bacoor River Drive.
Flood control slush fund
House deputy minority leader and Act Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio exposed yesterday how billions in unprogrammed appropriations (UA) for flood control projects in Cebu, Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental failed to protect communities from the deadly flash floods brought by Typhoon Tino.
Tinio said in 2023, Cebu had 41 projects at P3.15 billion. In 2024, there were 61 projects at P5.28 billion, for a total of 102 projects at P8.43B.
In Negros Oriental in 2023, there were two projects at P45 million and in 2024, one project at P100 million, for a total of three projects at P145 million.
In Negros Occidental, two projects in 2023 cost P60 million and in 2024, eight projects at P570 million for a total of 10 projects at P630 million.
It came up to a total of 115 projects, P9.20 billion in UA flood control for these provinces in 2023-2024.
He emphasized that the 115 flood control projects funded by P9.2 billion from UA were discretionary projects approved by President Marcos, with the lion’s share going to Cebu.
“He is directly accountable for these projects and must acknowledge and explain why these failed to mitigate the devastation,” Tinio said in a statement.
He underscored that UA-funded projects are systematically abused for graft and lack transparency.
“All 102 UA flood control projects in Cebu, worth P8.43 billion, lack even basic details. This is corruption by design. How can the public verify a project with no specifications?” Tinio said.
“UA is a slush fund for corruption, responsible for deaths and devastation in Cebu and other areas hit by Typhoon Tino. Billions were supposedly spent, yet communities were left defenseless,” Tinio said.
He called for a comprehensive congressional investigation and the abolition of UA.
CBCP backs probe
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio Cardinal David yesterday backed calls for an investigation on Cebu real estate project Monterrazas de Cebu, amid massive flooding in the province.
University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) School of Environmental Science and Management Professor Antonio Contreras said while the flooding in Cebu is the result of multiple interacting factors which include extreme rainfall, river easement encroachment, poor drainage and land cover changes, the geographic and hydrological linkage between the Monterrazas slopes and the Guadalupe River is clear.
“The people of Cebu have a right to demand an investigation. Did the Department of Environment and Natural Resources do a serious impact study before granting an Environmental Compliance Certificate?” David asked on Facebook.
Contreras said there were major floods caused by the overflowing of the Guadalupe River, affecting upstream and downstream barangays.
“Monterrazas de Cebu, located on the upper ridgeline of this same watershed, contributes surface runoff to the river system,” the UPLB professor said.
Contreras added that while Monterrazas may not be the sole or direct cause, its position within the watershed means that its land-altering activities and stormwater flows form part of the broader hydrological system that experienced flooding.
Keep up pressure
Meanwhile, former socio-economic planning secretary and economics professor Winnie Monsod said yesterday the public must keep putting pressure on the government to ensure full accountability and policy reforms amid the ongoing corruption scandal.
Speaking on “Storycon” on One News, Monsod said the weaker economic performance in the third quarter of the year is “expected, considering what has been going on with our government.”
She cited the significant decline in the government’s infrastructure expenditures as a factor in the slower growth of the Philippine economy, which went down from 5.5 percent in the second quarter to just four percent in the third quarter of the year.
However, Monsod said this is “not all bad news,” noting that the country was able to recover from a slow economic growth at the start of the administration under former president Benigno Aquino III.
“After that government fixed its public works problem with (then public works secretary) Babes Singson at the helm, the Aquino government went on to grow at a pace which has not been matched so far,” she said.
If the ongoing corruption scandal translates into accountability and reforms, Monsod said we can “expect very good things to happen to the Philippine economy.
“If it does not, we are doomed to failure,” she added.
Monsod underscored the importance of public involvement to ensure that something good comes out of the corruption scandals.
“We have to keep the public pressure on the government as heavy as possible, so that the government will do what they have to do,” she said.
“If no one will complain, make noise, nothing will happen here in the Philippines… It is up to us, the people, to carry this forward and to make sure that we are forcing the government for them to act the way we want them to act,” Monsod said in Filipino. — Elizabeth Marcelo, Bella Cariaso, Jose Rodel Clapano, Janvic Mateo
