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Janvic Mateo - The Philippine Star
September 19, 2025 | 12:00am
Rossana Fajardo and Benjamin Magalong of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure are joined by Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte during an inspection of the unfinished Matalahib Creek pumping station in Santo Domingo, Quezon City yesterday.
MICHAEL VARCAS
MANILA, Philippines — Members of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) yesterday inspected some flood control projects implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Quezon City.
Prior to the inspection, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte met with ICI chairman Andres Reyes Jr. and members Rogelio Singson and Rossana Fajardo, where the mayor turned over the city’s findings on its own investigation into flood control projects.
Also present were Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong as ICI special adviser and investigator, and DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon.
Among those inspected were the pumping station projects in Matalahib and Mariblo creeks, which the city government earlier flagged for violations of various policies.
Belmonte earlier disclosed the findings of the city’s investigation of the 331 flood control projects implemented by the DPWH in Quezon City from 2022 to 2025.
Of this number, only two have received the required certificate of coordination with the city government.
The mayor said 305 projects worth P16 billion are not aligned with the city’s drainage master plan, including 91 drainage works located in areas not considered as flood prone.
Belmonte earlier confirmed plans to issue cease-and-desist orders to ongoing projects determined to be disadvantageous to the public.
In an earlier press briefing, Belmonte expressed support to the ICI and reiterated the city’s willingness to work with the commission in investigating alleged anomalies involving flood control projects.
“Every centavo of public funds must be returned to the people through honest and people-oriented service. Let us flood them – not with water – but with projects that are cost-effective, of good quality and truly useful,” she said in Filipino.
ICI summons Brice Hernandez
The ICI has summoned dismissed DPWH assistant district engineer Brice Hernandez to testify about corruption in flood control projects, according to Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
During the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing yesterday, Sotto said he has received the subpoena duces tecum from the ICI for Hernandez to testify before the President’s independent flood control commission.
Sotto advised Hernandez to tell all during the hearing to prepare himself for the intense scrutiny he would be facing before the commission.
“I suggest you tell the truth, because facing a legislative inquiry is differing from facing the independent commission,” Sotto said.
Hernandez is detained in the Senate for contempt for allegedly lying during the Senate Blue Ribbon probe on anomalous flood control projects.
Pattern
The occurrence of over 300 flood control projects in Quezon City worth P17 billion since 2022 was solidifying a pattern of corruption that wasted billion of taxpayers’ money on ghost and substandard projects, according to Secretary Dizon.
“I can only say that we are seeing a consistent pattern in this crime, constant elements in the projects in Bulacan, in (Oriental) Mindoro, in La Union, and now also in Quezon City,” Dizon said during a press briefing yesterday.
In the case of Quezon City, Dizon said it was deeply painful to know that the P17 billion in DPWH funds spent for the more than 300 flood control projects had not caused an easing of the locality’s flood problem. – Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Rainier Allan Ronda
