OVER 1,000 Filipinos had already reported on President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s flood control complaint website within just three days since it launch on Aug. 11, the Palace reported on Thursday.
Palace Press Officer Clarissa A. Castro said the sumbongsapangulo.ph website had received 1,148 reports, 823 pieces of feedback, and 84,892 total views from Aug. 11 to Aug. 13.
Mr. Marcos on Monday, revealed that 6,021 flood control projects launched since July 2022, totaling over P350 billion, lacked basic details specifying the type of infrastructure to be built.
He flagged troubling findings from an initial government review, including 50 separate projects that shared an identical contract price of P150 million.
The President also noted that out of the P545 billion in total flood control funding since 2022, P100 billion (about 20%) went to only 15 contractors. Notably, five of these firms secured projects in nearly every region across the country.
President Marcos clarified no accusations have been made yet as the findings are preliminary.
Further, he noted a misalignment between project distribution and flood vulnerability: provinces most prone to flooding — like Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, and Metro Manila — should logically receive more mitigation efforts, but data does not always reflect this.
In his last State of the Nation Address, the President ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to investigate flood control projects that failed during recent storms, calling out widespread corruption in infrastructure spending and warning of criminal charges for those found guilty.
He cited his recent inspections after the onslaught of the southwest monsoon and tropical cyclones Crising, Dante, and Emong, which exposed the country’s inadequate flood control projects.
Mr. Marcos accused unnamed officials and contractors of pocketing public funds through “kickbacks, initiatives, errata, and SOPs (standard operating procedures), for the boys” and called out their lack of shame.
Meanwhile, a congressman on Thursday urged the DPWH to immediately expel engineers linked to corruption or project irregularities, calling for a zero-tolerance policy amid mounting scrutiny on flood infrastructure spending.
Public Works Secretary Manuel M. Bonoan must start firing officials linked to construction anomalies, like questionable transactions, Las Piñas Rep. Mark Anthony Santos said.
“Public works projects are vital to national development. We cannot allow corrupt practices to compromise the quality, safety, and integrity of these initiatives,” he said in a statement.
“It’s time to institutionalize a strict, one-strike policy that reinforces accountability across all regional and district offices,” he added. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana and Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
