P55-M Bulacan ghost flood control project not congressional insertion — solon
MANILA, Philippines — Rep. Terry Ridon (Bicol Saro Party-list) said the delayed river wall project examined by the president in Bulacan, which was scheduled for construction in February, was not inserted by Congress in the 2025 budget.
In a post on Tuesday, August 26, Ridon said the flood control project can already be found in the executive branch’s proposed 2025 budget, or the National Executive Program (NEP).
This means the non-existent 220-meter river wall in Purok 4, Barangay Piel, Baliuag, Bulacan was part of the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) proposal, with the president’s approval.
“Bulacan ghost project is a NEP-originated project, not a congressional initiative-originated project,” Ridon told Philstar.com in a message.
The lawmaker, who chairs the public accounts committee, explained over dzBB 594 that flood control projects merely adopted by Congress in the 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) without changes would be difficult to link to House members or senators.
“Kasi binabanggit lagi yung mga may cut ho lagi ang congressman. … Marami doon sa pinuntahan na mga lugar ng pangulo ng Pilipinas, hindi po ‘yan congressional insertions,” Ridon said.
(Because it’s always being said that congressmen always get a cut. … Many of the places the president visited are not congressional insertions.)
“Ito po ay NEP-originated projects. Ibig sabihin, it is an executive proposal. So kumbaga mahirap po natin sabihin na ito po ay pinakelaman ng kongresista, pinakialaman po ng senador,” he added.
(These are NEP-originated projects, which means they are executive proposals. So it’s difficult to say that these were meddled with by congressmen or senators.)
Bulacan is one of the most flood-prone provinces in the country.
RELATED: ‘I’m not disappointed, I’m angry’: Marcos blasts unfinished P55-million ghost project
The Bulacan ghost project
The 2025 NEP lists the project under the “Details of DPWH’s Programs/Projects” as the “Construction of Reinforced Concrete River Wall at Purok 4, Barangay Piel, Baliuag, Bulacan,” with a budget of P60 million.
The contract, amounting to P55.73 million, was awarded to Syms Construction Trading, with Bulacan's 1st District Engineering Office as the implementing office. The project was scheduled to begin on Feb. 25, 2025, with an expiry date of Oct. 22, 2025.
But when President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. visited the site on August 20, he found that no work had begun, nearly six months after construction was supposed to start.
It was during this visit, which was part of a string of inspections he conducted in August, Marcos said he is considering filing economic sabotage charges against those behind the failed flood control projects.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has already relieved 10 officials from Bulacan's 1st District Engineering Office while the ghost projects in the province are being investigated.
String of flood control inspections
The most recent inspection took place on August 24 in Benguet, where Marcos criticized a P264-million rock shed project along Kennon Road as “sloppily made” and “useless.”
Despite its two-year construction period, the project failed to prevent soil collapse and rockfall during Typhoon “Emong.” Marcos said this would cost the government at least twice the original amount just to reconstruct it.
The president has since called out flood control contractors who abandoned projects, leaving residents in flood-stricken areas heavily affected during storms despite the billions that have been allocated for years.
The DPWH is investigating flood control projects, while Congress has launched parallel probes to uncover possible anomalies and corruption involving government officials.
Several reports have shown that some lawmakers received campaign donations from contractors during elections, with some owning construction firms or having ties to one themselves.
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