Flood control takes nearly half of DPWH’s P754-B climate-tagged funds — CCC
MANILA, Philippines — Nearly half of the P754 billion in climate-tagged funds of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was spent on flood control projects, according to the Climate Change Commission (CCC).
During the House plenary debates on Friday, September 26, Rep. Renee Co (Kabataan Party-list) questioned why climate change expenditure is “so infrastructure-heavy.”
She noted that 76% of the government’s climate change expenditures came from the DPWH, while only around 1% came from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Rep. Edvic Yap (ACT-CIS Party-list) did not give a clear-cut response, only saying that the commission “doesn’t do the planning, only the tagging” of expenditures.
This left Co dissatisfied, prompting her to ask how much of the P754 billion went to flood control. Yap replied that a staggering P360 billion had been tagged as climate change expenditures in 2025.
The government has been under fire for spending trillions over the past years for flood control projects, only to discover that several were made of substandard materials or abandoned by winning contractors.
On top of the failed flood mitigation projects, corruption allegations tied to several agencies, including Congress, have come to light amid controversies surrounding the “last-minute insertions” in the 2025 national budget.
“Gusto natin malaman kung bakit ‘yung frontline communities are left to their own devices when disaster strikes, while funds mostly go to consultancy and monitoring contracts or infrastructure projects na ghost o substandard naman pala in mitigating environmental disaster,” Co said.
The minority lawmaker then asked whether the CCC has any mechanisms in place to check whether tagged projects and programs genuinely address climate change.
Yap said the CCC, together with the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), “ensures” the proper implementation of climate-tagged projects.
He added that the Climate Change Expenditure Tagging (CCET) system “monitors, tracks, evaluates, and reports” on the climate-related spending of agencies and local governments.
The CCC also recommends the inclusion of climate change expenditures in the national budget to the DBM and works with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to ensure LGUs’ compliance with guidelines, Yap said.
Co, however, argued that the poor implementation of flood control projects shows that much of the tagged climate change spending does not truly address climate change and should be reviewed.
“Not only is there a corruption crisis, mayroon din lumalalang climate change crisis na ang dapat na pera na napunta sa pag-resolve ng climate change ay hindi rin napunta doon at the end of the day,” Co said.
What’s been made clear, she said, is that the commission needs stronger powers to ensure that agencies comply with projects tagged as climate change expenditures.
Co added that the CC should not simply function as a “repository of self-tags.” Instead, it should have the capability of ensuring that supposed climate change programs and projects align with the government’s commitments and national plan.
For 2026, the House has realigned about P255 billion from DPWH flood control projects to fund social aid, as well as programs in education, health and agriculture.
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