Decades of flood controls yet we’re still underwater

Congressmen budgeted P183 billion for “flood controls” in 2023. They’ll pocket most of it.

Congressional pork barrels are mainly in Flood Management Programs (FMP). Rivers are to be dredged, but none actually takes place. No state auditor checks if mud and silt were removed.

Supermajority congressmen will divvy up the P183-billion FMP. The closer to the top the congressman is, the bigger the share. For “pakisama,” some nano-minority members will be handed pork slices.

The P183 billion is inserted in the Dept. of Public Works and Highways budget. Congressmen negotiated their FMPs during budget committee hearings. Only regional directors and district engineers know exactly how much will go to this influential congressman or that lightweight. An engineering district consists of one or more congressional districts.

FMP funds have been allocated since Congress’ 1987 restoration. Most were stolen. Instead of abating, floods have spread. Congressmen welcome inundations of homes, shops and farms – justifications for more FMPs the following year.

A district’s flood budget grows each year of the congressman’s tenure. It continues to swell as the spouse, offspring, parent or sibling inherits the congressional seat. As long as there are political dynasties, there will be floods to control. For them, it doesn’t pay to solve flooding.

Senators partake of FMPs. More pork barrels are “parked” in other departments, like health and social welfare.

Pork barrels have ballooned ever since outlawed by the Supreme Court in 2013. The SC defined it as lump sums, no details of projects concocted by legislators after budget enactment.

Originally those were fixed amounts. Emerging in 1989, the Countryside Development Fund was P80 million per senator and P50 million per congressman. City lawmakers demanded their share. It was renamed Countrywide Development Fund, and increased to P100 million per senator and P60 million per congressman.

CDFs rose in the 2000s: P150 million per senator, P70 million per congressman. It became Priority Development Assistance Fund: P200 million per senator, P80 million per congressman. Then, Disbursement Acceleration Program; same fixed amounts for senators and congressmen, plus insertions in various agencies.

FMPs are now permanent entries in national budgets. “Flood contractors” have become congressmen. Adept at it, they wangle bigger FMPs than most. They “buy” colleagues’ FMPs, advancing 80-percent kickbacks to the latter and keeping 20-percent “handling fee.” They do fake feasibility studies and completion reports, and onsite props like idle dredgers, hardhat workers and billboards. Imagine Janet Lim-Napoles sitting in Congress.

Dredging actually is measurable. Diligent engineers first compute the project length, width and depth, then re-compute the dredged dimensions. They countercheck this with the dredger’s operating capacity and duration.

The national budget has no such descriptions. FMPs just come in two generic forms: “construction/maintenance of flood mitigation structures and drainage systems” and “construction/rehabilitation of flood mitigation facilities within major river basins and principal rivers”. Only provinces, cities and engineering districts are itemized.

Taxpayers can ask how their congressmen use FMPs.

FMPs are all flat peso amounts. Some don’t have ones, tens, hundreds, thousands – only millions. Examples:

• Ilocos Norte 1st engineering district, exactly P780,000,000;

• Ilocos Sur 2nd ED, exactly P471,000,000;

• Pangasinan 3rd ED, P240 million flat;

• Pangasinan 4th, P980 million flat;

• Isabela 1st, P300 million;

• Isabela 4th, P565 million;

• Nueva Vizcaya ED, P450 million;

• Bataan 1st, P350 million;

• Bulacan 2nd, P120 million;

• Pampanga 2nd, P210 million;

• Pampanga 3rd, P689 million;

• Tarlac ED, P215 million;

• Tarlac 2nd, P227 million;

• Zambales 1st, P150 million;

• Quezon City 1st, P680 million;

• Batangas 4th, P165 million;

• Rizal 1st, P775 million;

• Rizal 2nd, P100 million;

• Marinduque, P348 million;

• Mindoro Occidental, P234 million;

• Romblon, P620 million;

• Albay 1st rehabilitation, P272 million;

• Masbate 2nd, P225 million;

• Masbate 3rd, P352 million;

• Aklan rehabilitation, P428 million;

• Bacolod ED, P502 million;

• Negros Oriental 1st rehab, P90 million;

• Negros Oriental 2nd rehab, P275 million;

• Negros Oriental 3rd rehab, P430 million;

• Bohol 2nd, P220 million;

• Bohol 2nd rehab, P240 million;

• Cebu 2nd, P35 million;

• Cebu 3rd, P269 million;

• Cebu 5th, P150 million;

• Cebu City, P235 million;

• Biliran, P305 million;

• Leyte 1st rehab, P150 million;

• Zamboanga City ED, P552 million;

• Zamboanga del Sur 1st, P125 million;

• Zamboanga del Sur 2nd, P450 million;

• Zamboanga Sibugay rehab, P200 million;

• Cagayan de Oro 1st, P145 million;

• Misamis Occidental 2nd, P250 million;

• Sultan Kudarat 1st, P200 million.

Aside from millions, other FMPs have thousands, but still rounded figures with no ones, tens and hundreds. Some are larger than those above. Complete list in DBM website, 2023 General Appropriations Act, Volume I-B, pages 94-104: https://www.dbm.gov.ph/index.php/budget-documents/2023/general-appropriations-act-fy-2023/gaa-volume-ib

Sources in and out of government, all preferring anonymity, helped in this research. Staunchly against corruption and pork barrels, they need our prayers for fortitude and protection.

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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8 to 10 a.m., DWIZ (882-AM). Follow me on Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/2p93kxm9