Senate requires GPS on 2027 flood projects

CEBU, Philippines — To prevent the funding of "ghost projects," the Senate will require the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to submit exact geographic coordinates and station numbers for the proposed P107 billion in flood control funds for 2027.

Speaking to radio dzBB on Sunday, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian outlined the strict safeguards following the Department of Budget and Management's (DBM) announcement of the allocation, stressing that leaving project locations vague gives district engineers too much leeway to duplicate funding.

"Nilagyan namin ng detalye lahat ng mga projects sa DPWH at yan yung mga tinatawag natin station numbers, mga coordinates. Para hindi paulit-ulit ay hindi patong-patong," Gatchalian explained.

"Dahil kung hindi mo lalagyan ng coordinates yan, binibigyan mo ng discretion o kapangyarihan yung district engineer kung saan niya gusto ilagay yan. At pwede maging doble o pwede maging ghost,” he added.

Aside from specific locators, the Senate chief noted that the chamber will also require feasibility studies for the proposed flood interventions to ensure they are actually effective and not just piecemeal solutions.

Beyond flood control, Gatchalian vowed to implement a strict transparency policy for all legislative insertions to eliminate hidden pork barrel funds.

He stated that all amendments introduced by senators will be debated openly on the floor and published online.

"Mahigpit namin ipapatupad yung ginawa natin last year kung saan yung ating mga amendments ay ginagawa sa plenaryo," Gatchalian said.

"Yung mga amendments natin ay nakikita, naririnig ng ating mga kababayan at pangalawa ay ina-upload namin yan sa website... Naka-by-Senator, by-office, so makikita talaga nila," he added.

As the Senate begins its preliminary review of the spending plan, Gatchalian also flagged the massive chunk of the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget allocated solely for debt servicing.

"Out of the 7.2 trillion, almost 1.2 trillion pupunta sa pagbayad natin ng utang. So, malaki yan," Gatchalian noted.

"Almost one-seventh of our budget will go to interest payments and amortization,” he added.

The Senate President stated that lawmakers will closely scrutinize these figures during the budget briefings to determine whether the country's debt trajectory is trending downward. (CEBU NEWS)