Last year, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his 3rd State of the Nation Address. Among other things, he flexed the implementation of over 5,500 flood control projects, with plans for around 10 more large scale projects amounting to over 500 billion pesos to be implemented over the next 13 years. These projects once promised to alleviate the lives of Filipinos, yet following the recent ravages of various typhoons, the projects that once promised to save lives, are now drowning in corruption.
The people, justifiably, started asking why they still have to wade through flood waters almost yearly, despite this administration purportedly focusing on infrastructure to prevent them to such a point that the President made it a highlight of that year’s SONA. After all, when the government has trillions of pesos sunk into these solutions over the years, at least some of them should’ve been able to alleviate some of the flooding, if not outright solve them, right?
Turns out, a majority of those trillions didn’t even materialize into meaningful solutions.
Fast forward to 2025, after launching an independent investigation, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee discovered that 20% of all flood control projects nationwide, amounting to over 100 billion pesos, were awarded to a small clique of contractors, with many allegedly being connected to politikos both on the local level, up to the chambers of congress itself. Officials were quick to point fingers at who to blame, from the Department of Public Works and Highways, up to the office of the president himself.
And that’s not all: in a clear misalignment of funding, it was revealed that the majority of these flood control projects weren’t even being built in areas most vulnerable to flooding. Provinces such as Isabela, Cebu, Albay, Leyte, and Camarines Sur had hundreds of flood control projects funded, when some of the most flood vulnerable provinces of Nueva Ecija, Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Oriental Mindoro, and even Metro Manila itself, didn’t even get to receive a fraction of the amount of funding the aforementioned provinces received.
Though ultimately no one admitted any fault, one thing became clear; as Filipinos were forced to wade through the floodwaters, someone out there was swimming in a flood of cash, with contractors from Luzon to Mindanao pulling off a lavish display of questionable wealth. While the ordinary citizen waddles to make ends meet,
In Bulacan for example, which accounts for nearly 45% of Central Luzon’s 548 billion peso budget for flood control since 2022, contractor Wawao Builders snatched over 9 billion pesos worth of funding on projects whose progress only existed on paper. In Ilagan City, Isabela, 69% of the city’s flood control projects were bagged by Dragon Twelve Builders & Construction Supply, owned by the brother of Ilagan City mayor Diaz, amounting to over 2 billion pesos despite being flagged for delays in their prior projects. We also have cases like Hi-Tone and Sunwest constructions, owned by the Co family, which are able to bag billions yearly doing these same projects, whilst Claudine Co, niece of the notorious Congressman Zaldy Co, freely and openly flaunts her Hermes bags and private jet flights on her social media accounts. And perhaps most egregious of all, the Discaya family, the former rulers of Pasig City who were connected to two of the 15 contractors facing outcry for the flood control projects, were revealed to have 40 luxury cars in their possession, admitting in separate interviews with journalists Korina Sanchez and Julius Babao that the vast majority aren’t even being used.
The meat connecting these, and more cases together? These contractors are connected, if not outright owned, by Political Dynasties.
And these are hardly isolated cases; upon senate investigation, Senator Panfilo Lacson revealed that of the over 2 trillion pesos allocated to flood control over the past 15 years, only 40% of the funds were actually allocated to these infrastructure projects, with the rest being pocketed by their contractors, and kickbacks for their accomplices. Other senators have labeled this scheme as a “grand robbery” but instead of accountability, everyone decided to simply point fingers, from the DPWH, the chambers of congress, up to the office of the President himself.
This is not just substandard public service, it is a deliberate system of dynasties funneling the nation’s wealth into the pockets of the elite in a fashion eerily reminiscent of the Martial Law era; while our government is busy playing the blame game, we see the same leaders committing highway robbery in broad daylight. Just like his father before him, we’re once again witnessing an administration built on the backs of white elephant infrastructure projects that ultimately serve no one but their pockets.
But we can make history rhyme in other ways: while the dynasties of old cling dearly to the power they possess, we the people are withering it further with each passing year. As reformists in power shut down the loopholes that were abused over the decades, militant youth and citizens continue to take to the streets, demanding accountability from our leaders who claim legitimacy from the people’s consent alone. We must hasten our calls for better public service, install leaders who genuinely care for the people, and punish those who game the system for their own benefit.
And just as our forefathers may remind us, we cannot wait for saviors; the climate disaster threatens to hit the nation with stronger storms and deadlier floods as the years go by; and unless we correct the errors of corruption with haste, we may find ourselves obliterated by the glass cannon of tyranny before we get the chance to smash it for good.