While communities across the country are once again submerged in waist-deep floods, not just billions but trillions of pesos supposedly meant to keep them safe are vanishing into “ghost projects,” padded contracts and crocodilian appetites. In the halls of the Senate, the ongoing probe has revealed what many Filipinos have long suspected – the very funds meant to protect lives and livelihoods are being devoured by corruption. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself did not mince words in his State of the Nation Address last month calling the anomalies in flood control spending nothing less than economic sabotage.
At the center of the controversy are provinces like Bulacan, with 668 listed projects; Cebu, with 414; Isabela, with 337; Pangasinan, with 313; Pampanga, with 293; Albay, with 273; and Leyte, with 262, among others. Yet when the Commission on Audit (COA) and local communities checked, many of these turned out to be incomplete, substandard, or even non-existent, with single contractors cornering billions that never translated into real protection for flood-prone communities. What should have been lifelines for Filipinos instead became pipelines to private pockets.
The scandal, however, is far larger than these provinces. In his privilege speech, Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacaon shared that since 2011, the country has already poured almost ₱2 trillion into flood-control programs, yet only about 40 percent of that money actually went to projects on the ground. Senators and whistleblowers have since exposed how the system is rigged as according to testimonies, the budget breakdown often looks like this: 40% siphoned as kickbacks, 15% retained by contractors, 30% spent on actual work, and 5% lost to “other costs.” In effect, only a third of taxpayer money ever makes it to construction.
More troubling, dozens of lawmakers including Ako Bicol Representative Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co are implicated in the scandal through firms like Sunwest Inc., which he co-founded and which secured billions in flood-control contracts. A Senate probe has also alleged that as many as 67 lawmakers in the previous Congress controlled project funds either personally or through relatives serving as contractors. Meanwhile, companies tied to the Discaya family, such as St. Timothy Construction Corp. and Alpha & Omega General Contractor & Development Corp., have been linked to “ghost” and dysfunctional flood-control projects in Iloilo and Bulacan.
At the national level, even officials have admitted the scale of the mess, including DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan who admitted that 6,021 out of 9,855 flood-control projects launched between July 2022 and May 2025, worth over ₱350 billion, lacked even the most basic documentation: no infrastructure type, no location, no dates, and no proof of completion. “That was the analysis that came out of our submission,” Bonoan told reporters, prompting the release of the list for public feedback and validation. At the same time, President Marcos revealed that 15 contractors had cornered nearly 20 percent of the total ₱545-billion flood-control budget, raising alarm over massive contract concentration and limited accountability.
As the flood-control scandal can only be described as a betrayal of public trust, the government, Congress, and the Department of Public Works and Highways must move beyond finger-pointing and initiate sweeping reforms: transparent auditing of all infrastructure projects, prosecution of corrupt officials and contractors, and the implementation of mechanisms that place community oversight at the center of public spending. While billions, even trillion, have already been lost, further inaction would mean more than misused funds, it would mean more lives destroyed by preventable floods.
As long as crocodiles feast on the flood control budget, the people will continue to drown, not in rainwater, but in betrayal.