Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson on the night of Aug. 17 questioned the effectiveness of ₱1.939 trillion in cumulative government spending on flood control, posting a chart on X showing the Department of Public Works and Highways' (DPWH) flood management program allocations from 2011 through 2025, as heavy monsoon rains flooded large parts of Metro Manila for a second consecutive day, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
"FLOOD CONTROL VS UNCONTROLLED FLOOD: PhP1.939 trillion funded the DPWH flood control management program under three presidents from 2011-2025 and the result is uncontrolled flood," Lacson wrote, according to the Inquirer's report, alongside a photo of a flooded street.
Spending climbed sharply after 2022
The figures in Lacson's chart, as reported by the Inquirer, show annual DPWH flood management allocations rising from ₱11.3 billion in 2011 to ₱139 billion in 2018 and ₱145.6 billion in 2022, then jumping to ₱287 billion in 2023, ₱346.8 billion in 2024, and ₱372.8 billion in 2025. The figures cover flood management, local programs, foreign-assisted projects, the Sustainable Infrastructure Projects Alleviating Gaps program, and the Basic Infrastructure Program.
The post comes roughly a year after Lacson chaired the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's inquiry into anomalous flood control projects, an investigation that grew out of his August 2025 privilege speech alleging that only about 40% of flood control funds were actually spent on the projects themselves, with the rest allegedly siphoned off through kickbacks and commissions among DPWH officials, contractors, and lawmakers. That committee's findings pegged losses from "ghost" or non-existent flood control projects at roughly ₱180 billion since 2016.
Flash floods, 27 dead, dams near spilling level
The renewed scrutiny follows a bout of intense southwest monsoon rain, locally called habagat, that dumped 201.7 millimeters on Metro Manila in five hours on Aug. 17 — nearly half the 24-hour rainfall total recorded during Tropical Storm Ondoy in 2009 — according to GMA News. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said 138 mm of that total fell within a single two-hour window, triggering flash floods across the capital region. The Philippine National Police put the nationwide death toll from the monsoon rains at 27 as of Aug. 18, according to the Star's report, and four major dams remained near spilling level, per the Inquirer's dam watch.
The government proposed ₱107.4 billion for DPWH flood control projects in 2027, part of the broader ₱7.2-trillion national budget now before Congress, a figure that BusinessWorld reported has come under fresh scrutiny given the recurring flooding. President Marcos ordered DPWH to fast-track pumping-station repairs and keep anti-flood facilities operational during the monsoon season, and the agency said it had restored a damaged generator powering two mobile pumps at Marikina's Tumana Pumping Station.
Context: A scandal still working through the courts
Lacson's post lands as multiple flood-control corruption cases move through the Sandiganbayan. Pulpulitiko has previously reported on the Ombudsman's ₱60-billion Cebu flood control probe, in which a quarter of six years' worth of provincial allocations went to a single contractor, and on prosecutors' bid to reverse the bail granted to former senator Bong Revilla in a Bulacan flood-control malversation case. Former senator Jinggoy Estrada, ex-Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co, and former DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan also face plunder and graft charges over the broader flood-control scheme; Estrada remains in detention after the Sandiganbayan denied his bail request.
Malacañang has separately denied that President Marcos discussed an alleged per-senator "leadership fund" in the DPWH budget with Bonoan, the Star reported on Aug. 18, an allegation that first surfaced in Sandiganbayan testimony and that Pulpulitiko covered in its Aug. 16 report on the House's opening budget deliberations. DPWH has not issued a new statement responding directly to Lacson's Aug. 17 chart as of this writing.
Sources
- "Lacson: P1.9-T flood control budget yet flood remains uncontrolled," Philippine Daily Inquirer, Aug. 17, 2026
- "Metro Manila gets 201.7 mm of Habagat rain in 5 hours," GMA News Online
- "Monsoon death toll now 27 – PNP," The Philippine Star
- "DAM WATCH: 4 dams still near spilling level," Philippine Daily Inquirer
- "Flooded Metro Manila puts P107-billion flood control budget under scrutiny," BusinessWorld
- "Palace: Marcos didn't discuss leadership fund with Bonoan," The Philippine Star