Missing

Try and wrap your heads around this: over the past years, government has been spending over P1.2 billion each day on flood control projects.

Over a trillion pesos have been flushed down somewhere in the name of mitigating flooding. The money is definitely gone. The projects are missing.

Over the last decade, spending on flood control is likely the biggest public works item on the books. The money could have been spent building up all our regional airports to international grade. Or else, that staggering amount could have been spent building bridges to link all our far-flung communities to the economic mainstream –  thereby bringing down the scandalous levels of rural poverty.

With the money allegedly spent on flood-control projects, we could have closed the classroom gap and made all our primary schools internet-ready. We could have launched a feeding program to finally end the scourge of child malnutrition and stunting. Instead, short on funding, our educational system is making idiots of our young. The majority of high school students randomly studied by international researchers flunked tests in reading, science and mathematics.

Kristine was not a typhoon. It was a severe tropical storm. And yet it managed to flood communities and farmlands from the Visayas to Luzon. If there were any flood-control projects on the ground, they have been conveniently washed away.

If plunder happened, the evidence has been washed away.

Flood-control projects, by their nature, involve “horizontal” infrastructure. Anti-corruption activists constantly remind us that “horizontal” public works projects have leakages of up to 70 percent of project cost. “Leakages” is the polite euphemism for commissions and kickbacks.

Even as we have allocated over a trillion pesos to mitigate flooding, we do not have a master plan that will set priorities and define project scale. We do not have a master plan because, in this country, budgeting is a heavily politicized process.

Instead of Congress funding a national (and rational) plan, the budget is almost evenly distributed to all the congressional districts. This is the stuff of the infernal pork barrel, whatever that bucket of grease is now called. It provides the gravy that feeds the dynasts, funding the carnival of luxury items that happens each time our legislators gather.

The corruption that infects our public works program is not a victimless crime. When farmers lose their crop to floods, they are poorer for many more years. Widespread flooding disrupts our economic growth.

In the face of more severe weather coming, we need a master plan for mitigating the suffering. More important, our people need a plan to end the greed.

New cities

Whenever there is widespread flooding, demagogues are quick to shift the blame for these events. Among the usual suspects are the reclamation projects along our coastline – even as they benefit from scientific studies and expert economic assessments.

Several reclamation projects have been proposed for Manila Bay. This is because our burgeoning metropolis cannot possibly grow inwards. The cost of urban land makes reclamation a sound business option.

Last year, the ongoing reclamation projects along the Manila Bay coastline were suspended as a result of unenlightened agitation. The suspension idled the projects, inflicting tens of millions in losses. All of them were eventually cleared to proceed after due technical reviews.

In 2021, the Supreme Court, by a vote of 11-2, ruled in favor of the P103.8-billion Las Piñas-Parañaque Coastal Bay Reclamation Project. In the view of the Court, the supposed threat to the environment was not sufficiently established.

The said project was proposed in 2009 by Alltech Contractors Inc. and involved the reclamation of 381.26 hectares of land for Las Piñas and 174.88 hectares for Parañaque. This will give both cities new land and much larger local economies. It will add billions in recurring property and business taxes to the local governments, along with tens of thousands of job opportunities.

Las Piñas and Parañaque, through their respective city councils, agreed to the proposal and executed their respective joint venture agreements. The Philippine Reclamation Authority approved the project in 2010 subject to compliance with environmental rules. In 2011, the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau issued an Environmental Compliance Certificate after the proponents provided sufficient scientific studies on potential flooding and ecological impacts.

The project seemed ready to take off. The residents of the two coastal cities looked forward to the economic opportunities from building new cities.

A case against the project was brought to the Supreme Court, arguing that the project would increase flood risks and obstruct the flow of the Las Piñas-Zapote and Parañaque rivers. The Court was not convinced.

The Court likewise concluded the project does not violate our commitment to international agreements such as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands since this does not prohibit the reclamation of land adjacent to designated wetlands.

Nearly all the reclamation projects, however, rely on the expertise of Dutch companies. Holland, as we know, is nearly entirely retrieved from the sea. The technical studies show that the projects will actually enhance drainage to the sea.

The Supreme Court’s decision notwithstanding, the project still awaits notice to proceed from Malacañang Palace. This is the last hurdle and also the main reason the project could be politicized.