FILE PHOTO: People swim through the floodwater on a street in Manila on July 21, 2025, after Typhoon Wipha brought heavy rains and flooding to the Philippines. Reports of billions of pesos worth of flood-control projects that were awarded but never materialised or were substandard have fuelled public outrage. - AFP
MANILA: The Philippines loses up to 70 per cent of government funds meant for flood control projects to corruption, with economic losses reaching as much as US$2 billion for the past two years, according to Finance Secretary Ralph Recto.
Average economic losses from corruption in flood control projects under the Public Works Department have reached about 42.3 billion (US$739 million) to 118.5 billion pesos from 2023 to 2025, Recto said at a Senate budget hearing Tuesday (Sept 2).
The estimate was based on anecdotal accounts that 25 to 70 per cent of the total cost of flood control projects were lost to corruption, according to the finance chief’s presentation.
Reports of billions of pesos worth of flood-control projects that were awarded but never materialised or were substandard have fuelled public outrage in a country that periodically suffers from widespread flooding during typhoon season.
In his state of the nation address in July, Marcos said the government found many shortfalls in public works including failed or "imaginary” flood-control projects, adding that "many of these are rackets, sources of kickbacks.” - Bloomberg
