MANILA(December 4) — Billions in public funds meant to protect communities from flooding may have never reached the ground at all.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ping Lacson on Wednesday warned that as much as P180 billion could have been siphoned off through ghost flood control projects since 2016 — a staggering loss that hits hardest the very communities these projects were supposed to keep safe.
In a radio interview, Lacson said he and Senate Finance Chair Win Gatchalian arrived at the estimate after reviewing inspections of flood control projects nationwide.
“We’re looking at 30,000 flood control projects since 2016. If we extrapolate earlier findings that more than 600 out of 10,000 projects were ghost projects… the losses could reach P180 billion or even higher,” Lacson said.
He added: “Imagine that — P180 billion gone to ghost projects. And that doesn’t even include substandard ones.”
Billions lost, while communities suffer real floods
The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee is deep into its probe of anomalous flood control spending — focusing on the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bulacan First District as a case study of how corruption allegedly operates from local offices all the way up the chain.
For residents in flood-prone areas, the revelations cut deep: while families wade through waist-deep waters every rainy season, billions of pesos meant to build dikes, drainage systems, and river defenses may have ended up in the pockets of officials and contractors.
A “pittance” returned
Former DPWH Bulacan First District Engineer Henry Alcantara recently returned P110 million in plundered funds and is expected to return P200 million more. But Lacson dismissed this as a drop in the bucket compared to the suspected scale of the scheme.
“The amount returned is a pittance,” he said, noting that the true losses remain unknown and likely run into the billions.
Ghost projects uncovered — and counting
So far, the DPWH has confirmed 421 ghost projects out of the 8,000 inspected — barely a quarter of the total 30,000 projects nationwide.
Community advocates say the numbers paint a grim picture: for every community that floods, every school or barangay road washed out, every family displaced, there may be a “project” on paper that was fully funded — but never built.
As investigations continue, both senators emphasized that the issue is not just about lost funds, but about public safety, trust, and the right of communities to disaster-resilient infrastructure that actually exists.
