Senators Francis Escudero and Joel Villanueva urged the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to put an end to the chronic flooding in Metro Manila.
Following the devastation caused by Typhoon Carina and the enhanced southwest monsoon in our country, the senators expressed their dismay over the flooding that occurred despite the existence of flood control projects.
According to Escudero, the problem of flooding should not be passed down for generations, especially since the DPWH’s flood control project has a significant budget of PHP 255 billion. Despite this, the problem seems to worsen rather than improve.
Additionally, the budget allocation for flood control projects is notably larger than the budget for other government agencies such as the Department of National Defense (DND) with P232B, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) with P209B, the Department of Agriculture (DA) with P42B, and the Department of Health (DOH) with P24B.
Sen. Villanueva expressed the same concern citing the substantial flood control budget but flooding in Bulacan remains to be a growing problem.
Upon distributing aid to evacuees, flood victims consistently reported the same concern. It was as if nothing had been accomplished with the flood control projects in their province.
