Helping Filipinos understand the truth behind flood-control corruption
What is Flood-Control Corruption?
Flood-control corruption involves the misuse and theft of public funds meant to build infrastructure that protects communities from flooding. This includes ghost projects, substandard construction, and schemes involving kickbacks and political budget insertions.
Ghost Projects: Declared finished but do not exist.
Substandard Works: Weak, incomplete, or poorly built flood structures.
Kickbacks: Large portions of project budgets diverted to corrupt officials.
Budget Insertions: Unnecessary or overpriced projects pushed for profit.
Numbers & Facts
Over US$2 billion lost from flood-control corruption (2023–2025).
421 ghost projects discovered out of 8,000 inspected.
Only 30–40% of funds often go to actual construction.
9 out of 10 Filipinos believe corruption worsened flooding.
Human Impact
Corruption in flood-control projects directly harms Filipino families. Fake or weak infrastructure leads to worse flooding, loss of lives, destroyed homes, and long-term suffering for vulnerable communities.
Lives lost in areas where flood walls were never built.
Thousands of families displaced by preventable floods.
Poor communities suffer most due to lack of protection.
How the System Fails
Weak Oversight: Projects approved without verification.
Collusion: Politicians and contractors working together.
Repeat Funding Abuses: Same areas funded repeatedly with no results.
Lack of Transparency: Citizens cannot easily check project details.
What Has Been Done (and What’s Next)
Nationwide audits launched on 9,800 flood-control projects.
Frozen assets of contractors linked to corruption.
Creation of Sumbong sa Pangulo for citizen reports.
Proposed reforms include public project trackers and stricter engineering audits.
What You Can Do
Visit and check local flood-control projects physically.
Report anomalies to government hotlines or community pages.