00:00In the town of Likab, Nueva Ecija, a flood control project was built by DPWH.
00:11Likab is considered a catch basin in Nueva Ecija.
00:15But a part of the flood control project
00:20was destroyed by a typhoon.
00:23In a document obtained by a reporter's notebook from DPWH,
00:28the project started in February.
00:30It ended in June 2020.
00:33It's worth more than 47 million pesos.
00:38This was obtained by the residents of Likab, Nueva Ecija.
00:43You can see here the impact of the Super Typhoon Pipito.
00:46You can see here the impact of the Super Typhoon Pipito.
00:49You can see here the impact of the Super Typhoon Pipito.
00:53The water from that river came here.
00:57It came directly to our crops like eggplant, vegetables, corn, and rice.
01:05The crops of the farmer, Mr. Jose Padrones, were destroyed by the flood.
01:12We didn't expect the flood to come to our area.
01:19What we were afraid of was the typhoon.
01:22In the early hours of the morning,
01:26the water came to our fields.
01:34After a while, our fields were saved.
01:39In August, our fields were washed out.
01:47This is the only crop left.
01:51There are only a few trees left.
01:54It won't be good anymore.
01:56Mr. Jose is now worried about how he can repay the loan of more than 50,000 pesos.
02:04We spent a lot of money on this.
02:09Now, everything is destroyed.
02:12Why was the project destroyed just four years ago?
02:17First of all, the rainfall or water runoff from the Talavera River is high.
02:29We were not able to put a sheet pile in the DPWH for our slope protection.
02:37We didn't expect the water flow to be high.
02:44The rainfall caused the damage.
02:48We have already requested funds for this.
02:52We are waiting for the funds to be released so that we can rehabilitate the dike.
02:59Secretary, we cannot avoid thinking about the affected communities.
03:05If these projects are substandard, if there is a problem with the quality,
03:12if the work is not done properly, how would you address that, Secretary?
03:16We are saying that the design parameters were low to cope up with the climate change phenomenon.
03:26If we rehabilitate now, it will be stronger and we will use new design standards.
03:37According to the DPWH, more than 5,500 flood control projects were completed from 2022 to 2024.
03:47The total funds spent on those projects reached more than Php 268 billion.
03:54The region 3 or Central Luzon has the most projects where more than 800 projects were built.
04:01More than 600 flood control projects were built in the National Capital Region or NCR.
04:08More than 600 in Region 1 or Ilocos Region.
04:12More than 400 projects in Region 2 or Cagayan Valley.
04:16Region 4A or Calabar Zone and Region 8 or Eastern Visayas.
04:20And more than 300 in Region 5 or Bicol Region.
04:30Reporters also visited some flood control projects in NCR,
04:36like the one here in Binondo, Manila.
04:41We were able to reach the two parts of the flood mitigation facility in Estero de Binondo.
04:49This is where the garbage from the waterways will be collected to avoid flooding.
04:57Despite the thousands of flood control projects,
05:01the number of floods in Region 3, NCR, and Bicol Region has been increasing in the past few months.
05:09Flood control projects are still a viable option.
05:13It's high time that we also think of other options.
05:16We have to understand also that engineering intervention is just one of the solutions to mitigate flooding.
05:24I think we should help each other to solve our flooding problems.
05:32Environmental issues, urban areas, land use, and...
05:40The water level is really high.
05:43President Bongbong Marcos was also asked why despite the billion-peso flood control projects,
05:51the number of floods in the country is still increasing.
05:54Look at the statistics.
05:56In Baguio-Undoy, the water level dropped 400 plus centimeters.
06:02Here in Cristin, the water level dropped about 700 plus centimeters,
06:08almost twice that of Undoy.
06:10That's why the flood control projects were made for flood-affected areas such as Undoy.
06:15Times have really changed.
06:17Just this November 6, the Senate passed a fund for flood control projects
06:24that amounted to more than 500 billion pesos within three years.
06:29The budget of our government for flood control alone,
06:33including DPWH, MMDA, Climate Change Commission, DENR, etc.,
06:39amounts to Php1,444,000,000 a day.
06:44So we want to check and find out where this is going.
06:52How can we change this?
06:55How can we change this?
06:57Times are getting worse.
06:59The floods are getting worse.
07:01How can we prepare for such scenarios?
07:04We have to review the fundamentals on engineering designs.
07:10Maybe we will add our parameters
07:14to make our projects more resilient for the climate change phenomenon.
07:22If we have a 25-30-year return period,
07:28maybe we will have a 50-year return period.
Comments