Lacson: Only 40% of flood control funds go to implementation

3 months ago

Here are today's headlines – the latest news in the Philippines and around the world:
- Lacson: Only 40% of flood control project funds go to implementation
- Marcos eyes ‘economic sabotage’ cases vs contractors of big ghost flood control projects
- OFWs find divorce shortcut in Guam – lawyer
- New UP basketball recruit dies after collapsing in practice
- Three-peat: SB19’s A’TIN wins Billboard Fan Army Face-Off for third time in a row

https://www.rappler.com/video/daily-wrap/august-20-2025/

Transcript

00:00Today on Rappler

00:07Senator Ping Lakson says only 40% of flood control funds are used for actual implementation

00:20President Ferdinand Marcus Jr. eyes economic sabotage cases against contractors of big

00:25coast flood control projects. Some overseas Filipino workers go to Guam for divorce.

00:31A new Nigerian recruit of the University of the Philippines men's basketball team died

00:35after collapsing during training. And SB19's 18 wins the Billboard fan army face-off for

00:41the third time in a row.

00:45Senator Ping Lakson reveals that only 40% of the country's flood control funds go to actual

00:49implementation and that most of the funds are lost to corruption. In a privileged speech

00:54delivered on Wednesday, August 20. He says he obtained the information through his office's

00:59research supported by information from insiders, the Department of Public Works and Highways

01:03and contractors, as well as open sources, including information sent to Malacanang, Sumbong

01:08sa Pangulo website. He says the biggest share goes to the funder or the project proponent

01:13who is a politician.

01:14Mr. President, there is also a passing through or parking fee that will reach 5% to 6% of the

01:23fund. This is called royalty, which is called the place that is given to the political control

01:31in the district where the project will implement or implement. Lo and behold, Mr. President, 20% to 25% of the

01:41government's flood control projects on August 11, while the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee began

01:46its probe for the most part of the most part of the project proponent.

01:48Lakson also bared substandard and ghost flood control projects in parts of Luzon, including

01:53Pampanga, La Union, Oriental Mindoro, and Bulacan, as well as a new style of corruption in flood

01:58control projects that involved repeated annual funding for an already completed structure.

02:03President Marcos named the top 15 contractors of the government's flood control projects on August 11,

02:092017, while the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee began its probe on Tuesday, August 19.

02:15President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says that his government is eyeing, quote, economic sabotage

02:20cases against contractors of big flood control projects. This in response to questions from

02:25the media while he was visiting Puroquatro, Barangay Piel in Baliwag, Bulacan, where he verified

02:30a citizen's complaint about a non-existent but fully paid for 55 million-peso reinforced concrete

02:36river wall project. When asked about the Special Fraud Audit of the Commission on Audit on Flood Control

02:41Projects in Bulacan, Marcos said the ghost project ng Baliwag is, quote, an example of falsification

02:47because it was reported as completed. Marcos says he went to Barangay Piel acting on a report his

02:53office received through his citizen's complaint website, Sumbong sa Pangulo. The 220-meter project

02:58cost the government around 55 million pesos. Marcos says as of June, the report stated that it was 100%

03:04complete and also fully paid.

03:06We can't see anything. There's a hollow block, a cement, no equipment here.

03:15All of this project is a ghost project. There's no work here.

03:23I'm not disappointed. I'm angry.

03:27Some Filipinos find a way to avail of divorce abroad easily. Family law expert Katrina Legarda reveals

03:33some overseas Filipino workers go to Guam for divorce, a separation that could be recognized

03:38in the Philippines later on. Legarda says they discovered that Guam only has a seven-day residence

03:43requirement and you can file a divorce. They come back to this country having obtained the divorce in Guam

03:52and the only requirement there is that the Filipino spouse here has to sign an agreement that they are

04:02not objecting to the separation of property and the custody and support of the children.

04:09There is no divorce in the Philippines, only a declaration of nullity of marriage and annulment.

04:14However, the country recognizes divorce obtained in another country.

04:18Under the Family Code, Filipinos previously married to foreigners can ask Philippine courts to recognize

04:24their foreign divorce. Legarda served as amicus curiae or friend of the court in oral arguments before

04:29the Supreme Court that involves a Filipino who became a dual citizen and got a divorce while living abroad.

04:35The unnamed petitioner sought his divorce to be acknowledged locally, but in Nueva Ecea court

04:40junked his petition. Thus, the case reached the High Court.

04:45Israel Ozamudiyami Friday, the new Nigerian recruit of the University of the Philippines men's

04:50basketball team, dies after collapsing during training on Tuesday, August 19. He was 19 years old.

04:57The UP Office of Athletics and Sports Development says he was immediately brought to a nearby hospital,

05:02but died despite efforts to revive him. UP adds, the cost of death is yet to be determined.

05:08Friday, a 6'10 centre recently transferred to UP from CEU. UP says it is already, quote,

05:15in close contact with his family and is extending its full support during this difficult time.

05:20The death of Friday comes just two months after National University girls basketball's Ashlyn Abong,

05:25who died after collapsing in practice. She was 18.

05:30SB19's 18 wins the Billboard fan army face-off for the third time in a row.

05:35Billboard announces Wednesday, August 20, the fandom of the P-pop boy group beat out American

05:39pop singer Selena Gomez's Selenators in the finals to clinch the title.

05:43Billboard writes,

05:45Each of the acts that SB19 squared off against this year has topped the Billboard Hot 100.

05:50SB19 has yet to achieve that milestone, but their hit Damn reached No. 4 on the Billboard

05:54Philippines Hot 100 in March. 18 is now tied with K-pop group's Tiara Queens in terms of the

06:00number of times winning the fan army face-off. 18 is now the only fandom of a Filipino music act

06:05having won the competition. It first won in 2023 and proceeded to pull off a landslide win in 2024.

06:13Held since 2014, Billboard's fan army face-off is an annual voting tilt where fandoms of artists

06:18across the world go head-to-head to determine which fan army is the strongest.

Lacson: Only 40% of flood control funds go to implementation | The wRap

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