Davao flood control: Why excluded from 2027 budget? – Tinio

MANILA, Philippines – Funding for flood control projects in the Davao region was left blank in the proposed 2027 budget, according to ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, prompting him to ask whether this meant no such funding was allocated to the region.

Of the 197 district engineering offices (DEO) under the Department of Public Works and Highways, 113 received allotments, while the other 84 did not, including all offices in Region 11, the administrative region encompassing Davao, he said.

“Maybe other districts don’t need flood control projects, but one thing that we noticed is that the whole Region 11… the flood control projects were blank,” Tinio, an opposition lawmaker, said in Filipino at a congressional briefing on the proposed spending plan for next year.

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“We are wondering, because Davao faces flooding, yet there is none [for the region],” he added.

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Acting Budget Secretary Kim Robert de Leon deferred answering Tinio’s question, saying it should be directed to the public works department, which prepared the flood control funding proposal for 2027.

“If no proposal was sent by DPWH, then there is nothing we can evaluate,” de Leon said in Filipino.

READ: Flood control back in Palace’s 2027 budget proposal

Funds for flood control — a corruption flashpoint for the Marcos administration — were included in the proposed P7.2-trillion national budget at P107.4 billion, with P19.6 billion set aside for ongoing foreign-assisted projects. /mcm