COA order covers P44B worth of contracts
THE chairperson of the Commission on Audit, Gamaliel Cordoba, has ordered the start of a fraud audit encompassing all flood control projects in the province of Bulacan worth P44 billion or 45 percent of the total P98 billion similar projects cornered by the Central Luzon Region (Region 3).
In a memorandum dated Aug. 12, 2025 addressed to all supervising auditors and audit team leaders at DPWH District Engineering Offices in Region 3, the COA chief ordered the Fraud Audit Office (FAO) to take over the review of all records of the flood control projects in the province.
“You are hereby ordered to immediately submit to the Fraud Audit Office all relevant documents in your custody necessary for the conduct of the fraud audit (and) ensure your availability to assist the fraud audit team at any time during the audit,” Cordoba instructed.
The directive was prompted by the “Sumbong sa Pangulo” website (sumbongsapangulo.ph) tracking the P548 billion worth of flood control projects implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) from July 1, 2022 to May 30, 2025.
“Given the critical issues raised by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. regarding the implementation of these projects, particularly in the province of Bulacan, a fraud audit is an immediate and unequivocal necessity, the COA chief added.
During his last State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 28, the Chief Executive acknowledged the government’s bad record in delivering flood protection projects across the country, causing major disruptions and displacement of thousands of affected residents.
Central Luzon, which suffers from worsening perennial flooding, ranks first among all Philippine regions in flood control funding, as it received P98 billion between July 1, 2022 and May 30, 2025 or 18 percent of the total P548 billion.
In a visit last Friday to Calumpit, Bulacan, the President saw for himself a questionable river protection project which had been declared finished in official records but is visibly incomplete.
The contract for the River Protection Structure along Barangay Bulusan, supposedly fully rehabilitated two years earlier to the tune of P96.4 million, was awarded to St. Timothy Construction Corporation, one of the 15 top contractors that cornered numerous big-ticket flood control projects, based on the list released by the Office of the President last week.
During the visit and on-site inspection, the Palace said, Marcos found evidence of substandard materials and incomplete dredging works.
The Presidential Communications Office said a resident personally handed a letter to the President about a damaged dike behind his property, which showed deep cracks less than a year after its completion.
CREDIBLE PROBE
Former Senate President Franklin Drilon yesterday said it would be prudent for third-party government agencies to investigate alleged irregularities in flood control projects so that investigation will be credible.
In an interview with radio dzBB, Drilon said the people will have doubts as to the credibility of the results of the investigation if the Senate or the House of Representatives will conduct the investigations amid reports on the involvement of House members, and that Senate President Francis Escudero received campaign funds from one of the 15 contractors identified by the President as having been awarded some P100 billion worth of government projects.
Earlier yesterday before the COA fraud audit order was made public, Drilon said it will be better if the agency and the Office of the Ombudsman conduct the investigation because they are constitutional bodies mandated to exact accountability, and file the appropriate charges, respectively.
Drilon made the remark after the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta has scheduled a motu proprio investigation on Tuesday on the alleged anomalous flood control projects, aside from the probe to be conducted by the House of Representatives’ tri-committee.
Drilon said the agencies which should lead the investigation are COA and the Ombudsman.
PROCUREMENT LAW REVIEW
Drilon said the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (formerly the National Economic Development Authority) can help by conducting an overall review of the procurement law to stop irregularities in flood control and other government projects.
When asked if the President should create an independent body to investigate the flood control projects, Drilon said the COA and the Ombudsman are enough.
“There is no need [for an independent body] because we already have existing agencies. As you know, we are fond of creating commissions when we already have the COA and the Ombudsman. And for development, we have the NEDA and DBM which are under the Office of the President which prepare economic programs and our national budget,” he said in Filipino.
He said there is nothing wrong with specific committees of both houses of Congress conducting inquiries but the people will doubt the results.
“Without casting aspersion, it would be difficult for the people to take the results of the investigation because there are some lawmakers alleged involved. The lawmakers themselves are doing the insertions and then they will investigate themselves … The credibility of the results of the investigation will be doubted by the people. That’s why for me the COA and the Ombudsman are in a better position,” he said.
Drilon said flood control projects emerged as one of the fastest-growing items in the national budget. In 2025, he said, the allocation stands at P346.6 billion; in 2024, it was 224.8 billion. Next year, more than P275 billion is allocated for the same projects.
He said allocations for 2024 and 2025 total roughly about P590 billion when during the last year of the Aquino administration in 2016, around P64.2 billion was allotted.
“The current budget is about five times higher than that figure,” he said.
INSERTIONS AT REGIONAL LEVEL
Drilon said lawmakers must carefully examine the 2026 proposed national budget. He said he has information that “insertions” to flood control projects are made at the DPWH regional level and during the budget deliberations in Congress.
“Let us not forget that the submitted National Expenditure Program (NEP) comes from the regional offices, which will then be submitted to the Central Office. Politicians are already making insertions in the proposed budget of the DPWH at the regional level. They insert pork barrel funds so that when it is submitted to Malacañang, the pork funds are already there. Aside from insertions in the NEP, lawmakers are also inserting pork funds in the General Appropriations Act,” he said.
Drilon said insertions at the regional level were made possible by DPWH district engineers who were allegedly in cahoots with district representatives or senators.
He said the job for district engineers should be “abolished’ since they are also doing the job of regional directors.
“The district engineers are for the districts of congressmen. But they are only duplicating the functions of regional directors. The truth is, district engineers won’t allow regional directors to interfere with their work … The usual excuse given [by the district engineers] is that the funds for certain projects are from congressman so and so, or senator so and so. That means regional directors should back off. That’s why maybe it’s better to just abolish that position, and give it to regional directors who should be actually be in-charge of the projects,” he added.
He said this the reason he has not been talking to the district engineer in his hometown in Iloilo, and instead talks directly to the DPWH regional director for any projects in their area. – With Raymond Africa
