BATANGAS Rep. Leandro Leviste yesterday told the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) not to conceal substandard flood control projects in his district as he continues to investigate their status.
Leviste said he has yet to receive documents that his office and the Lemery Local government unit have requested.
The lawmaker last week charged a DPWH district engineer for allegedly trying to bribe him in exchange for stopping his investigation into the anomalies hounding infrastructure projects in his district.
“Beyond repairing damaged or substandard projects and re-assigning the involved personnel, I respectfully ask (Public Works) Secretary (Manuel) Bonoan to help in the investigation of the DPWH Batangas 1st District Engineering Office to prevent these issues from happening again,” he said.
He made the statement hours before Malacañang announced that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has accepted Bonoan’s resignation and replaced him with Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon.
“We are trying our best to audit the projects of DPWH in the first District of Batangas, with the help of the affected LGUs (local government unit). We’ve even hired engineers and consultants at my own expense. But it will be hard for us to solve the problems of the DPWH Batangas 1st District Engineering Office without the help of DPWH,” he said.
Leviste said that along the Binambang River in Balayan where there are flood control projects worth about P1 billion, sheet piles were measured at only 3.9 to 5.5 meters instead of the required 15 meters.
While the DPWH is already replacing these at the contractor’s expense with sheet piles measuring 15 meters, Leviste said, he has yet to receive an explanation from the DPWH “as to why the original sheet piles were shorter than they should have been.”
Along the Pansipit River in Lemery, Batangas, where there are of flood control projects worth some P1 billion, sheet piles were measured at only 6.1 to 9.1 meters instead of the required 12 meters, he said.
Leviste said the Lemery LGU has also said that it has not been informed yet about the DPWH project, which has no building permit. He said the DPWH has proposed to terminate the contract for that particular segment which is being implemented by its regional office.
He said a recently widened segment of Diokno Highway in Calaca, Batangas, collapsed during typhoon “Crising.” When he sought help from the DPWH Regional Office, which implemented the project, he was initially told that additional funding would be needed because the damage was caused by the strong typhoon and not the contractor’s fault, he said.
Leviste said the DPWH is now repairing the highway at the contractor’s expense.
BILLIONS IN LAS PIÑAS CITY
Las Piñas Rep. Mark Anthony Santos said the DPWH has spent a whopping P2.2 billion for 39 questionable flood control projects in the city just from year 2022 to 2025.
Santos said that since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed office in July 2022, the DPWH has rolled out 10 flood control projects across different barangays in Las Piñas and “yet flooding in the city remains unabated.”
Santos urged the House Infrastructure Committee to summon DPWH officials and the top contractors involved in the projects in his city once the joint panel begins its investigation.
Santos said DPWH Undersecretary for Technical Services Ador Canlas confirmed that the Las Piñas-Muntinlupa District Engineering Office allocated P437.1 million for flood control projects alone, excluding several other multi-million-peso infrastructure projects.
Santos earlier said that 16 out of 61 infrastructure projects of the DPWH in Las Piñas City this year are either “ghost” or unfinished.
The neophyte lawmaker said he also found out that most of the projects were “cornered” by only four to five contractors who are reportedly allies and relatives of powerful politicians.
The DPWH Las Piñas-Muntinlupa District Engineering Office which used to be headed by District Engineer Isabelo Baleros, has reportedly been allotted a total of P572.9 million for nine flood control projects in year 2023.
Santos said the biggest allocation went to I&E Construction Corp., which bagged P82.5 million for the construction of a flood control system in Pasong Baka Creek and another P67.5 million for Kantarilla Creek in Las Piñas City.
Meanwhile, E.F. Chua Construction Inc. was able to corner four flood control projects in the same year, which amounted to P220.3 million, Santos said. In 2024, Santos said, the DPWH spent another P807.1 million for 10 flood control projects in the city.
“These are not just figures on paper, this is billions of pesos in taxpayers’ money,” he said. “Every peso wasted on questionable projects is a stolen opportunity for genuine solutions to flooding.”
Santos said that based on official documents from the DPWH Central Office, I&E Construction Corp. cornered at least four multimillion-peso flood control projects last year, while E.F. Chua Construction Inc. secured three more large-scale contracts.
This year, he said, eight additional flood control projects are under construction in the city with a combined budget of P417.2 million and the largest allocation worth P101.8 million was again awarded to E.F. Chua Construction Inc.
While the amount of the contracts is staggering, Santos said, “records reveal glaring delays,” citing as an example the P101-million slope protection and flood control project in Barangay Talon 2 which remains pending since it was only 33.98 percent finished as of June 2025.
Similarly, he said, the P98.5-million flood control project along Zapote River upstream and its tributaries, also awarded to E.F. Chua, has reached only 50 percent completion as of June 30.
“Las Piñas only has 20 barangays, yet there are 39 flood control projects — meaning there are almost two projects for every barangay. This raises serious questions about planning, prioritization, and whether taxpayer money is being spent wisely,” Santos said. “The people of Las Piñas deserve answers. How can billions be spent and yet flooding remains a persistent problem? This is a failure of planning, accountability, and public service.”
DOUBLE FUNDS, SAME PROJECT
Marikina City Rep. Marcelino Teodoro confirmed that completed infrastructure projects in his district are still being funded under the P6.793-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2026 or the Executive’s proposed national budget for next year.
Teodoro said last Friday that completed flood projects were listed again for funding in the 2026 NEP, alongside road rehabilitation for streets that remain in good condition.
In a statement yesterday, he particularly cited a slope protection project in Balanti Creek in Barangay Sto. Niño, which, despite having been completed in 2023, is again in the 2026 NEP under flood mitigation programs.
The former mayor said he has asked the DPWH to clarify the duplication, which came from agency-prepared listings and not congressional identification by lawmakers.
Teodoro said Bonoan, himself, was surprised at the inclusion and demanded an explanation from the DPWH regional director.
“He was shocked. He called up the DPWH NCR regional director because that item is being implemented by the Central Office and the National Capital Region (office). It’s very general, vaguely identified with no specification given. That’s why I said it should be clarified,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
FUNDAMENTAL ROLE
Meanwhile, the Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives slammed Leyte Rep. Richard Gomez for accusing reporters last Thursday night of being paid hacks after they asked him to comment on the statement of Matag-ob, Leyte Mayor Bernie Tacoy who earlier linked the lawmaker to a collapsed flood control structure in the town.
Makabayan said journalists who are seeking comments from public officials are merely “exercising their fundamental role in (a) democracy.”
“We lament Representative Gomez’s doxxing of journalists who were simply doing their job,” Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Rep. Antonio Tinio said in a statement late Saturday afternoon. “The media were exercising their right and duty to seek balanced reporting. Asking for Gomez’s explanation is not the fault of the media.”
Kabataan party-list Rep. Renee Louise Co reminded Gomez, who also exposed the contact numbers of the reporters online, reminded the former actor of the “broader implications of such attacks on media workers.”
“We raise serious concern over the disclosure of personal information which constitutes a direct threat to media workers,” said Co, a lawyer.
Co said it ironic that Gomez’s attack on press freedom occurred as the whole world was celebrating Press Freedom Day last Saturday. “It is deeply troubling that on National Press Freedom Day, we witness such blatant disregard for media rights,” Co said.
Gomez, who was also earlier criticized by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), has not issued a comment about the issue since Thursday night when he posted on Facebook that there is an orchestrated “media spin” against him.
The issue started on Wednesday when Tacoy criticized Gomez for his alleged for lack of support amid the massive flooding in their district, which worsened after the collapse of a flood control structure which was linked to the congressman.
According to the Matag-ob Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, some parts of the Barangay Riverside flood control structure were destroyed.
Responding to reporters then, Gomez said the damage would be repaired at no cost to the government. “Just allow the mayor to ride on this season’s most interesting subject matter. This is what keeps him happy,” he said.
