A more complete view of the scale of flood control projects implemented by the DPWH in the province of Catanduanes has emerged following Malacanang’s disclosure of a list of such projects at the sumbongsapangulo.ph website.
It may be recalled that in the editorial in the Aug. 13, 2025 issue, the Catanduanes Tribune expressed doubt that the Palace’s list was complete as far as the controversial projects for the island province are concerned.
A reading of the filtered list showed that of the nearly P50 billion allocated for the Bicol region from July 2022 to May 2024, the province received only P1.82 billion or a measly 3.7 percent of the total.
Of this amount, two mainland contractors – Sunwest Inc. and Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corporation – got a total of P684 million in flood control projects representing 37 percent.
In contrast, the local contractor with most projects (11) had just over half with P380 million, and insiders say it did not even implement some of the projects as they were actually undertaken by enterprising politicians.
For the purpose of giving clarity to the issue, the Catanduanes Tribune combed through the list of all infrastructure projects implemented in Catanduanes from 2017 to 2025 by both the DPWH regional office and its Catanduanes District Engineering Office as published in the agency’s website.
And the two days of painstakingly going over DPWH’s own records shed light on the fact that the same two firms belonging to the business conglomerate founded by Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Elizaldy Co bagged P2.9 billion worth of flood control projects out of the P4.6 billion allocated by the DPWH to Catanduanes in the last four years from 2022 to 2025.
There are several significant findings based on the Tribune research and local contractors’ input on the issue.
First, the four-year total of P4.66 billion for river dikes, seawalls and other flood mitigation structures is more than double the aggregate amount of P1.8 billion that the national government, through Congress and DPWH, allocated for the province from 2017 to 2021.
Second, Sunwest was awarded just four such projects in 2022 and 2023, three along Hitoma river in Caramoran and one along Bato river in Paraiso, San Miguel, with a total amount of P578.6 million. Its sister company, Hi-Tone won two projects in 2022, one in 2023, a whopping 10 flood control projects in 2024 and four more this year, for a total haul of P2.45 billion in the past three-and-a-half years.
Third, most of the P1.7 billion in similar projects in Catanduanes awarded to other mainland and local contractors were either won at discounted bids or implemented on behalf of other companies or politicians.
Fourth, while flood control projects were bid out by the Catanduanes DEO from 2017 to 2021, the DPWH regional office began handling projects in excess of P100 million each beginning in 2022.
Fifth, local contractors as well as DPWH insiders themselves believe that there are no ghost flood control projects on the island, compared to other provinces named in recent news coverage of the controversy. What an in-depth probe could uncover, they say, could range from substandard construction, including inadequate sheet piles and embankments filled with earth or sand instead of boulders, to such projects being placed in areas where they are not needed.
Sixth, three river systems – Bato river in San Miguel, Pajo river in Virac and Hitoma river in Caramoran – got the bulk of the funding allocation with a total of just over P3 billion. The Hito ma river system alone got a total of P1.1 billion just for road dikes allegedly running on both sides of the river, including one mountain with most of its side wrapped in concrete revetments at least 10 meters high.
The last, and probably most important, observation, is that local chief executives can be absolved outright of any responsibility for failure to monitor the DPWH flood control projects in their respective jurisdictions.
For decades now, it has been the members of Congress, from senators to congressmen, who identify the projects and the sites, include them in the list prepared by the concerned DPWH office, and help approve the funding during the budget hearings.
DPWH insiders and contractors claim that these honorable legislators also have a say on who gets the project and gets to claim ‘ownership’ of the projects, and the perks that come with it.
As veteran observers say, everyone feeding on the trillion-peso DPWH infrastructure budget is one big happy family.
As long as everybody is happy, except of course the taxpayers, there is no problem with wasting scarce public money on wasteful projects.