There never was any prior consultation with local government units conducted by the DPWH regional office regarding flood control projects implemented in Catanduanes in the past eight (8) years.
This was confirmed by several LGU officials particularly in the capital town of Virac when asked about whether the recipient towns have any input as to the location of the proposed flood control projects implemented by the DPWH Bicol in their respective areas.
According to a resource person with extensive knowledge about the workings at DPWH, the site of the project is usually determined by the congressman who secured the funding.
Most of the allocation from the flood control projects, ranging from river control dikes, revetments and road dikes to seawalls, came from the so-called unprogrammed funds under the annual budget of the national government.
The projects under these unallocated funds are referred to by DPWH officials as “For Later Release” or FLR projects, indicating that the projects are to be bid out and implemented once funding has been released by the Department of Budget Management (DBM).
In some cases, the plans and programs of work for the projects are prepared by the House member’s favorite contractor and submitted to the DPWH regional office where the projects are supposed to be subjected to competitive public bidding.
The process is sometimes delayed as the congressman or his chosen contractor submits a bloated project cost resulting in lengthy discussions between the former and DPWH planning personnel before the program of work is finalized.
Most often than not, municipal and barangay officials, including the LGU engineering personnel, are caught unaware by the implementation of the project due to lack of coordination.
This has resulted in what the concerned local officials describe as “misplaced” projects, as some of the river control structures are built in places where they are not obviously needed: in unpopulated and isolated areas and along mountainsides.
Data from the DPWH central office website show that from 2017 to 2025, the capital town of Virac received the highest allocation for flood control projects at P2.5 billion, followed by Caramoran at P1.42 billion, with the two towns accounting for 60.8 percent of the total P6.4 billion DPWH outlay for Catanduanes.
In contrast, San Miguel has only P650 million in similar projects, or just 10 percent of the aggregate funding, despite the province’s longest river system passing through several of its barangays on its way to Bato.
In the town of Viga where many riverside barangays routinely go underwater during typhoons and heavy rains, only P8 million was allocated to a single flood control project while its neighboring municipality of Gigmoto had more than four times as much with P35 million.
Viga received zero funding for such projects from 2017 to 2021 while Gigmoto also got no allocation from 2022 to 2024.
The same data for the eight-year period shows the preponderance of flood control projects in three river systems: Bato river in San Miguel, Pajo River in Virac and Hitoma River in Caramoran.
A total of P1.3 billion has been spent by the government for flood works along the Pajo or Sto. Domingo river, which begins in the Dugui area and meanders through Buyo, Hicming, Sto. Domingo, and the two Pajo barangays.
Gogon river, which is less than a kilometer long, has received a total of P150.9 million in flood control projects in the last seven years, the same DPWH records state.
In 2018 two contractors – CT Leoncio Construction & Trading and CTC Builder and Supplies, Inc. – constructed two flood control structures costing a total of P57 million along Gogon river in 2018 and 2019.
Last year, under contract ID No. 24F00260, the DPWH regional office awarded a P93.6 million contract to Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corp. for the construction of a flood control structure in Gogon Sirangan “to protect lives and properties against major floods.”
According to knowledgeable sources, since there was already an existing concrete dike on both sides of the minor river, the new project allegedly built a new concrete facing on the existing dike and increased its height.
When it became apparent that the proposed work would not come up to a total of P93.6 million, the DPWH engineers allegedly proposed the construction of two ground sills at the downstream of the two existing public bridges straddling the river.
The ground sill is a structure built across a river to reduce the current flow and increase sediment deposits on the upstream side.
While it was claimed that the DPWH regional office representatives met with barangay captains from San Roque, Danicop and Sta. Elena sometime in 2023 for the proposed project, the village officials were later surprised to learn that the project would be built in Gogon Sirangan.
One of the barangay captains said he could not recall having attended such a meeting while another said that a lawyer from the DPWH regional office met with the Gogon Sirangan barangay council that their request for the project to be extended to the nearby barangay along the same river could not be granted as the DPWH could be held liable for technical malversation.
The concerned Punong Barangay had reasoned out that extending the dike upstream would eliminate the source of the flooding in their village.
In confirming that no pre-implementation consultation was held prior to the start of the project, another LGU official stated that personnel of the contractor coordinated with the engineering office last month regarding the construction of a big storm drainage from the Gogon junction to an outlet beside the river control project.
The Gogon river funding is dwarfed by the total P1.1 billion allocation to similar projects along the Hitoma river, concentrated mostly near barangay Obi in Caramoran which sits at an elevation of 47 meters above sea level.
The huge amount was allocated to just two interconnected projects: the Hitoma Road Dike which got five allocations totaling P818 million, all released in the last four years; and Obi River Control Project, with two allocations in 2022 and 2024 totaling P298 million.
The road dikes were allegedly built along both sides of the river in Obi despite the fact that the populated area was only on one side of the river channel, while in one area, an entire mountainside is wrapped with a three-level concrete revetment more than 10 meters high.