“Pera po ito ng taumbayan at para ito sa mga kababayan nating nasalanta. Hindi ito pondo para pagkakitaan at hindi rin ito pondo para sa sinumang gustong magpayaman sa gitna ng ating mga nararamdaman na trahedya.”
These are the words of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. delivered a week ago in Malacañang Palace during the ceremonial turnover of P8.6-billion in disaster recovery assistance funds under the Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Assistance Program (DRRAP).
The president was calling on local government units (LGUs) to ensure that government-funded rehabilitation projects deliver quality infrastructure, restore essential services and livelihoods, and help disaster-hit families rebuild their lives.
Public funds must be spent with integrity and accountability and used solely for communities devastated by typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, he said, underscoring the importance of ensuring transparency and accountability in the implementation of rehabilitation projects.
“Bawal ang ghost projects. Bawal ang mga komisyon. Bawal mga substandard na rehabilitation projects,” Marcos stated. “There must be no room for corruption in this program.”
The report from the Presidential Communication Office (PCO) did not identify the recipient LGUs, although Catanduanes is surely in the list due to the extensive damage wrought by two successive super typhoons, Pepito in 2024 and Uwan in 2025.
It only clarified that the first batch of more than P6 billion has already been released, while a second batch of more than P2.5 billion is being downloaded to the LGUs.
A check of the 2026 national budget will show that the P8.6 billion is part of the P15.33 billion allocated to DRRAP under the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (NDRRMF) or Calamity Fund this year.
The money will be released to LGUs affected by calamities in current or preceding two years upon approval of the president, who may take into consideration the recommendation of the National DRRM Council (NDRRMC).
The 2026 General Appropriations Act provides that the amount shall be used for the following projects based on the approved local rehabilitation and recovery plans by the LGUs: public infrastructure – roads, bridges and public buildings, and multi-purpose/evacuation facilities; education and health services; agriculture – crops, livestock, fisheries; and, social protection.
It adds that the amount for rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance activities/projects shall be subject to the capability of the LGU to implement the same and the release of funds shall be subject to guidelines to be issued by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG, in coordination with Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
Now, a search of both websites of the OCD and the DILG, or even the DBM, shows no circular or memorandum providing guidelines for the release of the funds and the implementation of DRRAP projects.
If more than P6 billion has been released, some of the allocations may have gone through the Department of Education (DepEd), which has inked memoranda of agreement with LGUs on the latter’s implementation of school building construction and repair projects.
If indeed these projects and others which the public don’t know were funded under DRRAP, it would be a good time for concerned non-government organizations or citizen-led governance watchdogs to secure from OCD a list of LGU projects that were allocated funds from DRRAP.
After all, the President himself highlighted the need for transparency and accountability among national agencies and LGUs implementing the DRRAP projects.
This way, the people can check if the concerned LGUs, especially the chief executives, heeded the President’s exhortation to keep their dirty hands off the funds for rebuilding disaster-hit communities.
Sure, there will be no ghost projects, but in projects where commissions have been demanded and given, evidence of substandard construction would be hard to miss.