President ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. with some Palace officials conduct an inspection of the flood control project in Bulacan.
SANTA MARIA, Bulacan — Amidst the probe on flood control projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), several local government units (LGUs) in the past week have complained that many of the said projects in their areas were not coordinated with them nor were there consultations done with experts before construction began.
According to a number of local chief executives, some DPWH projects were also implemented by contractors without their approval, making them incompatible with local development plans.
The LGU’s complaint was triggered by Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong’s revelation that he was privy to documents showing irregularities in the construction of the flood control projects in question, thus soliciting a reaction from Malacañang to submit the information he had gathered to President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.
Magalong said on Friday that he would comply with the Palace’s suggestion and turn over the document in his possession that details the alleged connivance between some lawmakers and contractors.
Earlier, the mayor and Sen. Panfilo Lacson claimed that 67 members of the House of Representatives were moonlighting as contractors and may have been involved in substandard or defective infrastructure projects.
In his Fourth State of the Nation Address (SoNA), the president ordered an investigation into all flood control projects undertaken under his administration, acknowledging that many of these projects had failed to protect Filipinos from floods that submerged their communities for days.
A week later, Marcos Jr. presented a list of all 9,855 flood-control projects implemented by the DPWH from July 2022 to May 2025, along with another list of 15 contractors who reportedly secured 20 percent of the projects.
The president expressed that he found it “disturbing” that P100 billion or 20 percent of the entire P545-billion budget for those projects was awarded to only 15 out of 2,409 accredited contractors.
On August 15, while inspecting the recently rehabilitated dike in the perennially flooded town of Calumpit, Bulacan, Marcos was visibly irritated by the crumbling concrete embankment on a portion of the Pampanga River, calling the workmanship “irregular and sloppy.”
He demanded answers from project contractor St. Timothy Construction Corp., one of the 15 contractors on his list. According to the data, the P96.4-million project was completed in February 2023.
“St. Timothy is the contractor here, so we’ll look into this. We need to hold them accountable and ask why they did it this way,” Marcos vowed.