Rowegie Abanto

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Atty. Romando “Don” Artes, San Miguel Corporation President and CEO Ramon S. Ang, and several Metro Manila mayors hold a press conference at the Executive Dining Room of the SMC Head Office in Pasig City on Friday, August 8, 2025. The discussion focuses on SMC’s upcoming infrastructure and transport projects in Metro Manila, including flood mitigation efforts and traffic decongestion initiatives in coordination with the MMDA and local government units. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

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Ramon Ang

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175479121583520250808-smc-mmda-flood-control-MT9.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" spellcheck="false" style="text-align:left">San Miguel Corporation President and CEO Ramon S. Ang. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — San Miguel Corp. chairman Ramon Ang&#x27;s offer to help solve flooding in Metro Manila by doing a cleanup of rivers and waterways at &quot;no cost&quot; to the government is an opportunity for Malacañang to urge other billionaires to contribute to solving the perennial problem, a lawmaker said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2025/8/8/ramon-ang-volunteers-to-solve-metro-manila-flooding-at-no-cost-to-gov-t-1004"><strong>Ramon Ang &#x27;volunteers&#x27; to solve Metro Manila flooding at no cost to gov&#x27;t</strong></a></div><p>In an interview on DWIZ Saturday afternoon and quoted in a release from his office, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the Palace now has an opportunity &quot;to issue a clarion call to other billionaires in the Forbes list to pool their resources for this as an act of Corporate Social Responsibility.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Imagine if the country’s richest families will pool their CSR (corporate social responsibility) resources together and do what government spends hundreds of billions on in tax money every fiscal year, but seems to fail to deliver,&quot; Lacson said in a separate post on his X account Saturday night.</p><p>&quot;It may be a little out of the box, but why not?&quot;</p><p>Corporations can get tax exemptions for making donations and conducting other CSR initiatives.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/7/20/tax-on-savings-interest-sparks-renewed-call-to-tax-billionaires-instead-1209"><strong>Tax on savings interest sparks renewed call to tax billionaires instead<br/></strong></a></div><p>Lacson said in a statement Sunday that if Ang delivers on his offer, he will move to reduce the 2026 flood management appropriations for Metro Manila for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).</p><p>The lawmaker pointed out that the DPWH alone received more than P2 trillion in flood management allocations since 2011 but failed to solve the flooding problem.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/8/9/marcos-jr-urged-to-form-board-of-inquiry-to-look-into-alleged-infrastructure-corruption-2259"><strong>Marcos Jr. urged to form board of inquiry to look into alleged infrastructure corruption</strong></a></div><p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his State of the Nation Address in July acknowledged that some flood-control projects have turned out to be faulty or had not been built at all because of corruption.</p><p><strong></strong>That has prompted the DPWH, Senate and House announcing reviews and investigations into the projects.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>LACSON CONTINUES OWN PROBE INTO ALLEGED &#x27;GHOST&#x27; FLOOD PROJECTS</strong></div><p>Meanwhile, Lacson said he is continuing his own investigation into alleged failed and ghost flood control projects, which he claimed have cost taxpayers more than P2 trillion in the last 15 years. </p><p>His investigation, he said, includes looking into the supposed involvement of a &quot;new modus operandi.&quot;</p><p>&quot;I am continuing my verification. I am very careful on this, I want my findings to be factual, that&#x27;s why I am having details on the ground checked,&quot; he said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/7/28/-mahiya-naman-kayo-marcos-order-probe-on-corruption-in-flood-control-projects-1725">&#x27;Mahiya naman kayo&#x27;: Marcos orders probe on possible corruption in flood control projects</a></div><p>Lacson said he is looking into projects that were funded in earlier General Appropriations Acts (GAAs) that were listed as completed in previous years, but were never constructed, and funds were allotted for them again in the 2025 GAA.</p><p>&quot;For example, a project would be funded 1-2 years ago. It will not be constructed and it will not be too obvious because it is in a remote area, but it will be funded again, then actually constructed. If you do not check records covering more than one year, you won&#x27;t notice it immediately,&quot; he said.</p><p>He is also verifying the alleged use of substandard materials and practices that do not follow the project&#x27;s specifications.</p><p>&quot;[A]nother possible issue involves the DPWH district engineer who has a construction company implementing the project in the contractor&#x27;s name, with the contractor pressured into complying as his future projects may be at stake,&quot; he said in the statement.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gSt5miNbBB8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div><div> </div>

<p>San Miguel Corp. chairman Ramon Ang's offer to help solve flooding in Metro Manila by doing a cleanup of rivers and waterways at "no cost" to the government is an opportunity for Malacañang to urge other billionaires to contribute to solving the perennial problem, a lawmaker said.</p>

San Miguel Corp. chairman Ramon Ang's offer to help solve flooding in Metro Manila by doing a cleanup of rivers and waterways at "no cost" to the government is an opportunity for Malacañang to urge other billionaires to contribute to solving the perennial problem, a lawmaker said.

Lacson: Ramon Ang's offer on flooding a chance for Palace to tap other billionaires to help

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Lacson: Ramon Ang's offer on flooding a chance for Palace to tap other billionaires to help

ABS-CBN News

Published August 10, 2025 10:35 AM PHT

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