Rowena Caronan

What Marcos’s data on flood control projects tells us

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Sumbong sa Pangulo website listed 9,855 completed projects amounting to P545.6 billion. The numbers tell their own story but invite a deeper inquiry and a closer look into specific details.

Article (news)

ABS-CBN Research and Verification Unit

<p>On August 11, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. launched the Sumbong sa Pangulo website following his strong, sharp language that took on corruption and earned him a standing ovation at his fourth State of the Nation Address.</p><p>With the president’s scathing statement as its banner, the website is to serve as a platform for citizens to report issues related to flood control projects. Marcos promised to read every report submitted to it. </p><p>Since its launch on Monday, statements of alleged irregularities in flood works have come to light. </p><p>Malacañang said on August 14 that the website received over a thousand reports within just three days of running.</p><p>While the government has updated the website from time to time since Monday, it has yet to disclose how and when it plans to finish the review of the almost 10,000 projects. A day after the website was launched, Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro was quoted in news reports as saying they have not set a timeline but “the sooner the better.”</p><p>And, so, as we keep an eye out for website updates and wait for the promised audit, we extracted the data on August 12 and parsed it for early insights.</p><p>The numbers tell their own story but invite a deeper inquiry and a closer look into specific details, which the website currently lacks.</p><div><strong>FUNDING ACROSS 8 YEARS</strong></div><p>The website listed 9,855 completed projects amounting to P545.6 billion as of August 12. The majority was financed from 2022 to 2024, but a few were funded from 2018 to 2020 and the first five months of 2025.</p><p>These projects were undertaken between February 2018 and May 2025, while the supposed completion dates run between July 2022 and May 2025 during Marcos’s term.</p><p>More than 3,700 projects were initiated before Marcos took office in 2022. Of this number, 10 projects were initiated prior to 2020, when, as an aside, the pandemic brought the country to a time of standstill.</p><p>Of these 10 projects, the construction of a tide embankment in Basey, Samar has the highest budget at P227 million. It began in 2019 and spanned almost four years.</p><p>The other two projects that began in 2019 were completed at almost the same duration. The construction of the P94.9-million drainage outfall in Marikina City lasted three years and one month, while the P13-million rehabilitation of the drainage system in Brgy. Marcelo Green in Paranaque City was completed in three years.</p><p>Seven projects, each costing nearly P25 million to over P198 million, <s></s>were started in 2018 and carried out for <s></s>almost a similar duration – five years.</p><p>The project with the largest budget among the seven is the P198.4-million flood mitigation structure, including a pumping station, in Zamboanga City. The structure was built for five years and one month. The one with the smallest budget is the P24.6-million flood control structure in Anahawin River in Occidental Mindoro. This is the second phase of the project, and it lasted for four years and 11 months.</p><div><strong>VARYING COSTS, DURATION</strong></div><p>Although projects differ in scope, scale, and complexity that affect their cost, the data shows that, to some extent, projects with higher budgets have a longer completion time. This might hold, as bigger projects tend to have higher costs and take longer to complete. </p><p>But the graph below shows a few outliers.</p><p>The P24.6-million project in Anahawin River holds the third spot for the longest project duration among the almost 10,000 projects and has among the lowest amounts. Another is the first phase of this project, valued at P47 million, which has a relatively low project cost but lasted four years and seven months.</p><p>The P136.3-million improvement project in Almacen River in Bataan took the longest time to complete, five years and six months.</p><p>Still, some projects with big budgets took a relatively short time to finish.</p><p>One is the construction of a river control structure along the Pagpagoha River in Romblon. It cost P289.5 million and took five months to complete. Another is the construction of the river control structure in Casiguran, Aurora that also cost P289.5 million and took 11 months to complete.</p><div><br/></div><div class="flourish-embed flourish-scatter" data-src="visualisation/24694067"><script src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script><noscript><img src="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/24694067/thumbnail" width="100%" alt="scatter visualization"/></noscript></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>NOTHING IN TAWI-TAWI</strong></div><p>More than 6,000 projects worth P362.3 billion involve the construction of flood mitigation structures, with scarce details. This is followed by 737 projects worth almost P44 billion that constructed a slope protection structure.</p><p>All provinces, except Tawi-Tawi, were allocated flood control projects. Not a single project in Tawi-Tawi appears on the website.</p><p>Metro Manila received the bulk in terms of number and amount, with 1,057 projects totaling P52.6 billion. Bulacan comes in next, with 668 projects valued at P43.8 billion. Cebu ranks third, with 414 projects worth P26.7 billion, followed by Isabela, with 337 projects worth P22.8 billion.</p><p>The flood control projects were contracted to over 1,900 companies. Some projects had one contractor, others had more than one.</p><p>Of the total projects, 1,201 projects valued at P95.3 billion were handled by the top 15 contractors disclosed by Marcos. More than half of these projects are located in Bulacan, Cebu, Isabela, Abra, and Sorsogon.</p><p>Here is a map of the flood control projects across the country. Zoom in o<s></s>n the map for details of each project.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/8/15/map-flood-control-projects-in-metro-manila-2203" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>MAP: Flood control projects in Metro Manila</strong></a></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/8/17/map-flood-control-projects-in-luzon-excluding-metro-manila-1348" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>MAP: Flood control projects in Luzon, excluding Metro Manila</strong></a></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/8/17/map-flood-control-projects-in-visayas-1645" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>MAP: Flood control projects in Visayas</strong></a></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/8/17/map-flood-control-projects-in-mindanao-1647" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>MAP: Flood control projects in Mindanao</strong></a></div><div><br/></div><div class="flourish-embed flourish-map" data-src="visualisation/24694837"><script src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script><noscript><img src="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/24694837/thumbnail" width="100%" alt="map visualization"/></noscript></div><div><br/></div><div><strong><em>- with research from Eliseo Ruel Rioja, ABS-CBN Research and Verification Unit, and Jeshua Jeric Montenegro, Christopher Jerard Parca, and Alyssa Marie Ramos, ABS-CBN Research and Verification Unit Interns</em></strong></div>

<p>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Sumbong sa Pangulo website listed 9,855 completed projects amounting to P545.6 billion. The numbers tell their own story but invite a deeper inquiry and a closer look into specific details.</p>