Over P2-B insertions riddle Oriental Mindoro flood projects

For the past three years, dozens of flood control projects in Oriental Mindoro have received billions worth of funding through congressional insertions, The STAR has learned.

- JANVIC MATEO

Analysis of budget documents contradicted claims of Oriental Mindoro Rep. Arnan Panaligan that most of the flood control projects in his district were already identified in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) or the proposed budget crafted by the executive and submitted to Congress for approval.

"To the best of my knowledge, the biggest amount of flood-control projects is already in the NEP. Since I became a congressman (in 2022), it was already identified (in the NEP). We cannot change that, we cannot realign," he said in Filipino over "Storycon" on One News on Wednesday.

But a comparison of flood control projects in the NEP and the General Appropriations Act (GAA) or the approved budget tells a different story.

In 2023, the executive only proposed eight flood control projects in Oriental Mindoro amounting to P605.5 million.

But the approved budget that went through congressional deliberations listed 19 projects amounting to P1.419 billion, more than double the original proposal.

Among the “inserted” projects were two road dikes or esplanades along Dulangan River in the municipality of Naujan, located in Panaligan’s district. Each project costs P300 million.

Four projects originally lodged under the Department of Public Works and Highways regional office were transferred, with smaller allocation, to the Mindoro Oriental District Engineering Office.