DPWH Will Still Get Flood Mitigation Budget in 2026

Flood control projects will still receive funding in 2026 from previously allocated but unused budgets, Senate finance committee chair Sherwin Gatchalian clarified yesterday, even after the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)'s P275-billion request was scrapped over corruption concerns.

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Gatchalian said Public Works Secretary Vivencio Dizon confirmed the DPWH's agreement to scrap the controversial allocation in the 2026 National Expenditure Program, in line with the Senate's own budget direction.

The finance committee chair said the DPWH and the Department of Budget and Management are now reviewing projects "one by one" to ensure that only effective flood interventions push through.

These may include flood control projects deemed to be needed, which have been funded from 2022 to 2025 but remain unfinished or unimplemented.

He stressed that the agency may still retain "a very small amount" from the P275 billion for areas identified as highly floodprone by Project NOAH.

"If ever, they will leave a small allocation for NOAH-identified flooded areas. But as a rule, they will scrap it, they will no longer resubmit the P270 billion budget request for flood control projects," Gatchalian said in an interview over radio dzBB.

Project NOAH develops hazard maps and risk assessment tools to guide disaster preparedness and climate resilience. Initially launched by the Department of Science and Technology in 2012 but phased out in 2017, it is now carried by the UP Resilience Institute.