Baste slams Marcos admin on floods, Palace hits back

Davao City Acting Mayor Sebastian "Baste" Duterte blasted the country's flood control infrastructures, sharply criticizing the current administration for allegedly allowing “ghost projects” to dominate flood control efforts.

Duterte made the remarks while he was in The Hague, condemning the Marcos administration’s handling of flood control initiatives amid ongoing controversies surrounding the government's approach to managing these critical projects.

He then emphasized that the administration has done little to address the pressing issues of flooding in the country, despite claims of flood control projects over the past three years.

According to Duterte, the national government's track record on infrastructure, including flood control, has been less than satisfactory.

“Kung pinag-uusapan natin 'yung flood control projects, ngayon lang 'yun lumabas (If we’re talking about flood control projects, this is the first time it’s being discussed),” Duterte remarked.

"Pero for the past 3 years ang ginawa ng administrasyon, kaya wala rin tayong imprastruktura at kung meron man, ginabarat. Naging ghost projects na flood control. Nagkakagulo na sila ngayon, nagtuturuan na (But for the past three years, what has this administration done? That’s why we don’t have proper infrastructure, and if there are any, they are underfunded. Flood control projects have turned into ghost projects. Now they’re in chaos, pointing fingers at each other),” he added.

The mayor also pointed out that while the national government has struggled with these issues, Davao City has taken proactive steps to ensure its own flood control systems are addressed.

He noted that the city has a comprehensive master plan in place, developed in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), to handle flood-related challenges.

“We have our own plans. We are working with JICA on projects that can truly solve the problem. But when your government is too centralized, resources are often not funneled to the provinces. That’s the reality we've been dealing with,” Duterte added.

In response to the mayor's criticism, Presidential Communications Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Atty. Claire Castro defended the Marcos administration, stressing that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been committed to addressing the flood control issue and other infrastructure concerns in the country.

Castro dismissed the mayor’s comments as “unconstructive,” highlighting that the administration is actively tackling the matter, including the review of over 13,000 flood control projects from the previous administration.

“Ang Pangulong Marcos, Jr. ay tuloy-tuloy na umaaksyon para mabigyang solusyon ang isyu sa maanomalyang flood control projects (President Marcos Jr. is continuously taking action to address the issue of problematic flood control projects),” she said.

Castro underscored the president's proactive efforts to tackle the flood control issues. She then criticized the Davao City official for only criticizing the administration “without offering constructive solutions to the problem.”

“Ang mga ganitong komento mula sa kanila, Pero wala naman suhestiyong ibinibigay sa pagresolba sa problema, ay hindi nakakatulong sa bayan (comments like these from them, without offering any suggestions to resolve the problem, are not helping the nation),” she said.

Castro urged the opposition to focus on clarifying the status of the flood control projects from the previous government.

“Ang maaari nilang maitulong sana ay ipaalam sa mamamayan ang 13,917 na flood control projects ng nakaraang administrayon para malaman ng lahat kung existing, operational, effective ba ito sa problema sa baha at kung nararamdaman ba natin ang mga proyektong ito ngayon at noong mga nakaraang taon (What they could help with is informing the public about the 13,917 flood control projects from the previous administration, so that everyone can know if these projects are still existing, operational, and effective in addressing the flooding problem, and whether we have felt their impact now and in previous years),” she said.

Castro stressed that Marcos is willing to listen to ideas that can make a difference.

“At kung mayroon naman silang matinong suhestiyon, bukas naman ang Pangulo na makinig sa lahat (And if they have any reasonable suggestions, the President is open to listening to everyone),” she said.