Pangilinan laments impact of failed flood control projects on farm

Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan aired deep concern over the widespread damage to farmlands caused by recent floods, pointing to failed or poorly implemented flood control projects as a major factor behind the devastation.

In a radio interview, Pangilinan stressed the urgent need for accountability and a comprehensive review of flood mitigation efforts across the country, particularly in agricultural regions heavily affected by typhoons and seasonal rains.

"When our crops and fields are flooded, the topsoil is depleted, all the micronutrients in the soil are also depleted," he explained.

"What's the difference? There's no need to add fertilizers, usually the fertilizer is just chemical fertilizer, so the yield isn't affected much," he added.

According to the senator, reports from local governments and farmers’ groups from Central Luzon show thousands of hectares of rice, corn, and vegetable farms submerged due to overflowing rivers and broken dikes, many of which were supposedly covered by recent flood control projects.

Pangilinan lamented how the P350 billion budget earmarked for flood control projects this year can actually address the majority of the country’s main water resource management issues: irrigation, flooding, and potable water supply.

“That's why it's so important to properly address the problem of water resource management. Flood control is a component of managing our water,” he said, pointing out that agricultural lands also suffer from a lack of an adequate irrigation system.

"So the budget is being spent incorrectly. They are being bribed instead of fixing the integrated water resource management," he added.

The senator, who chairs the Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform, also expressed support for creating an independent investigative commission that will look into the billions of pesos worth of anomalous flood control projects.