A House panel investigating anomalies in flood control projects will now pivot its scrutiny to the artificial Manila Bay Dolomite Beach, which critics blame for worsening flooding in the capital.

House public accounts committee Chairman Terry Ridon announced Monday that the investigation is scheduled for 17 November and it will focus on the project’s compliance with the 2008 Supreme Court’s Mandamus ruling on cleaning up Manila Bay and its immediate impact on the flood-prone districts of Ermita and Malate.

The panel will specifically assess the status of the nearby Padre Faura, Remedios, and Estero de San Antonio Abad drainage outfalls to determine the extent of the project’s effects on those areas.

“The committee will also look at available alternative interventions and solutions to further ‘clean up, rehabilitate, and preserve Manila Bay,’ and improve its water quality... the specific requirements under the Supreme Court’s Continuing Mandamus,” Ridon said.

The looming House probe was triggered by reports from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), which blamed the dolomite beach for causing massive floods along Taft Avenue.

In July, MMDA chairperson Don Artes said the project’s construction blocked three major drainage outfalls, forcing rainwater to be rerouted through a sewerage treatment plant that was incapable of handling heavy flood volumes.

ACT Teachers Representative Antonio Tinio, a colleague of Ridon in the minority bloc, contended that it is “about time” to scrutinize the project, which was built under the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2020. Tinio argued that the project, on which the government spent over P600 million, was “completely useless” and raised suspicions of fund misuse or corruption.

“Everyone involved in this project must be held accountable, including the president himself, because this is a project of the former president,” Tinio said in a statement Monday.

Ridon reiterated that the dolomite project was never part of the NEDA-approved Manila Bay Rehabilitation Master Plan, a fact that the implementing agency, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, had previously admitted during congressional budget deliberations in 2020.

“It is a cosmetic project masquerading as rehabilitation, and has now proven harmful to flood mitigation efforts in Manila,” Ridon pointed out.