Selective scheme returns

Budget watchdogs are seeing through the Marcos Jr. administration’s selective approach to accountability in the flood control scandal.

Typhoon Tino’s devastation of Cebu province ramped up the public outrage several notches over the failure of the leadership to halt the perversion of the budget to ease nature’s wrath.

Instead, the administration is undertaking perfunctory investigations with the sole aim of keeping the public protests in check.

Private budget sentinels identified more than P1.2 trillion in flood control budgets from 2018 to 2025, but not all the questionable projects were reported on the Sumbong sa Pangulo website.

The online whistleblower page initiated by President Marcos listed only 9,855 projects worth P547 billion, which were tagged completed, or about half of what private groups alleged were spurious.

The Office of the President’s list seems to be a guide for the Independent Commission for Infrastructure on where to look and whom to prosecute.

Had the P1.2 trillion been used appropriately, the budget watchers estimated that major river basin master plans nationwide could have been completed for P700 billion to P800 billion.

Metro Manila, Pampanga, Bulacan, Mindanao and key Visayas areas should have been safe from flash floods, while structures to contain water in other river basins would have cost not more than P40 billion.

Instead, investigators uncovered substandard and non-existent projects, with kickbacks from multibillion-peso contracts allegedly funneled into lavish lifestyles — symbolized by the $1-million Paraiba tourmaline ring that former Senate President Chiz Escudero reportedly gifted his celebrity wife, Heart.

While pruned to a lesser degree or what may be termed as moderated plunder, the pork scheme remained in the 2026 budget.

Watchdogs, which have little confidence in institutions, are now seeking to convene an independent, multisectoral review committee of scientists, civil society groups, and local communities to review current projects and resubmit 2026 proposals grounded in sound science.

They want the government to abandon cement-based flood control infrastructure, which is the source of the legislators’ kickbacks, for planned flood management solutions like reforestation and watershed restoration.

A review of studies on the 18 major river basins should be conducted, while projects must follow the 5Rs, meaning the right projects, at the right cost, with the right quality, implemented by the right people, delivered right on time.

Efforts meant to reform the budget process are only for show, according to the groups.

An independent group composed of private individuals must monitor the process from beginning to end, not merely the empty representation the House of Representatives has allowed.

The House, the Senate, and the bicameral conference committee should put up an open budget transparency server, similar to how election results are reported online on election day, to make it easier to scrutinize what, how much, and who inserted items in the budget.

Transparency should also be underpinned by a genuine political commitment to ensure broad and meaningful citizen participation and accountability to rebuild public trust.

Accountability and openness should not just be window-dressing but a commitment — that is currently in short supply.