Lacson hits NIA over stalled dam

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson has pressed the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to explain the long-delayed Balog-Balog Multipurpose Project in Tarlac which remains unfinished despite billions of pesos in public funds poured into it.

During Thursday’s scrutiny of the agency’s proposed 2026 budget, Lacson noted that Phase 2 of the project received P7.006 billion from 2015 to 2020 but it remains unfinished.

The phase, originally scheduled for completion in 2018, has seen little to no progress in recent years, he said.

“We should take this up not just in the budget deliberations; I think we should focus on the delayed projects and the obvious wastage of public funds, particularly in the Balog-Balog Multipurpose Project,” Lacson said.

He recalled visiting the site in 2020 and finding minimal construction activity compared with images from September 2019. “Almost nothing happened,” he said.

Lacson said the Commission on Audit in 2018 flagged five Balog-Balog contracts worth P7.7 billion — or 37 percent of the P20.7 billion in delayed NIA projects nationwide — identifying it as one of the agency’s most costly stalled initiatives.

“I think the NIA has a lot of explaining to do. In the Balog-Balog project’s case alone, there seems to be a lot of anomalies,” he said.

Senator Rodante Marcoleta, who raised a similar concern, pointed out that the NIA continues to seek P261 million annually for the maintenance and repair of an unfinished project. He proposed a full review to determine its future.

Finance Subcommittee Chairman Francis Pangilinan, sponsor of the NIA budget, said the review would be closely monitored to decide on the next steps.

The Balog-Balog Dam in Tarlac is one of three major dams targeted for completion during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s term and is expected to provide irrigation to 32,000 to 34,000 hectares of farmland.