The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has yet to develop a consolidated national flood mitigation plan, opting to create master plans on a per-river and river basin basis.

Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon confirmed the lack of a nationwide blueprint for the department on Wednesday as part of the legislative inquiry into the agency’s proposed national budget for 2027.

He said the lack of an overall framework stemmed from suggestions by foreign partners that assist in developing infrastructure projects.

“This was supposedly the recommendation of our foreign partners, to do it in major river basins and also on a per-urban-center basis, especially for drainage masterplan…there really is no national flood mitigation masterplan,” Dizon said.

Akbayan Partylist Rep. Chel Diokno raised the issue, noting that he had brought up the concept of a comprehensive national flood control and drainage plan during the previous budget deliberations.

No comprehensive approach

Diokno questioned whether the executive branch was “abandoning the idea,” stressing the importance of applying general principles to all projects.

“How can we develop rationally in the coming five, 10 or 15 years without this kind of comprehensive approach?” he asked.

For Dizon, the decision was not necessarily an abandonment of such a scheme given the fact that they were relying on the suggestion of experts on the “best strategic approach” to flood mitigation.