“We are living in a planet as if we have another one to go to” – Terry Swearingen
Any infrastructure project is meant to protect and preserve vulnerable areas and communities, including agriculture, whenever natural calamities strike. As one of the most vulnerable countries in the world sitting in the ring of fire its preservation and protection is much needed. Having said, flood control projects are to shield and serve as barriers from any damage anticipatedly caused by floodings, strong winds or any form of life and property destructive natural weather phenomena.
IRONIC REALITY, BILLIONS LOST
In recent times, an increasing number of infrastructure projects are attributed to be the cause of loss of lives and property including, agriculture dominant in Central Luzon provinces. The region is the biggest source of rice and other major crops in the country and, ironically, what is happening is the opposite.
Infrastructure projects flood control projects have created much worse damage to agriculture instead of protecting it. There is massive destruction to rice farmlands and other crops causing losses and suffering to farmers. This is punctuated by the low buying price of their rice produce that they can only join the enraged call for accountability of those involved in the scandal, or beg government officials including Congress during budget deliberations.
The agriculture department reports annual losses of 500,000 to 600,000 metric tons of rice due to flooding, amounting to billions of pesos. This year alone, natural calamities caused agriculture almost P4 billion in crop losses, with rice getting the biggest chunk of the pie with over 60,000 MT of the whole damage. This, despite massive investments in flood mitigation projects to protect agricultural production. The country spent more than P16 billion in flood control projects in Albay alone and P7 billion in Central Luzon but it brought damage instead of protection. More anomalies were exposed as Congress initiated investigations with no less than its own members allegedly involved. As investigations continue, more sub-standard and ghost projects have been revealed, where flood control budgets shockingly ballooned to P115 billion in 2025, which is nearly 50% of the total allocation. This can be the biggest corruption scandal in the history of Philippine politics, astoundingly eroding trust and confidence of the Filipinos to the democratic institutions, most prominently Congress itself.
A FALLOUT
Flood control structures miserably failed to strengthen or even protect irrigation systems, livestock pens, and crop fields especially in Region 3 serving as the rice granary of the country. And farmers can only get so emotional during the house budget hearing, expressing their travails and how they suffer from unprotecting infrastructure projects making their produce at a very low-buying price. Major agricultural regions have suffered significantly, not only from natural calamities but more so by the anomalous flood control projects.
Agriculture department officials echo the farmers cry and call for increased assistance and subsidies on top of the damage caused by natural calamities and the flood control project anomalies that dislocated major sources of livelihood. These officials assail that re-channeling parts of the budget to irrigation could have made millions of hectares of land productive, boosting productivity and resilience.
The defective and ghost flood projects caused Philippine agriculture billions of pesos. For rice production alone, losses from flooding reached up to 600,000 metric tons of palay that were damaged due to floods and typhoons estimated at almost P4 billion including other crops across the country. This is on top of the compounding and perennial livestock deaths, destruction of irrigation directly affecting farmers’ livelihood and the economy.
LITMUS TEST
The on-going flood control projects investigation and the 2026 budget hearing can spell a crucial and very important decision for Philippine agriculture’s future. Its worsening state needless to say must be given priority as the President declares that the remainder of his term shall focus on social programs and basic services.
It is highly disheartening that farmers cry begging for assistance while billions are lost to corruption for projects which are supposed to protect them. Modernization of Philippine agriculture must not be a rhetoric. With the onslaught of flood control projects anomalies remarkably degrading Philippine agriculture the 2026 budget spells the lopsided and way par disadvantageous set-up this time, in favor of the farmers. Needless to say, it must be free from corruption.*
