P3.216 billion – that was the total amount allocated by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to flood-control projects in Santa Rosa City, Laguna from 2023 to 2025. And yet last week, Santa Roseños were confronted with one of the worst floods in the city’s recent history.
P3.216 billion. That was the total amount allocated by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to flood-control projects in Santa Rosa City, Laguna from 2023 to 2025.
And yet last week, Santa Roseños were confronted with one of the worst floods in the city’s recent history, a level unmatched even by the weeklong monsoon rains that hit Laguna province last July.
Amid the ongoing investigation into the anomalies surrounding flood-control projects in the Philippines – and a growing wave of public anger over the misuse and abuse of public funds – one question is sure to pop into the minds of residents of the “Lion City of the South”: to whose pockets did the P3.216 billion end up?
Highest allocations
The unprecedented level of flooding once again called into question the billions of pesos that, according to records compiled by OpinYon Laguna, had been allocated to flood-control projects in the city from 2023 to 2025.
In fact, according to the data, the city received the highest share of funds allocated to flood control in 2023 and 2024: P933 million in 2023 (compared to San Pedro City's P604 million and Biñan City's P620 million) and P1.490 billion in 2024 (compared to San Pedro's allocation of P854 million and Biñan's P542 million).
It should also be noted that in 2023, five out of the 11 flood mitigation structures and drainage projects in Santa Rosa City were bagged by companies connected to the controversial couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya.
Two projects each were bagged by Mar-Vel Construction and Supply and Great Pacific Builders and General Contractor, and one by YPR General Contractor and Construction Supply. Total price tag: P500 million.
Another project – that of a river-protection system along Barangay Malitlit, with a price tag of P100 million – was contracted to Wawao Builders, another of the 15 companies tagged by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. as having cornered P100 billion in flood-control projects.
Meanwhile, four out of eight flood-control projects in Santa Rosa City for 2025 were contracted to two Discaya-linked companies, Alpha & Omega General Contractor and Development Corporation and St. Matthew General Contractor and Development Corporation. Total amount: P292.314 million.
The Fernandez connection
Take note, too, that the Discayas received this windfall during the term of former Santa Rosa City Representative Dan Fernandez.
Fernandez, to recall, spent millions in an attempt to capture the provincial capitol during the midterm elections last May, only to fall far behind the two strongest contenders in that race: Governor Sol Aragones and former 2nd District Representative Ruth Hernandez.
By the way, OpinYon Laguna sources have passed on information that while the selection of contractors for such projects lies within the DPWH and not with legislators, it’s impossible (as some legislators now contend) that they couldn’t have received “a cut from the cut.”
Sources have also informed OpinYon Laguna that not only do these legislators receive the lions’ share of the kickback on flood-control projects, but the chain of corruption goes all the way up.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, now chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, also claimed that some legislators receive 25 to 40 percent of the allocated funds for flood-control projects.
Unprecedented levels
No wonder Santa Roseños were pissed off last September 16, raging waters at the Silang-Santa Rosa River turned parts of the city into an instant waterland.
Particularly affected were areas around downtown Santa Rosa, including the City Hall and the Santa Rosa Arch; portions of Barangay Balibago; and even the posh upper-class area of Paseo de Santa Rosa and Nuvali where motorists were forced to brave the raging waters.
As classes had not been suspended that day (it was suspended only the following day, upon the orders of Governor Sol Aragones), motorists and commuters going home at rush hour found themselves stranded in floodwaters.
While the floods were quick to recede, Santa Roseños were quick to vent their frustration and anger on social media.
“Mas madami pang malakas na ulan pero yung baha ngayon, grabe. Nakakaawa ang mga students, mga ordinaryong mamamayan na naglalakad sa baha at pati na din yung mga jeepney na nakikipagsapalaran sa baha. Mapapa-‘hay’ ka na lang talaga. This needs to be stopped. And this is where are taxes go,” was how netizen De Villa Tongson Michelle put it in a social media comment to OpinYon Laguna.
Garbage to blame?
Amid the growing frustration and anger over the dizzying amount of corruption over flood-control, the city government of Santa Rosa was quick to pinpoint another cause for the floods that hit the city’s downtown area last September 16: garbage.
A series of photos uploaded by the city government on its Facebook page showed a crew from the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) cleaning up the pile of garbage and debris that were left in the streets after the floods.
Here’s some quotes from that post: “Ang pagbuhos ng ulan sa Cavite ay nagdulot ng pag-apaw ng mga ilog na dumadaloy papuntang Santa Rosa. Nagpalala pa sa sitwasyon ang mga basura at debris na bumara sa mga daluyan ng tubig, dahilan ng mabilis na pagtaas ng tubig sa ilang lugar.”
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