Philippines says up to 70% in flood budget is lost to corruption
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Reports of billions of pesos worth of flood-control projects that were awarded but never materialised or were substandard have fuelled public outrage.
PHOTO: EPA
Follow topic:
MANILA – The Philippines loses up to 70 per cent of government funds for flood-control projects to corruption, with losses as much as US$2 billion (S$2.58 billion) crimping economic growth in the past two years, according to a top official.
Average economic losses from corruption in flood control projects under the Public Works Department have reached about 42.3 billion pesos (S$947.75 million) to 118.5 billion pesos from 2023 to 2025, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said at a Senate budget hearing on Sept 2.
The estimate was based on anecdotal accounts that 25 per cent to 70 per cent of the total cost of these projects were lost to corruption, according to the finance chief’s presentation.
“There are ghost projects and poor-quality projects, and the people end up losing because government funds, which come from citizens’ taxes, are being wasted,” Mr Recto told reporters.
Better spending could have propelled economic growth to 6 per cent in 2023 and 2024, he said.
The Philippine economy expanded 5.5 per cent in 2023 and 5.7 per cent in 2024, both below government targets but still among the fastest in the region.
Reports of billions of pesos worth of flood-control projects that were awarded but never materialised or were substandard have fuelled public outrage in a country that periodically suffers from widespread flooding during typhoon season.
In his state of the nation address in July, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the government found many shortfalls in public works including failed or “imaginary” flood-control projects, adding that “many of these are rackets, sources of kickbacks”.
Mr Marcos said in August that 15 out of over 2,400 contractors cornered a fifth of flood control projects across the country in the past three years.
From July 2022 to May 2025, the Marcos government implemented nearly 9,900 flood control projects worth 545.6 billion pesos. BLOOMBERG
