‘Alam na this!’ P215-B For Flood Control; P30-B For Farm Irrigation

Flood Control is more important than Food Security, or so it seems with these highly questionable infrastructure projects getting P215-B in the proposed 2024 budget while Agricultural irrigation to produce more rice was only given an allocation of P30-B.
In fact, according to a report by CNN Philippines, the P215-B proposed budget for Flood Control Projects for 2024 is even bigger than the whole budget for Agriculture, Defense and Social Services.
“On Day 2 of economic managers’ briefing in the Senate on the proposed ₱5.768 trillion national spending plan for 2024, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero questioned why only ₱181 billion was earmarked for the entire agriculture sector while the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) sought ₱215 billion for flood control projects,” CNN Philippines reported.
“If agriculture is important, may I ask why is it that the budget for flood control is bigger than the Department of Agriculture or the agriculture sector as a whole?” Escudero asked.
“It’s bigger than the budget of the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development), it’s bigger than the budget of the DND (Department of National Defense),” he added.
“No DPWH representative was present during the hearing, since it is not part of the Development Budget Coordination Committee. However, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman explained that the DPWH considers flood control a major program. She said the agency has an “internal formula” in determining the amount needed for each item,” the CNN Philippines report added.
“All of the projects of the NG (national government) are equally important, it’s just that we have limited fiscal space. On flood control, I guess it’s timely to have that big amount of budget now with what’s happening,” Pangandaman further explained.
This is a shocking revelation of how the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), the clearing house of all government projects to be funded composed of the Finance Department, Budget and Management Department, National Economic and Development Authority and Office of the President, is so insensitive and detached from realities on the ground.
The P215-B allocated for Flood Control is more than enough to install Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems to cover 2-million hectares of farmlands.
When irrigated, the 2-million hectares would have an annual yield of 16-million metric tons of palay which when milled with a recovery of 60%, could produce 9.6-million metric tons of rice.
That is roughly 3 times more than the volume of rice we import every year.
The biggest question of all is why would Flood Control be given priority over Irrigation?
I guess the answer is very obvious – mas malaki ang kita sa Flood Control Projects dahil isang baha lang maa-anod na ang lahat ng ebidensya ng substandard construction.
Hindi yan mangyayari sa Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems kasi kailangan may umaagos na tubig para ma-justify ang pagbayad sa contractor.
The second question is: Who submitted the proposals for Flood Control Projects?
This is too much and a brazen thievery of public funds.
Just a reminder: Walang mag-riot kung may baha pero siguradong magkakagulo ang bansa kapag nagmahal ang bigas.
#TamaNaAngKurakot!
#ModerateYourGreed!