ILOILO City — An Iloilo-based multi-sectoral alliance has assailed the proposed P110.6-billion allocation for flood control projects in 2027, saying pouring billions more into the sector without first ensuring accountability for previous controversial projects is an “insult” to communities repeatedly battered by floods.
Kahublagan Kontra Kurapsyon (KKK), a broad alliance of Ilonggos campaigning against corruption, placed the massive flood-control allocation at the center of its opposition to the proposed P7.2-trillion 2027 national budget, which it described as an “endorsement of institutionalized corruption and political patronage” at the expense of public welfare.
“Residents affected by recent floods are insulted to learn that the national government intends to allocate P110.6 billion for flood control projects in 2027, as per computations of KKK. This, while the same government has not even upheld the highest degree of accountability over the flood control scandal that Panayanons and the rest of the Filipino people have been decrying since last year,” KKK lamented.
The group said its computations showed that the flood-control funding is embedded in the larger infrastructure allocation under the government’s “Build Better More” program.
Western Visayas alone is proposed to receive P6.16 billion for flood control, including additional shoreline protection and seawall projects.
“For Western Visayas, KKK recorded that the flood control budget next year is P6.16 billion including funds for additional shoreline protection and seawalls, whose durability and long-term effectiveness have been questioned when similar projects in the region were easily destroyed just a few months after project completion,” KKK stated.
The group also raised concerns over feasibility studies involving the Jalaur and Panay rivers for possible use as flood-control dams, warning of potential environmental and human costs.
But KKK said its objections go beyond flood-control spending, arguing that the proposed national budget gives substantial resources to discretionary and lump-sum allocations while essential social services face funding pressures.
“By channeling public funds into high-risk lump sums and away from essential social services, this spending plan will only enrich vested interests rather than serve the basic needs of the citizenry,” the group said.
KKK pointed to the proposed increase in the budget of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict from P8 billion to nearly P10 billion and said 44.9 percent of the Office of the President’s proposed budget would go to confidential and intelligence funds.
“It is also appalling that nearly half or 44.9% of the Office of the President’s budget for 2027 will be confidential and intelligence funds, which bypass standard oversight mechanisms as proven by the secret fund scam hounding the twice-impeached Vice President Sara Duterte,” the group added.
At the local level, KKK questioned the proposed P58.53-billion Local Government Support Fund, which it characterized as an expansion of decentralized pork-barrel mechanisms and a potential source of political patronage ahead of the next electoral cycle.
The alliance also sounded the alarm over the government’s debt burden, saying debt servicing would consume more than a third of the proposed national budget.
“To finance this corruption-riddled budget proposal, the administration will deepen its reliance on a ballooning debt burden, with total debt servicing to take up P2.704 trillion or over 37% of the entire P7.2 trillion budget. Interest payments alone, at P1.114 trillion, will exceed the entire allocation for DepEd at P976 billion,” this group stressed.
KKK said basic education faces proposed cuts amounting to P44.57 billion, potentially affecting classroom construction and access to quality education, while 86 public hospitals would receive zero capital outlay alongside operational cuts to regional health facilities.
It also cited a P14.44-billion reduction in Department of Agriculture funding and cuts in emergency buffer stocks.
“Food security is similarly compromised, as the Department of Agriculture’s funding drops by P14.44 billion alongside reductions in emergency buffer stocks. Rather than providing direct production subsidies or safety nets for rural communities, ayuda is increasingly channeled through pork barrel programs like AICS and TUPAD, forcing citizens to rely on political patronage for survival,” the group added.
KKK called for an overhaul of the spending plan to shift government resources toward essential services and subject public funds to greater scrutiny.
“Kahublagan Kontra Kurapsyon, together with all advocates of justice and accountability in Western Visayas, demands a complete restructuring of the 2027 national budget: it must halt systemic plunder, eliminate discretionary political funds, and prioritize transparency and public services,” KKK stressed.
The alliance also urged Panayanons to closely watch congressional deliberations on the spending proposal.
“We call on the people of Panay to persist in scrutinizing the proposed 2027 budget and standing up against corruption-prone allocations in all forms,” they urged./PN
