Sen. Imee Marcos claimed that the Bicol Region had a P150-billion budget for flood control. This is inaccurate.
STATEMENT
In a speech during a March 7 campaign rally of “Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas” in Pili, Camarines Sur, Marcos raised her concerns on the agriculture sector and urged the people to help address flooding problems. She said:
“Saan napunta ang isang daan at singkwentang bilyong piso na inilaan sa flood control ng Region V? Bakit tayo binabaha? Bakit tayo namamatayan ng napakaraming tao?”
(Where did the P150 billion budget for flood control in Region V go? Why are we being flooded? Why do so many people still die?)
Source: BBM Youth Movement, Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas 2025 Rally – CAMARINES SUR | LIVE kasama si BBM & Senatorial Slate!, March 7, 2025, watch from 3:33:20 to 3:33:45
FACT
The budget for flood control in the Bicol Region from 2018 to 2025 amounted to P162.64 billion, based on the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA). Marcos did not say what year or period she was referring to with the P150-billion allocation she mentioned.
This was not the first time a public official made an inaccurate statement about Region V’s flood control budget.
In October 2024, former Palace spokesperson Harry Roque falsely claimed that Bicol had a P9.4 billion flood control budget in 2023. In response, Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co wrongly said that the region had no billion-peso appropriation for flood control and had the smallest budget in the country for it.
Region V had a P29.4-billion budget for flood control in 2023.
The following year, it was given P31.9 billion – the highest in the last three years. For 2025, Bicol has a budget of P31.1 billion for flood control under the GAA.
The decrease resulted from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s veto of the appropriation for several flood-related projects, including the proposed construction of the Integrated Flood and Water Resource Management Structures along the Bicol River, Cabilogan River, Libmanan River, and Hibiga River in the provinces of Albay and Camarines Sur. The proposed construction of several floodwater management facilities in support of irrigation facilities in Albay was also vetoed.
According to Budget Undersecretary Goddess Hope Libiran, these items were vetoed based on their status: ready for implementation, not ready for implementation, and ambiguous. Marcos said he removed the projects because these were not aligned with the priorities of his administration.
Below are Bicol’s flood control budgets from 2018 to 2025:
BACKSTORY
In October 2024, Sen. Marcos aired her concern regarding the flood control situation in Bicol, saying P86.6 billion was allocated to address the issue “in just the past two years.” The total budget for flood control in the region in 2022, 2023, and 2024 was P86.7 billion.
Research published in February this year found that “flood frequency in the Bicol Region has increased in recent years due to climate change, intensified rainfall, and urbanization.”
It also showed that Typhoon Kristine, which wreaked havoc in Bicol in October 2024, exceeded the impacts of flooding brought by past calamities such as Typhoons Sening (1970), Monang (1993), Rosing (1995), Loleng (1998), Glenda (2014), and Tisoy (2019). These disasters devastated Bicol’s agriculture sector and displaced thousands of families. The research asserted that the poor suffer the most from disasters brought by typhoons.
Tagged as the worst typhoon Bicol experienced in 55 years, Kristine poured two months’ worth of rain in one day in Albay. Typhoon Leon immediately followed Kristine after it exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility on October 25.
Based on the latest data on the combined effects of Kristine and Leon in Bicol, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) tallied 3,255,804 affected individuals and 86,828 damaged houses. Agricultural damage in the region amounted to P2.91 billion, while infrastructure damage reached P5.51 billion.
A 2023 University of the Philippines study said an even warmer climate in the future could lead to stronger and more damaging typhoons in the country, which increases its vulnerability to massive losses.
