"WHILE a thorough evaluation of these projects is conducted, the government should impose a temporary blacklist on any contractor with a history of unfinished, substandard, or grossly delayed flood control projects until they are cleared of wrongdoing."
This was the statement of Bacolod City Lone District Representative Alfredo Abelardo Benitez on Monday, August 11, 2025, after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced that 20 percent of the total budget or roughly P100 billion of flood control projects went to only 15 contractors.
Benitez said that this will immediately protect the budget from further waste while emphasizing that incompetence and corruption will have immediate consequences.
The 15 contractors include Legacy Construction Corporation; Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Development Corp.; St. Timothy Construction Corporation; QM Builders; EGB Construction Corporation; Topnotch Catalyst Builders Inc.; Centerways Construction and Development Inc.; Sunwest, Inc.; Hi-Tone Construction & Development Corp.; Triple 8 Construction & Supply, Inc.; Royal Crown Monarch Construction & Supplies Corp.; Wawao Builders; MG Samidan Construction; L.R. Tiqui Builders, Inc.; and Road Edge Trading & Development Services.
Benitez said of these 15 contractors, five of them had projects in almost all regions nationwide.
These five contractors include Legacy Construction Corporation; Alpha & Omega Gen. Contractor & Development Corp.; St. Timothy Construction Corporation; EGB Construction Corporation; and Road Edge Trading & Development Services.
Benitez said concrete solutions to the flooding problem begin by identifying those who may have failed to execute projects intended to protect communities and reduce the damage caused by heavy rains and typhoons.
"The President, in following through on his commitment to publicize the names of the contractors involved in flood control projects, has taken the first real step to hold accountable those who benefit from public funds without delivering results," he said.
He added that the next step must be to ensure that every peso in the flood mitigation budget is spent on projects that actually protect lives and property not fill the pockets of the corrupt.
"The contractors should not be allowed to profit from the misery of our kababayan. Those who fail our people must be shut out from government projects until they prove they can be trusted again," Benitez said.
Benitez earlier urged Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Manuel Bonoan to take a leave of absence while the agency is under investigation.
This was after President Marcos directed the agency to submit a list of flood control projects from every region that were completed in the last years.
During his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on July 28, Marcos announced that someone must be held accountable due the failed flood control projects. (MAP)