Eight months after typhoon Tino, conversations have started to shift. Instead of asking only why the destructive and deadly flash floods happened and who was responsible, we are now asking how flood control projects failed despite the billions of pesos spent on them.
This change came about after a series of investigative reports were published recently in local media. SunStar Cebu published two long-form reports by Mildred Galarpe titled “Cebu Flood Plan: Dams urged, walls built” and “P43 billion in flood control: Why Cebu is still drowning.” Rappler followed with Cebu reporter John Sitchon’s “At Cebu’s Cotcot River, structural errors plague Discaya-linked projects”. These stories move the conversation beyond breaking news and into accountability journalism.
They showed that Cebu did not lack flood control projects, but they raised questions about whether billions of pesos were spent on the right projects, whether these followed the Metro Cebu Flood Master Plan, and whether they actually reduced flood risks.
These articles pointed to the billions of pesos spent over many years and revealed gaps between planning and implementation. They documented projects that were not always consistent with the Metro Cebu Flood Master Plan and raised questions about procurement, coordination, planning and accountability.
The reports were produced with the support of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) reporting grants. (Story links are found below. The Rappler report is behind a paywall, a chance for you to support its investigative reporting.)
SunStar documented the gap between the master plan and actual spending. Rappler went further by examining one project in detail and uncovering evidence of a possible institutional disconnect where the district engineering office responsible for the project said it had not even received a copy of the master plan.
While the investigative reports did not claim to have the answers, they identified where the questions should now be directed.
After determining who received the flood control projects, the reports pointed to why some projects were prioritized and if these were even named as critical or urgent in the master plan. The reports also cited the move by the Department of Public Works and Highways to pursue administrative and criminal cases against its officials and the contractors. It would be interesting to note the status of these cases and monitor them until penalties are imposed and systems are corrected
and strengthened.
In the end, for the people most affected by Typhoon Tino’s flash floods, the best outcome they are hoping for is that the flood control projects will actually reduce flooding and they will no longer have to fear every heavy downpour or climb to their roofs to survive. That is why these investigative reports matter, and why we need more of them.
Story links:
Cebu Flood Plan: Dams urged, walls built
https://www.sunstar.com.ph/amp/story/cebu/cebu-flood-plan-dams-urged-walls-built
P43 billion in flood control: Why Cebu is still drowning
https://www.sunstar.com.ph/amp/story/cebu/p43-billion-in-flood-control-why-cebu-is-still-drowning
At Cebu’s Cotcot River, structural errors plague Discaya-linked projects
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/investigative/cotcot-river-structural-errors-discaya-flood-control-cebu/