Mayor Nestor Archival, Sun.Star’s Earl Kim H. Padronia reported Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, has ordered a stop to all DPWH-funded construction projects in Cebu City, including flood control. The mayor, according to the report, wants better planning.
Affected, according to the report, will be 21 flood control and road protection projects for 2025 to 2026 – 10 in the North District, with a budget of P271 million, and 11 in the South District, worth P479 million; over P751 million in total.
Archival has observed, according to the report, that there is poor coordination with the City Government as regards these projects and that these are being carried out with little regard for local traffic and safety, indeed creating traffic gridlock and posing safety risks.
Specific mention was made on projects in Banilad and Salinas Drive, whereupon contractors supposedly began road excavations without informing the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO), leaving – in the words of the report – traffic enforcers scrambling and commuters stuck.
True, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has not had a stellar record as far as coordination with the Cebu City Government is concerned. Remember the P97-million “flood mitigation” project the DPWH Cebu City District Engineering Office implemented via WTG Construction on Gabuya St. and N. Bacalso Ave.?
WTG dumped tons of aggregate onto protected mangroves in Cogon Pardo, killing several. Then a technical conference found the project had no Environmental Impact Study, no Environmental Compliance Certificate and not even a Certificate of Non-Coverage. Thankfully, a cease and desist order was issued and remains in effect. Then acting mayor Dondon Hontiveros, at the behest of the Cebu City Rivers Management Council, issued it promptly.
But incumbent mayor Archival’s decision to order a stop to all DPWH projects in the city goes beyond this particular case. It includes not just this damage-causing “flood mitigation” project, but also the construction of drainage mains, slope protection and revetments, all meant to protect communities from flooding and erosion.
The DPWH awarded quite a few projects from late 2023 to mid-2024, with project completion dates targeting 2025.
Some of these that I’ve muck-raked include the construction of a “flood mitigation structure” in Kamputhaw, Day-as, Kamagayan and Kasambagan, at P4.9 million each.
DPWH also separately awarded P4.9-million slope protection structure construction projects in the upland barangays of Budlaan, where a sudden river surge at Budlaan Falls swept away four hikers, killing one last July 12, and San Jose, where a landslide killed two people – aged 17 and 26 – around this time last year.
On top of these projects, the DPWH has awarded three other projects given the yet-to-be explained code “002” and the superfluous contract name: “Protect Lives and Properties Against Major Floods-Flood Management Program-Construction/Rehabilitation of Flood Mitigation Facilities Within Major River Basins and Principal Rivers.”
One of the projects was awarded to WTG Construction and involves the construction of a P144 million flood mitigation structure in Barangay Talamban. The project involves, among other works, the pouring of 2,187 cubic meters of structural concrete; 80,268 kilos of reinforcing steel; 8,295 meters of structural steel sheet piles (furnished); and 8,295 meters of structural steel sheet piles (driven), whatever that means.
The two remaining “002” projects are intended for a segment of the Guadalupe River in Barangay Kalunasan, worth P48.8 million, and the segment of the Mananga River located in Barangay Bonbon, worth P86 million. These were awarded to the Helm Construction and Supplies and the Kyle Construction/A.S.T. Builders JV, respectively.
Perhaps acknowledging what we all fear, given that we are still at the start of the monsoon rains but are already seeing flooding at a scale never before experienced, Mayor Archival, in the news Tuesday, conceded that the flood-related projects of the DPWH are important.
He says he just wants to impose new standards: projects should be completed in half the contract time, contractors must hire their traffic aids, there should be proper signages, work areas should be clear of obstructions and project sites must display project details for transparency.
But if it’s as simple as that – provided that these projects are real and underway – isn’t the honorable mayor inviting more problems for us ordinary folk with his solution of a hard stop?