By Melvin C. Gascon
A staggering ₱5.7 billion in flood control projects has been poured into this landlocked province over the past three years — an amount unusually large for a single-district province with fewer than half a million people.
The huge funding allocation for flood control for Nueva Vizcaya has raised suspicions that the funds were coursed through the province by high-ranking officials, such as senators as “proponents,” with the help of officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the sitting lawmaker as conduit.
Data from the Sumbong sa Pangulo website show that the money funded at least 90 flood control and drainage projects across 10 municipalities, many with overlapping scopes and near-identical contract amounts.
A closer analysis indicates the scale and pattern of these projects bear the hallmarks of “pork by proxy” — allocations endorsed by national legislators and implemented locally through the DPWH’s “convergence” or lump-sum programs.
Bambang, Aritao flooded with projects
At the center of the deluge are Bambang and Aritao, the hometowns of former three-term Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Luisa Lloren Cuaresma.
Bambang alone received about ₱1.52 billion, the highest among all municipalities, followed by Aritao with ₱709.5 million.
Together, they cornered almost 40 percent of the province’s total flood control funding, dwarfing allocations to other towns.
Among Bambang’s biggest-ticket items were:
- Construction of Flood Control System, Barangay Salinas — ₱117.37 million
- Flood Control and Drainage Structures along Matuno River (Barat and Manamtam sections) — ₱179.49 million combined
- Rehabilitation of Sto. Domingo Flood Control Structure — ₱96.5 million
Aritao’s share included:
- Flood Control Structure along Marang River, Barangay Beti — ₱129.26 million
- Flood Control along Comon-Latar Section — ₱96.5 million
- Flood Control along Bone North and Bone South Sections — ₱130.6 million combined
The rest of the funds were distributed among Bagabag (₱1.02 billion), Bayombong (₱943.5 million), Solano (₱348.9 million), Dupax del Norte and Dupax del Sur (₱386 million combined) and Sta. Fe (₱235 million).
The upland towns of Quezon , Kayapa, and Kasibu received ₱241 million ₱189.5 million and ₱37.5 million worth of flood control projects, respectively.
Small province, oversized flood fund
For a small, mountainous province like Nueva Vizcaya, ₱5.7 billion in flood control funds may be considered enormous.
By comparison, some larger and flood-prone provinces in Central Luzon and Bicol received less than half that amount over the same period.
This discrepancy has prompted speculation that senators “downloaded” portions of their allocations to Nueva Vizcaya — a practice where national legislators park their public works funds in local districts, often with the cooperation of local congressmen.
Under this scheme, the sitting representative acts as a “pass-through,” earning a cut from the total project value in exchange for allowing the insertion.
‘Standard sharing’ in DPWH projects
In his recent privilege speech, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who has led multiple exposés on the “pork barrel” system, detailed the kickback-sharing scheme in DPWH-funded projects.
Lacson has cited a “going rate” for kickbacks from contractors, often around 15 to 30 percent of the project cost, while 5 to 10 percent allegedly goes to the recommending lawmaker.
He said the politician or lawmaker who “owns” the project often claims the lion’s share, with some allegations citing a whopping 20 to 25 percent for the politician.
About 2 percent of the project cost reportedly goes to the DPWH district engineer, while other DPWH officials, such as members of bidding committees, take various percentages of 5 to 10 percent.
An estimated 1 percent supposedly goes to local officials and other recipients for various facilitators of project clearances and approvals.
A conduit lawmaker in a “pass-through” arrangement (pork by proxy) supposedly is entitled to 1 to 2 percent “handling fee.”
This concept of a conduit receiving a small percentage for parking or passing through the funds, while the original “funder” lawmaker gets the larger commission, is exactly what Lacson termed “parked pork” or “passing through” modus operandi.
“These SOPs have become institutionalized. It’s the reason flood control projects keep multiplying — they’re easy to justify, easy to pad, and hard to verify,” Lacson said.
Red flags in Nueva Vizcaya projects
The Nueva Vizcaya dataset reflects the patterns Lacson described:
- Multiple flood control projects in the same areas, sometimes under slightly different names or phases, hinting at duplication.
- Uniform contract values — repeated ₱49 million and ₱96.5 million projects — suggesting possible contract splitting to stay below thresholds that require higher-level bureaucratic approval.
- Disproportionate allocations in politically aligned towns versus less-connected municipalities.
Eight projects also appear under identical descriptions but with different cost entries, such as the “Flood Control and Drainage Structures (FCDS)” along Magat River in Bagabag and Bayombong, repeated across multiple “packages” each worth ₱144.75 million.
Billions spent, but flooding persists
Despite the massive spending, flooding continues to plague low-lying barangays in Bambang, Aritao, and Bayombong whenever heavy rains hit the province.
Netizens have posted on social media photos of several newly built dikes that have cracked, eroded, or were washed out within months of completion.
“The irony is we spent billions on flood control, but the floods still find a way,” said a civil engineer from Bayombong who requested anonymity.
“These are walls built for budgets, not for the river.”
Calls for audit and transparency
With billions in public funds at stake, citizens and anti-corruption advocates in Nueva Vizcaya are now urging the Commission on Audit (COA) and the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to review the projects’ funding sources, contractors, and timelines.
“The volume of flood control contracts in one small province is simply unnatural,” said a resident of Bagabag town where several flood control projects were reported to have been erected. “It smells of parked funds. COA should trace who endorsed each project and who profited.” #
