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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider For Legarda Leviste, flood control project funds are better spent on classroom construction

For Legarda Leviste, flood control project funds are better spent on classroom construction

Published Aug 19, 2025 02:23 pm

At A Glance

  • True to his pro-student and pro-education stance, Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste proposed before the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) the reallocation of a good chunk of the flood control projects budget to the efforts to build more classrooms.
Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)
Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)


True to his pro-student and pro-education stance, Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste proposed before the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) the reallocation of a good chunk of the flood control projects budget to the efforts to build more classrooms.
During the first day of House budget deliberations on Monday, Aug. 18, Committee on Appropriations Vice Chairman Legarda Leviste raised the shortage of 165,000 classrooms as estimated by the Department of Education (DepEd).
The rookie solon said, “The President has indicated that flood control projects are a possible source of corruption and the 2026 NEP includes over P250 billion in flood control projects,” while “The provision for new classrooms is still approximately P13 billion.”
Legarda Leviste then asked for the DBCC’s support “if the House allocates much of this P250 billion-plus of flood control projects...to increase the P13 billion that has been allocated to new classroom construction.”
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary and DBCC Chairperson Amenah Pangandaman expressed openness to the proposal.
“The executive proposes the budget and then we leave it to Congress whether you think it’s wise to cut the flood control budget and move it to education, but we welcome such because, again, the theme of our budget for next year will be really to increase our investment and spending in education,” she said.
“As long as the Department of Education (DepEd) can utilize fully the added allocation for the construction of classrooms, that would be okay,” Pangandaman added in her reply to Legarda Leviste.
Legarda Leviste has been investigating flood control projects and other infrastructure damaged by recent typhoons with the help of engineers who have found many of these flood control projects to be substandard.
Among these are the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Binambang riverbank protection project in Balayan, Batangas, which was damaged by Typhoon "Kristine" along with the Binambang Bridge in October 2024.
Leviste personally funded the repair of the Binambang Bridge in December 2024 at no cost to government.
“Based on the substandard and overpriced DPWH projects we have seen, closing the gap on DepEd's classroom shortage seems to be a much [wiser] use of taxpayers money than DPWH flood control projects in the 2026 budget,” Leviste said.
Monday's House appropriations panel briefing featured the first day of deliberations on the P6.793-trillion National Expenditure Program or NEP. The NEP is the precursor to the General Appropriations Bill (GAB), or proposed national budget.
The DBCC discussed with then House members the macroeconomic assumptions of the NEP.
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