ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider CIBAC solon Villanueva supports defunding of flood control projects

CIBAC solon Villanueva supports defunding of flood control projects

Published Sep 17, 2025 01:21 pm

At A Glance

  • CIBAC Party-list Rep. Eddie Villanueva, father of Senator Joel Villanueva, on Wednesday, Sep. 17, supported Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon's move to defund the agency's flood control projects for next year.
CIBAC Party-list Rep. Eddie Villanueva, father of Senator Joel Villanueva, on Wednesday, Sep. 17, supported Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon's move to defund the agency's flood control projects for next year.
Rep. Villanueva, whose son was linked to anomalous flood control projects, said it had been the party-list's call since 2023 not to spend government's money on projects that have not really brought concrete solutions.
 "This is exactly what CIBAC has been saying since 2023: there must be a real flood control masterplan and every project component of it must be really responsive to the problem so that there will be no room for corruption and wastage of funds," he said.
"We believe it's better to take a spending pause than to spend just for the sake of spending, especially that we know that we will just fund same kinds of projects that have been ineffective and corruption-laden," he added.
Rep. Villanueva made the remark Wednesday after Vizon--during the House Committee on Appropriations' hearing on the DPWH's 2026 budget--said the agency slashed its proposed budget by P252 billion.
This amount was initially alloted for flood control projects.
Senator Villanueva firmly denied any involvement in the flood control project anomalies after Bulacan public works office engineers linked him, along with Senator Jinggoy Villanueva, to the corruption scandal.
In a budget hearing in 2023, Rep. Villanueva said he already questioned the effectiveness of flood control projects that "received substantial funding of more than one billion pesos a day."
He said flooding became even worse despite the billions of pesos spent.
The televangelist-congressman said he was even one of the first lawmakers to call for an investigation on flood control projects.
Rep. Villanueva says that the stakes are high as the Philippines remains the world’s most disaster-prone country for the third consecutive year.
“Lives and livelihoods are being washed away every typhoon season. It is not enough to keep building riverwalls and revetments without a coherent, science-backed framework. As experts have said, real flood control is not only an engineering or hard infrastructure intervention but a mix of reef to ridge solutions which will address environmental degradation and sustainability at its root,” he said.
“Our people deserve real solutions—not ghost or overpriced projects, not piecemeal intervention, not corruption-ridden deals. We call for a flood control master plan that truly safeguards Filipino families and reflects the highest standards of stewardship and accountability,” he added.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.