06/11/2025
THE P-MILLION BETRAYAL: WHEN DAVAO’S FLOOD WALLS CRUMBLE IN MONTHS
November 6, 2025
The crisis unfolding along the Davao River is more than just an infrastructure failure; it is a thundering condemnation of misplaced public trust and staggering fiscal irresponsibility. The promise of safety—paid for by the people’s hard-earned taxes—has dissolved into debris, leaving Davaoenos dangerously exposed. We must, in the strongest possible terms, demand a swift and uncompromising reckoning for the political patrons and their supposed contractors who built monuments to failure instead of lasting flood control. The time for denial and deflection is over.
The Staggering Cost of Substandard Security
The evidence is not debatable; it is physical. The flood control project in Matina Gravahan, Davao River, completed in May 2023 at a cost of approximately P84 million, offered residents a sense of security for a pathetic eight months before a curved section was breached and collapsed. This is not normal wear and tear; this is an insult to engineering standards and a brazen act of financial desecration. The failure is compounded by the exposure of a P96.5 million flood control project in Davao Occidental—declared 100% finished and fully paid to St. Timothy Construction Corp. in 2022—that was subsequently exposed by the DPWH as a “ghost project,” visibly absent on the ground. When a P49 million revetment project in Bucana, Lasang, also cracks and collapses shortly after completion, the pattern is no longer one of accident, but of systemic, calculated malfeasance. These are not just figures on a ledger; they are millions of pesos taken directly from the education, health, and development budget, only to be thrown into a collapsing riverbed.
Drowning in Dollars, Suffocating the Davaoenos
The true magnitude of this catastrophe is measured not in pesos, but in the renewed fear and suffering of the people. For residents in vulnerable areas like Matina Gravahan, the damage to the d**e means returning to the harrowing anxiety of pre-project days, now made worse by the knowledge that their government already paid for their protection. When citizens are forced to rely on makeshift wooden bridges over the wreckage of an P84-million structure, the integrity of local governance is utterly bankrupt. Furthermore, the delays and disputes—such as a property owner in Matina Gravahan allegedly not being paid the P3.6 million owed for land used in the construction—are the vile, human cost of this negligence. These failed projects represent a direct, tangible betrayal that forces families to evacuate, destroys property, and stalls economic life, all because contractors allegedly cut corners on materials like steel reinforcement (rebars) and were paid nonetheless.
The Indictment of Oversight: Accountability Must Start at the Top
Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte has stated that the city has "nothing to hide" and that “Every single flood control project... was implemented, inspected, and validated by the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Commission on Audit (COA).” This is the scandal. If the projects were indeed "validated" by the DPWH and the COA, then the problem is not merely with the contractor—who must, without question, be held criminally and civilly liable—but with the very system of inspection and oversight that allowed substandard or non-existent works to be approved and fully paid for. This defense is an open admission of either gross incompetence or complicity within the government agencies under the political watch of the Dutertes. The buck stops with the leadership that fostered an environment where a contractor, allegedly linked to political campaign donors, could repeatedly secure lucrative contracts only to deliver crumbling or imaginary infrastructure. We call on the concerned government entities—the Ombudsman, the ICI, and the Department of Justice—to utilize the verified facts and data to pursue an investigation that is legally astute, unsparing, and extends beyond the project managers to the highest echelons of political accountability. The law must be clear: the systemic misuse of public funds for projects that fail within months is a crime against the people, and those who fostered or enabled the system of failure must be held responsible.
A Thunderous Call for Justice and Reckoning
Let the collapse of the Matina Gravahan d**e be the crack that breaks the foundation of corruption. The people of Davao deserve lasting security, not flimsy, overpriced deception. The millions wasted—which could have built hospitals, schools, or truly resilient infrastructure—must be recovered. The contractors must be blacklisted, penalized, and stripped of their illicit gains. Most importantly, the political figures who shielded, defended, or presided over the DPWH and COA during this period of pervasive failure must face a full, public, and aggressive investigation.
Hold the line. Demand accountability. Let the sound of justice be as powerful as the river the people seek protection from.
