PAMPANGA — Eight years after the Philippines and South Korea broke ground on a multibillion-peso flood-control project billed as a long-term solution to perennial flooding in four low-lying towns, the project eventually emerged as a much larger undertaking — but its completion took years and the province continues to grapple with severe flooding.
The Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (IDRR-CCA) Measures in Low-Lying Areas of Pampanga Bay was formally launched in Minalin on October 9, 2018, with then-Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, DPWH Secretary Mark Villar, Korean Ambassador Han Dong Man and Pampanga officials leading the groundbreaking.
The project was initially presented as a P4.776-billion undertaking, financed through a South Korean loan of about P3.71 billion and a Philippine government counterpart of about P1.1 billion. Its components included dredging and excavation of the Third River and Eastern Branch channels, improvements to Caduang Tete and Sapang Maragul rivers, and construction or replacement of sluice gates.
But the project did not remain at P4.776 billion.
A NEDA review in 2018 recorded a change in scope and cost that increased the project to P6.150 billion, with additional works including clearing, embankments, dredging, footbridges and fishpond gates.
The project was eventually implemented as IDRR-CCA Stage 1, with the final cost reaching about P7.57 billion. According to government records, construction ran from July 2018 to April 2024, and the project was formally inaugurated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on August 7, 2024.
Stage 1 covered the four municipalities of Macabebe, Masantol, Minalin and Sto. Tomas, with works designed to improve the capacity of four waterways. These included river excavation and dredging, embankments, three bridges, five footbridges, eight sluice-gate structures and 164 fishpond gates.
At the 2024 inauguration, Marcos said the completed project was expected to reduce flood levels and the duration of flooding in the four municipalities from 66 days to 17 days. He also directed DPWH to proceed with Stage 2, saying the second phase was necessary to fully realize the project’s benefits.
That raises the central question for Pampanga today:
Eight years after the 2018 groundbreaking, and after billions of pesos in Korean and Philippine funding, has the project delivered the flood protection promised to communities in southern Pampanga?
Government records show that Stage 1 has been completed, but the broader IDRR-CCA program is not yet the end of Pampanga’s flood-control masterplan. Stage 2 was still under preparation in 2024, with Korean support for the feasibility and planning work.
The continuing floods in Macabebe, Masantol, Minalin and Sto. Tomas therefore make the next phase particularly important — and raise questions about whether the completed infrastructure is sufficient, whether waterways require continuing dredging and maintenance, and how Stage 2 will address flooding that persists despite the completion of Stage 1.
The original 2018 promise was straightforward: less flooding, faster drainage and greater protection for lives, livelihoods and property. Eight years later, Pampanga residents are still waiting to see whether the multibillion-peso investment can deliver that promise during the province’s worst floods.