Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte has dared ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio to visit Davao and ask residents there if they have experienced flooding – to debunk claims of irregularities in the city’s flood control projects.
Duterte, in a statement on Wednesday night, urged Tinio to ‘stop using Davao for your political drama’ after the latter said he and his team found red flags in 80 of 120 flood control projects along the Davao River and Matina River.
‘We build, we deliver, we protect our people – while others just talk and pretend to investigate. So here’s my advice to Tinio: come to Davao, walk the riverbanks, see the projects, and talk to the people whose homes no longer flood because of those structures. Then maybe you’ll realize the only thing missing in your so-called investigation is the truth,’ Duterte said.
‘Until then, stop using Davao as your political punching bag. We don’t owe anyone an apology for doing our job right,’ he added.
According to Duterte, Davao City has nothing to hide, saying that the projects that Tinio mentioned have been checked and inspected by both the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Commission on Audit (COA).
‘Every single flood-control project along the Davao and Matina Rivers was implemented, inspected, and validated by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Commission on Audit (COA). The structures exist. They are serving the people. They are not ‘ghosts’ – unlike the kind of politics some people keep reviving every time they need attention,’ Duterte said.
‘Tinio’s so-called exposé is nothing but a desperate and ignorant attempt to drag Davao into another circus of baseless accusations. You claim to have ‘uncovered’ anomalies – but did you ever question DPWH with your so-called facts? Or did you just piece together numbers to sound relevant again?’ he asked.
In a press briefing earlier, Tinio said alleged irregularities in Davao River and Matina River flood control projects merit an investigation as they found ‘red flags.’
The said irregularities in the projects, said to be worth over P4 billion, were discovered by Tinio after skimming through documents requested from DPWH, the said agency’s website, and the National Expenditures Program and General Appropriations Act from 2019 to 2022.
Tinio gave five categories for classifying the red-flagged projects:
Total Overlap: Two contracts worth P135.14 million funded construction on identical river sections, with one 2019 project covering a section of the Davao river, while a 2020 project covered the same section plus additional areas
Double Funding: Two contracts worth P115.09 million were awarded to different contractors for the exact same project location (‘revetment along Davao River at the Davao River Bridge upstream section’)
Changed Location and Shortchanging: Nine contracts worth P484.04 million were implemented at different locations than specified in the General Appropriations Act (GAA), often with significantly reduced coverage. For example, one GAA item allocated P30 million for 375 meters of revetment, but the actual contract covered only 120 meters-a shortfall of 255 meters while charging P161,250 per meter instead of the budgeted P80,000
Awarded Contracts Without Details: A staggering 62 contracts worth P3.44 billion were awarded without proper specifications (such as exact location and length) in official records, making verification and accountability difficult
Awarded Contracts Not in GAA: Ten contracts worth P622.57 million were implemented despite having no corresponding line items in the approved national budget
Tinio and Duterte have been engaged in a verbal spat since the ACT Teachers solon backed the House committee on public accounts’ looming probe of the Manila Bay Dolomite Beach project.
The said project was implemented during the time of Duterte’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, particularly in September 2020, during the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Duterte on Monday night claimed Tinio has been ironically silent on corruption within the current administration despite his calls for a probe on the controversial Manila Bay Dolomite Beach project, which was implemented during the term of former president Duterte.
According to Rep. Duterte, such silence shows that Makabayan is subservient to the current administration.
But Tinio on Tuesday said it appears Rep. Duterte is ignorant of what Makabayan has stood for, telling him that the use of Google as a search engine is free of charge, so that he can check their previous statements and initiatives against corruption.
A quick search on social media and search engines would show that Makabayan has called out the government, including both the House of Representatives and the Senate, over issues involving the 2025 budget – and even voted against the budget bills.
In December 2024, Makabayan – particularly former ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro and Tinio – said that the 2025 budget failed to give priority to the education sector, contradicting provisions in the 1987 Constitution.
Castro and Tinio said Marcos’ veto of P194 billion line items in the budget was just a ‘deceptive maneuver to create an illusion of constitutional compliance.’