Vince Dizon: System must be fixed amid alleged wrong flood control coordinates

Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon on Wednesday said that the system must be fixed amid allegations that wrong grid coordinates were submitted to Malacañang for flood control projects.

“Dapat hindi nagkakamali ‘yan kasi kaya ka nga naglalagay ng IT system para masiguro na ‘yan ay hindi pwedeng dayain, hindi pwedeng manipulahin. So ‘yan po ang ginagawa natin ngayon,” Dizon said on Balitanghali.

(It should not be making mistakes because that’s why you put an IT system to make sure that it cannot be cheated, cannot be manipulated. So that is what we are doing now.)

In October 2025, the DPWH reported that 421 out of around 8,000 flood control projects it initially inspected nationwide were allegedly non-existent.

However, Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson alleged that former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan deliberately submitted incorrect grid coordinates to Malacañang, resulting in what he described as “grossly inaccurate data” during validation.

For his part, Bonoan said he relied on generated by his employees, especially the office of late Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral

According to Dizon, authorities are verifying whether the incident was deliberate or a mistake. He said that half of the 400 flood control projects have been checked and validated.

“Pero tingin ko po dadami pa po ‘yan kasi libo-libo po ang proyekto ng DPWH, lalong lalo na kung titignan natin ‘yung mga nakaraang 10 taon,” he said.

(But I think that will still increase because there are thousands of DPWH projects, especially if we look at the past 10 years.)

“So tuloy-tuloy lang po tayo dito. Kailangan natin ngayon, check ‘yung mga nakaraan para siguraduhing managot talaga ‘yung mga dapat managot dito. Pero at the same time, kailangan natin siguraduhin na hindi na ito mauulit muli,” he added.

(So we just keep going here. We need now to check the past to make sure that those who should be held accountable here are really held accountable. But at the same time, we need to make sure that this does not happen again.)

Dizon said he has yet to talk with Bonoan but he welcomes the opportunity to do so.—AOL, GMA Integrated News