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MANILA - Flood control projects may be a new way for corrupt politicians and contractors to pocket public funds, a ranking congressman said Monday.

Flood control projects seem to be in trend because it is hard to inspect whether or not contractors followed the required foundation depth and height of anti-flood walls, said House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya.

"Iyun po ang bagong paraan ngayon para kumita ng pera: ito pong flood control," he told radio DZMM.

"Nagtanong po ako sa mga contractors at sa mga opisyal ng Public Works kung bakit tila ito ang paborito ngayon. Ang sabi po nila, ito'y dahil madali itong dayain sa konstruksyon," he added.

(This is their new way now of earning money: these flood control projects. I asked contractors and Public Works officials why its seems to be a favorite now. They said it's because it's easy to cheat its construction.)

Some P114.4 billion was allocated for such projects in 2019, almost a quarter of the proposed P544.5-billion budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways, he said in a statement on Sunday.

The budget for flood mitigation projects was at P133 billion in 2018, increasing from the the previous year's P79 billion, Andaya said.

The bulk of these allocations, he said, went to small cities, not Metro Manila and Cebu, which grapple with perennial floods.

Andaya, citing information from an unnamed mayor, claimed that a former Cabinet official now seeking an elective seat was responsible for "parking" at least P300 million in flood mitigation projects for Bicol region.

The parking scheme, supposedly "facilitated" by the Budget department, "may eventually explain the huge spike allocated to flood mitigation projects from 2017 to 2018," he said.

Among Cabinet members who resigned to run in next year's midterm elections are erstwhile Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, Special Assistant to the President Bong Go, Foreign Affairs Chief Alan Peter Cayetano, Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr, and Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Francis Tolentino.

The House rules committee will investigate the supposed budget anomalies on January 3, said Andaya.