By Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter
THE Philippine government should tighten oversight of flood control projects to protect farm workers and secure food production, Labor Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma said, after a surge in unemployment tied to damage from recent typhoons and substandard infrastructure.
“If the supposed anomalous or substandard projects caused or contributed considerably to massive flooding, landslides and damage to infrastructure resulting in crop losses or halted activities, then the failure can be blamed for the loss of work or employment,” he told BusinessWorld in a Viber message.
His comments follow the Philippine Statistics Authority’s July 2025 labor force survey, which recorded 2.59 million unemployed Filipinos, the highest in three years. The agricultural sector bore the brunt of these losses, shedding 974,000 jobs year on year, while agriculture and forestry combined lost 1.38 million jobs across major industries.
Mr. Laguesma argued that failed or anomalous flood mitigation projects might have directly affected employment and livelihood in rural areas. “Had these projects been done properly, the agricultural sectors would not have suffered such employment losses or crop destruction,” he added.
Experts also warn of deeper, long-term effects. Former Agriculture Secretary William D. Dar described a “very strong” link between the rise in rural underemployment and flawed flood control infrastructure, which worsens the impact of typhoons and persistent rain.
“There are opportunities lost as a result of the continuous flooding of communities,” he said via Viber. “Because of flooding, these people are disturbed in their various jobs as they need to protect and bring their families to evacuation centers.”
The country’s underemployment rate quickened to 14.8% in July from 12.1% a year ago and 11.4% in June. This translated to 6.8 million underemployed Filipinos, many of whom are in rural areas dependent on farming and fishing.
With flooded fields and destroyed crops, many farmers have sought temporary work in construction — a sector now under scrutiny itself due to ongoing corruption investigations.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. recently announced that flood control projects would get no funding in the 2026 national budget, raising further concerns about employment and disaster resilience.
“The long-term implications of these project failures for food security are enormous,” Mr. Dar said. “Food production is badly affected during flooding, much more so if extreme weather conditions come one after the other.”
“The risk of having to lose one production cycle will greatly reduce our food supply and can even increase food prices as a result,” he added.
A March 2025 study by the Social Weather Stations found that 27.2% of Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger, the highest since September 2020. Repeated crop failures, Mr. Dar said, might deepen poverty in farming communities.
Small farmers don’t have the capital to absorb repeated losses, he added.
The Philippines is the world’s most typhoon-exposed nation, averaging 20 tropical cyclones per year, with the peak season spanning July to October. Despite decades of flood control initiatives, many rural communities continue to suffer devastating inundation every storm season.
Last week, President Marcos created an Independent Commission for Infrastructure to investigate irregularities within the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), after visiting areas with complaints about unfinished or nonexistent infrastructure.