Time to audit your congressman's performance

On May 8, 2028, we shall elect not only the next president, vice president and 12 senators, but also our district and sectoral representatives to the House of Representatives. We should not forget that congressmen were elected to make laws and not to construct waiting sheds or poke their fingers in public works especially the flood-control projects.

What are landmark laws of the honorable Rhea Gullas of the 1st District of Cebu, Edsel Galeos of the second, Karen Flores Garcia of the third, Sun Shimura of the fourth, Duke Frasco of the fifth, Daphne Lagon of the sixth, and Pat Calderon of the seventh? We are not insulting. We are asking. If you are really public servants, don't you think that you have the obligation to render a detailed performance report to your constituents. The taxpayers deserve to ask and to know.

And how about the honorable Cutie del Mar of Cebu City north and Edu Rama of Cebu City south? And the honorable Emmarie Dizon of Mandaue and Junard Chan of Lapu-Lapu City? Do you even have a strategic and long-range legislative plan for your districts? And how about the flood-control issue, especially those in the 1st District and the largest flood-control project of them all, which is in one of the poorest districts, the seventh?

Why are the representatives of these two districts mysteriously silent? It has been reported that no less than ?43 billion was spent by Cebu on alleged 1,008 flood control projects from 2026 to 2025. The Gullases and the Calderons were in control of the first and the seventh districts, respectively, all those years. And these two districts got the lion’s shares of the Cebu flood-control allocations. Until now, I have not seen any formal statements from these honorable solons to report to the people on such a controversial issue.

It has been reported that major river systems, including the Mananga, Butuanon, and Cansaga rivers, received repeated funding for desilting, riverbank protection and slope-stabilization projects. Coastal municipalities in southwestern Cebu (in the 7th District) also received billions of pesos for seawalls and storm-surge protection. It behooves the representatives of these districts to make a detailed report to the people on such a controversial issue.

We were all made to understand that from 2016 to 2025, the big three waterways: Mananga River (Talisay City), Butuanon River (Cebu City and Mandaue City), and Cansaga River (Consolacion) received continuous, multi-year funding for revetments and desilting. Why is there a seeming conspiracy of silence on the matter. Too much money in multi-billions was poured into the small towns of the 7th District which have never been known since the time of San Pedro Calungsod to be flood-prone areas.

I call upon the young Cebuanos, the Gen Z's and the millennials, the students, and the youth in general to push these issues to the center of the national conversations. We should not be lulled into forgetting the billions of taxpayers’ money that were allegedly spent without a sense of accountability and transparency.