Every rainy season, Metro Manila and the provinces transform into water parks nobody asked for. Streets become rivers, basements turn into aquariums, and you suddenly find out which of your neighbors secretly owns an inflatable boat.

And yet, year after year, billions of pesos are poured into “flood control projects.” The catch? Many of these projects either never materialize or work about as well as a billion-peso umbrella riddled with holes. The Commission on Audit has flagged plenty of examples: drainage systems that stop mid-way, canals that don’t connect, and flood walls that collapse after a single storm. Welcome to the soggy sibling of ghost projects—the “phantom flood control system.”

How Do You Stop Ghost Flood Projects?

Instead of drowning in frustration, here are some practical (and slightly funny) ideas that could push accountability to the surface:

1. Rainy-Day Reality Check
Forget ribbon-cutting in summer. Hold inspections in the middle of a thunderstorm. If the barangay still looks like Venice, freeze the funds. Call it “live testing.”

2. Barangay Flood Reporters
Give locals a hotline or an app. If your street is still underwater after DPWH declares a project “100% complete,” log it. Flood selfies become evidence. Extra credit if the DPWH project signboard is floating in the background.

3. TikTok Weather Watchdogs
Turn flood monitoring into a viral challenge. “Day 20: Barangay Mabaha still waiting for drainage. #GhostProject #WhereDidTheMoneyGo.” Contractors fear audits, but politicians fear TikTok.

4. Blockchain, but Make It Pinoy
On a serious note, infrastructure project tracking could live on blockchain. Every peso, every milestone, every contractor update—public and transparent in real time. Imagine tracking bridges the way you track Lazada deliveries: “Your road is 60% complete. Estimated delivery: never.”

Closing Thought

The tragedy is predictable: monsoon after monsoon, floods return like clockwork, while our defenses dissolve into paperwork and excuses. But with humor, tech, and a bit of bayanihan spirit, maybe ghost flood projects won’t haunt us forever. Until then, better keep that inflatable boat handy.