The Investment Coordination Committee–Cabinet Committee (ICC-CC), chaired by Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto, has approved a key policy shift requiring flood control and management projects to be aggregated and evaluated by river basin, marking a significant change in infrastructure project approval.
The policy, adopted weeks earlier on 12 August 2025, responds to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to intensify national flood control efforts. It mandates a more stringent and holistic review of projects that were previously fragmented and often excluded from ICC scrutiny due to the so-called P2.5 billion threshold.
This pertains to the rule in which projects above the threshold require ICC approval while those below it merely need agency certification for alignment with policy, budget and other parameters supposedly to prevent the bureaucratic bunching of the various infrastructure programs.
“This ensures that the hard-earned money of our citizens is spent wisely and not wasted on poorly planned projects,” Recto said, underlining the administration’s push for accountability and efficiency.
Under the new system, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will lead the submission of aggregated proposals, which will now be subject to rigorous technical, environmental, social, and economic assessments. The change is expected to enhance infrastructure planning, sustainability, and flood mitigation across entire river systems, benefiting broader communities.
The resolution was recommended by the Infrastructure Development Committee’s Sub-Committee on Water Resources and is pending final approval from the Economic Development Council.
The original P1 billion threshold was raised to P5 billion by then President Rodrigo Duterte, ostensibly to prevent administrative congestion and shift the decision-making from the country’s economic managers down to the various implementing agencies instead.
This threshold was lowered by the ICC in March 2017 to P2.5 billion.
