Negros Occidental Rep. Javier Miguel Lopez Benitez asked their Senate counterparts to consider the allocation of P1 billion for the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards Project (Project NOAH).

Benitez made the call during the bicameral conference committee meeting on the 2026 national budget on Saturday.

“Project NOAH has made real-time, high-quality hazard maps (which) has been used by local government units. Ever since nangyayari po sa ating ang mga climate disasters, the (Project NOAH) website has had 35 million searches online; during peak times, 2.5 million searches a day,” he said.

Benitez said the amount of searches for accurate flood information, particularly during impending typhoons, make it necessary for the entire country to have updated hazard maps.

He pointed out that the hazard maps of Project NOAH were last updated in 2012.

Benitez is one of the authors of House Bill (HB) 2577 which seeks the establishment of the National Climate Resilience Institute under the University of the Philippines (UP) system.

House Appropriations Committee and Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Suansing pushed for the fund allocation as part of the overall efforts to mitigate the effects of flooding in the country.

“Ang hinihingi po natin sa Project NOAH kapag binigay natin ang pondo na ito is for them to work closely with the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) in terms of refining the way flood control projects are designed and monitored,” Suansing said.

She explained that Project NOAH enables the simulation of a particular area to pinpoint where exactly a flood control structure should be built.

Through the effort, Suansing said, “Hindi na po magkakaroon ng pagkakataon na makapaglagay ng flood control project sa lugar na hindi naman talaga kailangan lagyan.”

She took note that the budget for Project NOAH’s annual budget dwindled from P500 million to just P36 million in recent years, and yet, the project was still able to come out with accurate hazard maps that many Filipinos rely on.

Project NOAH is currently being implemented by the UP National Resilience Institute.