MANILA, Philippines — December 14, 2025 — The House of Representatives on Saturday urged the Senate to allocate ₱1 billion for the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards, or Project NOAH, in the proposed 2026 national budget as discussions move to the bicameral conference committee.
Lawmakers emphasized that Project NOAH’s hazard maps on flooding, landslides, and storm surges remain essential tools for local government units and the public, particularly during typhoons and other climate-related disasters.
Negros Occidental Representative Javier Miguel Lopez Benitez said the platform continues to be widely used despite many of its maps not having been updated since 2012.
He noted that the Project NOAH website has recorded around 35 million online searches, with traffic reaching up to 2.5 million searches per day during peak disaster periods, underscoring its continued relevance in disaster preparedness and response.
Meanwhile, Nueva Ecija Representative Mikaela Suansing, chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, said the proposed funding would support the use of advanced simulations to better identify areas where flood control projects are truly needed, rather than relying on outdated or incomplete data.
She added that this approach would help ensure public funds are spent on infrastructure projects that effectively address flood risks.
Project NOAH was launched in 2012 under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to map areas vulnerable to floods, landslides, and storm surges. However, the program lost government funding in 2017.
The initiative is now being managed by the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute, which continues to operate the platform with limited resources. Lawmakers said restoring funding would significantly strengthen the country’s disaster risk assessment and climate resilience efforts.