PUBLIC Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan yesterday said government has a comprehensive master plan on flood management in Metro Manila, but over a decade after it was approved, its completion is less than 30 percent.
The P351-billion flood management master plan, which was approved in 2012 under the Aquino administration, is expected to be completed by 2035, he said.
Bonoan said the master plan has numerous components.
“I think ang tantsa ko rito is under about 30% because there are several components po nito, maraming components nitong master plan na ito. Sa amin sa DPWH, is actually ‘yung sa pagdaloy ng floodwater along Pasig River. There are other components like environmental, social, and other issues (Based on my estimate, below 30 percent was completed because there are several components to this masterplan. For the DPWH. it’s actually the flow of floodwater along Pasig River),” he said.
In a briefing after the sectoral meeting on La Niña preparations held in Malacañang, Bonoan said the Marcos government is committed to continue the master plan.
He said despite its slow implementation, the flood control program has been useful in laying out the infrastructure components of projects.
“I can assure you that the funds that were put into the infrastructure component have helped a lot in mitigating the flooding problems also in Metro Manila,” he said.
He said proof of this is that during the onslaught of typhoon “Ondoy” in 2009, flood stayed in Metro Manila for about two weeks, while floods from “Carina” last week, which was slightly more than Ondoy’s, receded almost after the rains — except in some low-lying areas including those affected by high tides.
The country was hit last week by Carina and the enhanced southwest monsoon (“habagat”) which resulted in floods in several areas including Metro Manila.
The President, following the onslaught, said he wants an effective national flood control program that could withstand disasters.
COMPLETED PROJECTS
Bonoan said 5,521 flood control projects had been completed nationwide since July 2022.
He said many of these projects started under previous administrations but delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, among others.
From 2022 to 2024, a total of 2,414 flood control projects were started and have been while 3,107 projects were completed before Marcos assumed office.
Data from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) showed most of the completed projects were in Central Luzon (838 projects), National Capital Region (656), Bicol (513), Ilocos (453), and Calabarzon (435).
Bonoan said DPWH is continuing some 5,000 projects.
“I categorized these projects are the immediate engineering interventions in the principal rivers because the Department of Public Works and Highways is also implementing flood control management programs in the 18 major river basins throughout the country including Metro Manila,” he said.
The project in Metro Manila is the Pasig-Marikina Flood Control Management System.
Among other projects in the pipeline are the drainage system master plan which aims to replace the more than 50-year-old drainage system in Metro Manila, the Marikina dam and Paranaque spillway.
Bonoan said once the flood control projects are completed, including the improved drainage system and improved garbage disposal system, around 70 percent to 80 percent of flooding in Metro Manila will be mitigated.
He said it is not likely to be finished within the term of Marcos but his administration would try to maximize and complete a such of the projects as they can.
NO SHORTCUTS
The chief of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said the government should prioritize and invest more effort in implementing programs that will address the country’s flooding problem.
“There’s no shortcut to the needed solutions. These must be comprehensive and long-term,” said OCD administrator Ariel Nepomuceno, also executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
“Comprehensive plans that are based on and inspired by science must cover the 18 major river basins of the archipelago and the communities surrounding them. Big dams for flood control, veers, levy systems, irrigation canals, catch basins, relocation of vulnerable communities, respect for no-build zones, landslide preventions, alarm systems and safety protocols, reforestation, and no-nonsense management of all these must be in place soon,” he added.
Nepomuceno said the said the government should implement these projects in collaboration with other sectors as well as the general public.
“Alongside our ongoing discussions on engineering solutions for earthquake preparedness, we must also prioritize solutions aimed at mitigating floods across the country. This task requires us to enhance and sustain the efforts collectively,” he said.
Nepomuceno said programs to solve water scarcity during El Niño, a weather phenomenon that increases the likelihood of below-normal rainfall conditions that may lead to dry spells and droughts, should be also pursued.
“Unless we roll out the necessary engineering infrastructure that will contain the floods during the rainy season and provide water during droughts, we will read the same reports on massive damage and hear the same complaints from people who are adversely affected,” he said.
He said the needed projects should be dual-purpose or “one stone hitting two birds.”
“Trying to solve one massive problem almost automatically solves another,” he added.
GARBAGE, RECLAMATION PROJECTS
Senate President Francis Escudero said the flooding at the Senate last week from Carina was caused by garbage clogging the waterways, and by a water pump near the upper chamber’s compound, that failed to operate because it had no gasoline.
Escudero said this was the report given to him by the Senate and the DPWH.
He clarified he is not yet ruling out other possible causes of the flooding, a first for the Senate, including reclamation activities at Manila Bay near the Senate compound which senators earlier said could be a possible cause.
The Committee on Public Works chaired by Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. was supposed to conduct yesterday its first hearing on the massive floodings in Metro Manila and nearby areas but has rescheduled it for Thursday.
Lawmakers who belong to the militant Makabayan bloc at the House filed a resolution calling for an investigation into what they called an “alarming” impact of the Manila Bay reclamation projects on flood-prone areas in Metro Manila and nearby cities and provinces.
Party-list Reps. Raoul Manuel (Kabataan), Arlene Brosas (Gabriela), and France Castro (ACT) filed House Resolution No. 1814 in the wake of the severe flooding on July 24, 2024, because of the effects of Carina and the southwest monsoon, which resulted in multiple casualties, affected over a million individuals, and caused significant agricultural losses.
The lawmakers said the Manila Bay reclamation projects violated the 2008 mandamus order of the Philippine Supreme Court for the rehabilitation and preservation of Manila Bay and “threaten the livelihoods of thousands of fisherfolk and urban poor communities.”
“Current reclamation activities have already displaced or impacted the livelihoods of 2,700 fisherfolk and urban poor in Bulacan and Navotas, destroyed critical wetlands, and pose a significant threat to the marine biodiversity and ecosystems in the region,” the resolution said. “It is imperative to investigate the impact of these reclamation projects on flood-prone areas to ensure the protection of communities, the environment, and the fulfillment of legal mandates pertaining to environmental conservation and disaster risk reduction.”
Manuel, who led the filing of the resolution, said in a separate statement that the government “cannot prioritize profit-driven development at the expense of our people’s safety and well-being.”
He said the relationship between reclamation projects and increased flooding risks in vulnerable areas cannot be ignored, echoing the Advocates of Science and Technology for the People’s (AGHAM) that the “projects fundamentally alter the natural landscape of our coasts, disrupting the delicate balance of ecosystems that have historically acted as natural flood barriers on surrounding communities.”
“The recent flooding in Metro Manila also has exposed the inadequacy of our current flood control measures. Despite billions of pesos allocated for flood control projects, we continue to see devastating floods that put lives at risk and cause significant damage to property and livelihoods,” Manuel said. — With Raymond Africa and Wendell Vigilia
