THE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) yesterday admitted the government has no “integrated master plan” for flood management and mitigation in the country.
Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan told the Senate Committee on Public Works that the 5,521 completed flood control projects reported by President Marcos Jr in his state of the nation address last week were actually “immediate relief projects for flood mitigation.”
“The 5,500 that we are talking about are the immediate projects, engineering interventions all over the country, which are not included in the master plan. These are the stand-alone projects to provide immediate relief to low-lying areas,” Bonoan said in mixed Filipino and English, during the committee hearing.
He said the immediate projects at least “have given relief and protection to low-lying areas all over the country… because in the meantime that we are actually trying to formalize the implementation of the master plans that were developed actually in the river basins.”
Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., committee chairman, said while flood waters have receded faster this year compared to 2009 during typhoon “Ondoy,” that is not enough to boast of it.
“Let us not talk about how fast floodwaters receded because what we should be concerned about is there should no more be floods,” he said in Filipino.
Sen. Imee Marcos said that Bonoan’s statement is an admission of the lack of an integrated master plan for flood management and mitigation. She said a mere master plan is not enough.
“The 18 major river basins have been referred to repeatedly in the past. But you also admitted on your part, Mr. Secretary, that they’re in various stages of preparation and that in many cases, they’re not integrated,” she said.
“So there’s an admission on the part of the DPWH that in fact, a national flood control master plan still does not exist. Tama po ba yun (Is that right)?’ she also said, adding the 18 major river basin projects are separate from one another, as local government units also have their own projects.
“Well to some extent, that’s correct, Madam senator,” Bonoan replied, adding
there are actual master plans which have been “carried out” and they are being updated.
Marcos said the master plans Bonoan was referring to re the flood control plans made during the time of her father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos, which was way back in 1972.
If there is no integrated master plan, where does the DPWH and other concerned agencies spend the billions of pesos allotted yearly for flood control projects, she asked.
Bonoan explained the master plans “are very specific in its reverberation” because they have different requirements.
INTEGRATED PLAN
Sen. Joel Villanueva said the government should have an integrated master plan, not just plain master plan, so that flood waters can readily find its way out of Manila Bay during heavy downpours.
He said that without an integrated master plan, floodwaters are trapped in a specific area and will take time before it could exit to Manila Bay.
“If they are not integrated, and if you implement the master plan for a specific area, the other province, town, barangays will now be flooded,” he said.
Bonoan said there is a “master plan” for Metro Manila which was approved in 2012. The other day, he said the plan was merely 30 percent complete.
Villanueva said if a master plan for Metro Manila has already been developed, why is the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority asking for a P15 million budget under the 2025 National Expenditure Program as feasibility study funds.
MMDA Chairman Romando Artes said the P15 million is for the feasibility study of all drainage systems in Metro Manila.
“We have no request for a P15-million funding. What we are discussing with DPWH is the proposal under the World Bank Metro Manila Flood Management Project comprehensive drainage master plan. That will be a feasibility study on all the drainage systems in the whole of Metro Manila so their level and width will be integrated,” Artes said in Filipino.
Bonoan also agreed with the senators that a solid waste management program should be part of the government’s integrated master plan for floodings.
Villanueva, in a Viber message to the media, said it was very clear from the DPWH that its flaunted flood control projects were done piece by piece, and that is reason an integrated master plan should be in place.
He said around P839 billion has been allotted to the DPWH for 13,000 flood control projects since 2022 but 7,000 projects are still unfinished. He said some individuals should be made accountable for this.
GREENING PROJECTS
Villanueva said the government should not decrease the allocations for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ greening projects.
He noted that in 2023, the DENR got a budget for greening projects of P2.3 billion. In 2024, it was decreased to P1.2 billion, and in the 2025 NEP it has been decreased further.
He said the DENR’s budget for ecological waste management is also on a downtrend — from P334 million in 2024 to P286 million next year.
Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said the Department of Budget and Management has “put a cap on our budget and so we have to align relative to the priorities” of the government.
“Our budget and our mandate really intersect with many of the priorities of the different departments. So, where we are actually limited in what is being allotted to us, we work with other departments on what we are now calling the convergence budgeting system to see how we can align our resources and our efforts to achieve the goals under the Philippine Development Plan,” Loyzaga said.
Villanueva said the downtrend in DENR greening projects and ecological waste management project has resulted in an upward trend in floodings.
Loyzaga said the public should also play a part in properly disposing of their garbage so as not clog drainage systems.
“It requires political will to actually begin to look at solid waste management as an industry that is required for sustainable development to actually happen,” she said.
