BY WENDELL VIGILIA and RAYMOND AFRICA
SENATE President Francis Escudero yesterday asked the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to put an end to the “chronic” flooding in Metro Manila after super typhoon “Carina” and the southwest monsoon submerged the National Capital Region and neighboring provinces.
Escudero said he wants a thorough investigation into the government’s flood control projects in the light of the massive flooding despite the multibillion-peso allocation each year.
“With Metro Manila now under a state of calamity and the government now working to address the damage wrought by typhoon Carina, we should also work to determine why – over a decade after typhoon “Ondoy” – chronic, severe flooding continues to afflict the nation’s capital,” Escudero said.
At the House, the Committee on Metro Manila Development will convene on Wednesday next week to assess the damage caused by the typhoon, according to panel chair Manila Rep. Rolando Valeriano.
He said the committee will be briefed by the DPWH and the MMDA because they will have to explain why the government’s flood-control systems have failed.
Escudero, on the flooding problem, said: “Swaths of NCR are flooded so work and classes are suspended. We deploy our frontliners who rescue and evacuate affected families.
Generous volunteers and groups organize donation efforts and distribute aid. After the rains end, we assess the costs of the damage and evacuees are sent home. Repeat,” he said.
Escudero said this cycle is a painful reality that cannot be accepted, particularly given the economic significance of Metro Manila and its role as the seat of government.
He said the DPWH and MMDA must collaborate with local government units in inspecting flooded areas to recommend medium- and long-term solutions to prevent and avoid flooding.
“We cannot control the severity and frequency of typhoons and heavy rains, but we must anticipate, adjust, and adapt so that extreme weather phenomena do not unnecessarily disrupt the lives of our kababayan (countrymen),” Escudero said.
BUDGET
He also questioned the effectiveness of flood control measures and the use of the substantial budget allocated for these projects, which he said was about P255 billion for the DPWH’s flood control projects in the P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024.
“What ever happened to the hundreds of billions in flood control projects of DPWH, MMDA, and local government units?” he said in Filipino.
Escudero said the Senate Committee on Public Works, chaired by Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., will conduct an inquiry to uncover the reasons behind the apparent inefficacy of the flood control projects despite the substantial funding.
He said the inquiry aims to assess the state of the flood control systems and develop actionable solutions to ensure that the substantial investments in these projects yield the intended results – protecting communities from flooding and mitigating the impact of severe weather events.
During last year’s budget deliberations, Escudero noted that the P255 billion budget for flood control far exceeded the allocations for irrigation (P31 billion), the construction of new hospitals, and even the capital outlay budgets of the Department of Agriculture (P40.13 billion) and the Department of Health (P24.57 billion).
He also pointed out that the flood control budget surpasses the proposed budgets of entire departments, including the Department of National Defense (P232.2 billion) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (P209.9 billion).
Sen. Joel Villanueva said an inquiry on the cause of massive floodings will determine how the DPWH and the MMDA are spending the budget for flood control projects.
He said President Marcos Jr is apparently being fed wrong information on the government’s flood control projects, as announced by the latter during his third State of the Nation Address last Monday.
“We’ve been looking into… we are talking of P1 billion a day for the past two years.
Unfortunately during the SONA, we heard about 5,000 plus (flood control programs] statement by the President. It appears that he is being misled by some people around him so we have to look into it,” Villanueva said in a chance interview in Calumpit, Bulacan where he distributed family food packs for typhoon victims.
“Definitely, we have to investigate on this. It is unacceptable to hear that the cause (of the massive floodings was heavy downpour, volume of rainwater. That is not the reason… The Philippines has an average of about 20 typhoons a year… That’s the message of the President during his SONA and we wanted an accountable government,” he said.
He said the objective of the investigation is to determine how relevant agencies spend the allotted budget.
POLICIES
The jurisdiction of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development is the crafting of policies and programs that will promote and enhance the development of Metro Manila.
All the House representatives from Metro Manila are automatically members of the committee. They are expected to attend the July 31 hearing.
Rep. Arlene Brosas (PL, Gabriela), a member of the militant Makabayan bloc, called for a thorough investigation into the P244.57 billion budget allocated for flood control projects.
“The disconnect between the administration’s claims and the reality on the ground is alarming,” she said. “For years, we’ve seen corruption-tainted and ineffective flood control projects. We need to put an end to this cycle that only serves to line the pockets of corrupt officials while leaving our people vulnerable to disasters.”
Rep. France Castro (PL, ACT), who also from the Makabayan bloc, vowed to scrutinize the 2025 budget of the DPWH, noting that the department has P957,076,610.9589 budget or almost P1 billion daily for flood control.
“That is almost P1 billion of funds a day, but they failed catastrophically to do their jobs,” she said.
DRAINAGE DESIGN
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said government agencies should come up with a plan to redesign Metro Manila’s drainage system which will take into consideration its rapid urbanization and high population density.
Gatchalian said he observed that the massive flooding in Metro Manila “was caused by a culminating of three events: massive rainfall, high tide, and overflowing of water in dams and upstream.”
“Flood control projects should be redesigned to consider rapid urbanization and high population density of Metro Manila. Drainage system should be enlarged, waterways should be dredged and unimpeded dam management should be seamlessly coordinated,” he said.
Gatchalian also said the state weather bureau should give enough warnings to local government units so they can in turn alert their constituents to prevent them from being trapped in their homes.
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said a comprehensive masterplan for infrastructure development, including high impact flood mitigation and control projects, should be in place to prevent similar floodings.
“It’s hard to stomach that there is a P300-billion budget for flood control each year and it seems that projects on flood control are not well planned and executed. Pag patuloy ang paggawa ng mga ‘flood control’ projects na patchi-patchi ay walang mangyayari, Nagtatapon lang tayo ng pera (Nothing will happen if we continue to implement flood control projects on a staggered basis. We are just wasting money),” he added.
Ejercito said what the government needs to do is construct high-impact or big-ticket flood control projects to attain favorable results.
“Mega dikes and big water impounding infrastructures are what is needed,” he said.
