A multi-faceted problem

When flooding happens in Metro Manila, attention turns to flood-control projects. Questions quickly follow about how much was spent, whether the projects were completed and why after hundreds of billions of pesos have supposedly been allocated by the government for these over the years, the situation has even worsened.

These deserve answers from the government. After all, many areas that were usually not flooded are now flooded. Then there’s the flood-control controversy. How many of these funded projects even started in the first place?

While well-designed and implemented flood mitigation projects could have helped, flooding in Metro Manila is not that simple.

Project NOAH executive director Mahar Lagmay, in explaining the severe flooding that swamped the region last month, said that heavy rainfall volume, limited capacity of waterways and the area’s flood-prone geography are also factors to consider.

 Metro Manila, as well as its neighboring province Bulacan, he pointed out, is situated in naturally low-lying areas called deltas that which are flood-prone and are near bodies of waters like rivers and streams.

Even good flood-control infrastructure can only do so much when the waterways meant to carry floodwater are clogged.

President Marcos said during the launch of the Bayanihan sa Estero campaign in Pasig last year: “Kahit magandang-maganda na lahat ng flood control projects natin, kapag ganito pa rin ang ating estero, wala rin, mababaha pa rin tayo dahil walang madaanan ’yung tubig,” he said.

Flood control is not simply about building more infrastructure. It is about making sure the entire system works — from rivers and esteros to drainage networks, pumping stations and the communities around them.

This does not lessen the government’s responsibility to build effective flood-control projects or ensure that public funds are properly spent. Clogged waterways should never become an excuse for poorly designed or substandard infrastructure. But concrete alone will not solve the problem.

Garbage dumped into rivers and esteros can clog drainage, degrade water quality and move downstream into larger waterways. In communities along the Nangka River, for example, improperly disposed waste contributes to the pollution carried into the Marikina River and eventually Manila Bay.

Cleaning up that waste is necessary. Preventing it from reaching the water in the first place is even more important. This is where the work of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ estero rangers offer a useful lesson.

DENR deploys more than 1,500 estero rangers across Metro Manila daily. What began largely as waterway cleanup has expanded to include monitoring, environmental education and community engagement, alongside other environmental activities.

The shift reflects the need to do more than repeatedly clear waterways, especially when waste continues to find its way back into them.

Rebecca Torron knows this from experience. Before becoming an estero ranger assigned to the Marikina River in Barangay Nangka in 2022, she and her family disposed of household waste directly into the waterway because it was convenient and they had limited awareness of the consequences.

But environmental lectures and community activities changed her perspective. Today, she helps other residents understand why waste should not reach the river at all. Her story also shows why the problem cannot simply be blamed on a lack of discipline.

People have a responsibility to dispose of their waste properly. But communities also need reliable garbage collection, accessible disposal facilities, sustained education and enforcement. Behavior change is difficult to sustain when the systems needed to support it are missing.

The same principle applies to government. National agencies can clear waterways, but local governments must help prevent waste from returning. Flood-control structures can be built, but drainage systems and waterways need regular maintenance.

Environmental laws can prohibit dumping, but those rules must also be enforced where violations occur. These efforts must also be sustained throughout the year, rather than intensified only when another typhoon is approaching.

Since the DENR launched the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program in 2019, the role of estero rangers has expanded from removing floating waste to helping communities protect waterways themselves. The aim is not simply to clean an estero repeatedly, but to preserve the gains of each cleanup by addressing what causes the pollution. This is the approach flood resilience needs.

Under Environment Secretary Mitch Cuna, the DENR is pursuing that work on several fronts. Its Environmental Management Bureau supports efforts to address pollution, while DENR regional teams continue clearing waste from waterways. The department has also partnered with The Ocean Cleanup on a Pasig River cleanup project that will combine floating-waste collection with technology and data to guide the work. Removing the waste already in the river must go hand in hand with stopping more of it at the source.

The DENR’s Foreign-Assisted and Special Projects Service brings international cooperation into the same effort. Under a Philippine-Korean partnership, the MV Nilad was introduced to collect floating marine litter in Manila Bay. The vessel can recover waste that has reached the bay, but it cannot replace effective waste management in the communities and waterways upstream.

Riverbank rehabilitation adds a human dimension. Through the Manila Bay Coordinating Office, the DENR is working with local governments on the relocation of informal settler families living along river easements and the recovery of those areas for safer public use. Then there’s the DENR’s RIVER’s (Recognizing Individuals/Institutions Toward Vibrant and Enhanced Rivers) for Life Award which recognizes work to protect and rehabilitate rivers.

The Philippines will continue to require major investments in drainage, pumping stations, floodways and other infrastructure. Those investments should be scrutinized and their effectiveness measured. But at the same time, keeping waterways clear must be treated as part of flood control, not as a separate environmental concern.

 Improving waste collection and disposal, waste segregation, sustaining cleanup efforts for bodies of water and waterways, well-planned, designed and implemented flood control infrastructure, and an integrated approach to the problem are all indispensable to solving Metro Manila’s flooding woes. One piece of plastic that is thrown on the street and not collected ends up clogging the waterways.

 Metro Manila produces 10,000 tons a day of solid waste or about 25 percent of the country’s volume. Only 50 to 60 percent of the daily generated garbage is officially collected by local government units and private haulers, with the rest, mostly single-use plastics, ending up improperly disposed of, burned or clogging local waterways, creeks and pumping stations.

 Unfortunately, people would rather blame the absence of the flood control projects entirely for the massive floods Metro Manila had been enduring instead of owning up to it. Whoever stole the budget for these projects should end up in jail. However, putting them behind bars is not enough to solve our worsening situation.

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