EDITORIAL - Waiting for flood control

Will residents of Malabon and neighboring Navotas ever get relief from flooding? The two cities, situated in the low-lying areas of northern Metro Manila, saw their flooding problems worsen after natural water catchments were filled out to make way for the Dagat-Dagatan development project during the Marcos regime. As in many other government development projects in Metro Manila, no alternative drainage system was built for water to wash out into the sea. Today certain areas of the two cities become flooded even during high tide. During heavy rains, the floods spill over into neighboring Valenzuela and Caloocan.

Dikes were built about 30 years ago in Malabon to reduce the flooding. Last Thursday as storm “Feria” battered the country, the dikes in two Malabon barangays were breached and many parts of the city were submerged in several feet of water, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of families. Local government officials lamented that the disaster would not have happened if the multibillion-peso flood control project for the so-called Camanava area had been completed as scheduled in June 2007.

The lament is valid, but common in this country. The Department of Public Works and Highways started work on the flood control project in June 2004. Given the urgency of reducing flooding in northern Metro Manila, completion of the project should have been given priority. Instead construction has dragged on for five years, with Malabon Mayor Canuto Oreta now grousing that he found it useless to continue nagging the DPWH about the problem.

Officials and residents of Malabon have a right to nag, and to ask the DPWH about the status of the flood control project. Every moviegoer also pays a flood tax. Where does that money go? A few years ago massive flooding in other parts of Metro Manila prompted President Arroyo to transfer jurisdiction over flood control from the DPWH to Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Bayani Fernando. Much of Metro Manila lies in an area that geologists say is naturally sinking slowly into the sea, which means flooding will be a perennial problem in the nation’s premier region. But Fernando managed to ease the problem by clearing drainage systems and installing additional pumping stations that made floodwaters subside faster.

The DPWH retains jurisdiction over construction of flood control projects such as dikes. What’s holding up the completion of the one in northern Metro Manila? Residents in that area have the right to know, and to see their suffering eased.