Inspecting the extent of flooding in Central Luzon earlier this week, President Marcos said his government is implementing for the first time a flood control master plan that has been around for decades.
The existence of a master plan was news for many people including senators scrutinizing the 2027 budget proposed for the Department of Public Works and Highways. The senators said any funding sought for flood control by the DPWH must adhere to a science-based master plan.
Malacañang said flood control master plans had been developed in the 1930s and 1940s, which may no longer be useful. But former public works chief Rogelio Singson had disclosed that a flood control master plan was completed when he headed the DPWH during the presidency of Noynoy Aquino.
Following the change in administration, however, no one seemed to know where that master plan ended up. Until the recent extensive flooding, even the DPWH under Marcos seemed unaware of the master plan.
Perhaps the President was briefed about it by Singson, who joined him during his inspection of the flooded provinces of Central Luzon on Sept. 2.
Seeing the portions of the North Luzon Expressway that were rendered impassable by heavy flooding, Singson revived a proposal to utilize about a tenth of the 32,000-hectare Candaba Swamp in Pampanga as a water detention basin for flood mitigation in Central Luzon.
Amid the still unfolding corruption scandal involving flood control and crooked budgeting, people are no longer engaging in fatalism and blaming simply nature’s wrath for their misery during the wet season. People now realize that engineering interventions can be effective, if science-based and free of corruption.
Feasibility studies and master plans take time and expertise to develop, so it’s easier for the government to dust up the existing one. It shouldn’t need much updating since climate change had already been factored in; the plan was developed after the country had seen the devastation from extreme weather, beginning with Storm Ondoy in September 2009, the storm surge from Manila Bay during Typhoon Pedring in September 2011 and then Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.
There are other such long-term plans and detailed feasibility studies, a number of them developed at considerable costs to taxpayers, that have been relegated to the archives or, worse, trashed with the changes in administration.
Seeing the usefulness of the nearly forgotten DPWH master plan, the government must dig up other such studies that may be gathering dust, which can be useful for delivering speedy results in disaster mitigation.