Solution to flooding woes

A study by the Japan International Cooperation Study (JICA) has estimated that around P2.4 billion a day is lost from wasted fuel and economic productivity as a result of traffic jams due to thunderstorm-related flash floods.

- MARY ANN LL. REYES

UP Resilience Institute (URI) executive director Mahar Lagmay has also said that much of the flooding problem is due to how humans have altered the landscape over time.

Lagmay noted that heavy flooding across Metro Manila following strong monsoon rains is not solely due to the volume of rainfall but is also the result of extensive urban development, clogging and obstruction of waterways by garbage and informal settlers, narrowing of rivers due to development of floodplains and coastal reclamation, among others.

Over P2 trillion has been spent on flood control projects in the last 15 years and yet, Metro Manila continues to be inundated.

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) president Ramon Ang recently identified a major problem causing floods in the National Capital Region – over one kilometer of the Tullahan River has been covered by housing and a school, thus blocking the main flood drainage for Quezon City and surrounding areas.

He offered to clean up the rivers and other waterways at no cost to the government. Ang also committed to build a replacement for infrastructure that will be removed along the rivers, particularly a school that was built in Tullahan River as well as houses that have obstructed the flow of water into the river.

Under its Better Rivers PH program, SMC had carried out massive dredging, widening and cleanup operations of the Tullahan and Navotas Rivers, Pasig and San Juan Rivers, those in Parañaque City and in Bulacan, Pampanga and Laguna since 2020. Around 8.52 million cubic meters of waste have so far been removed from over 163 kilometers of rivers covered by the program.

SMC's efforts to solve national problems, without a cent from the public purse, are not new. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company spent over P14 billion on vaccines that were flown to far-flung provinces, on food and alcohol, medical equipment donated to hospitals, free toll for essential workers.