27/07/2025
𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗟 | 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀
It’s not “new” news: Philippine infrastructure being battered by heavy and undying rainfall, class and work suspensions, and real-world scenarios of residents wading through ankle-to-head high waters.
Flooding has been a persistent national issue in the Philippines since its citizens were first learning how to talk and walk. It’s been ever so evident, especially in the past few days with Severe Tropical Storm Wipha (formerly Crising) and the southwest monsoon that surged with it, together affecting more than 800,000 individuals and flooding 500 various areas along Luzon, according to the National Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) respectively.
With 20 typhoons expected to pummel the nation annually, reality now looms not only over the communities submerged but also the future of the nation’s disaster preparedness and mitigation strategies. Time has shown that flooding continues to devastate the Philippines. It’s topped the World Risk Index’s list of countries with natural hazard exposure and vulnerability for the past 16 years. This is not a matter of pointing fingers anymore, nor is it another “he said, she said.”. The flooding plague is a product of negligent decisions from all national, local, and civil sectors.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was granted the highest 2025 Budget allocation, amounting to ₱1.055 trillion. A significant chunk of that was allotted to DPWH’s Flood Management Program that was given ₱257 billion, based on the National Expenditure Program. Additionally, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has boasted about his administration completing more than 5000 flood control projects nationwide, including 656 done in Metro Manila, in his 2024 State of the Nation Address. Yet on reality’s corner, the “effectivity” of the said projects is practically indiscernible. Drainage systems in the Philippines have long been outdated and inadequate. According to DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan, 70% of Metro Manila’s current systems in place are silted. Constructing new infrastructure moves at a glacial pace, and maintaining current ones has proven to be costly every year. 4 months after the SONA, President Marcos Jr. later clarified that while systems are in place, they are more often than not overwhelmed.
In 2017, Project Noah (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards), an early warning system that is centered on disaster prevention, was defunded and shut down by the Duterte Administration. The University of the Philippines has offered it shelter ever since, but it lacks the brawn of national reach and budget.
The Local Government Code also hands the Local Government Units (LGU) a slice of responsibility in this matter. Since its implementation in 1991, LGUs were mandated to develop and manage local disaster risk reduction plans, allocate funds to preparedness, and enforce zoning regulations within their jurisdictions. A research paper in 2018 that tackled Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) found that, in practice, LGUs struggle with limited resources, scarcity of personnel, and fiscal issues. These bottlenecks inevitably increase the vulnerability of their respective constituents when faced with flooding. As a result, citizens of local municipalities are forced to heavily rely on the efforts of the national sector, that are more centralized and less grassroots.
At the core of it all, the civil sector continues to suffer from the effects of flooding—an issue they themselves contribute to by poor practices and unavoidable urban growth, leading to poor flood mitigation. According to Quezon City’s disaster office spokesperson Peachy de Leon, waste clogging drains is a factor that exacerbates floods. Meanwhile, the MMDA has urged residents not to dispose of garbage on nearby creeks as it blocks waterways. Littering impedes the effort of flood prevention as it can obstruct drainage systems that are meant to displace the water. The same systems have also failed to keep up with the ever-developing urbanization and population growth, especially in the National Capital Region. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) data revealed that urban migration toward Metro Manila has significantly increased in the past two decades, driven mostly by job opportunities. As the most densely populated region in the Philippines, with over 20,000 people per square kilometer as of 2020, green spaces are being replaced with informal settlements, with the bonus of accumulated waste. This thereafter leads to flood vulnerability.
To resolve this burdening issue, the government must reestablish and strengthen Project Noah under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to enlarge its reach. The national government should also monitor the progress of flood control projects of DPWH and MMDA more closely. In the long run, they must work with experts from neighboring countries such as Japan and Singapore to advance the drainage systems and flood control measures. The LGUs shall utilize zoning regulations to implement local plans to protect natural and constructed drainage pathways. And most of all, the country’s citizens need to take accountability and adapt their practices as such, like poor waste segregation and littering.
Filipinos should not have to climb roofs, use styrofoam boats, or put belongings in contact with the ceiling just to get by every typhoon season. Adverse decisions from national, local, and civil sectors affect millions in times of intense rain, whether it be in budget, efficiency, resources, or urbanization. Mitigating floods in the Philippines is not an easy path nor a quick one, but in the face of an increasingly bleak future year by year, proactive action is enough—not only to respond, but also to prevent.
