Is Metro Manila still safe?

Voltaire Tupaz

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Disaster risk management experts believe that building local government units resilient to climate change is key to reducing the impact of disasters

ADAPTING TO FLOOD. Joey Dionido drives a pedal tricycle that was built to brave floodwaters. Photo by Voltaire Tupaz

MANILA, Philippines —  42-year-old Joey Dionido has grown accustomed to the floods that constantly hit Valenzuela City. Even his main source of income for the past 10 years has adapted to inundation. He drives an elevated passenger trike built to brave knee-high floodwaters.

But the crest of the flood along the streets which Joey regularly plies has climbed twice to dangerously high levels in the past 3 years. The first one was brought about by Tropical Storm Ondoy on Sept 26, 2009. The second one was on Aug 6-7, 2012 which was caused by an enhanced southwest monsoon, also known as “habagat.”

Noong Ondoy hanggang leeg lang yung baha. Pero ngayon, lampas tao na,” Joey observed. (The flood was only neck-high during Ondoy. The recent one rose above head level.)

He recalled that barangay officials warned them about the rising water levels, but he did not expect the floodwaters to nearly reach the second floor of his house. He was in a quandary whether to evacuate his wife and 10-year-old daughter who was sick then.

Ang mag-ina ko ay hindi marunong lumangoy. Hindi ko alam kung sino sa dalawa ang aking isasalba,” Joey said. (My wife and daughter do not know how to swim. I didn’t know who to save first.)

Joey felt left behind as the floodwaters surged, not fully aware of the risk he was facing. He had meager means too to survive the calamity.

Walang ulam, walang relief. Bumibili pa ng medisina para sa aking anak na may sakit,” Joey lamented. (We didn’t have food and relief goods. We were also buying medicine for our sick daughter.)

State of calamity

Nearly 15% of Valenzuela City, particularly the low-lying areas experience flooding that lasts for two to 3 weeks during after a heavy downpour, affecting about a fourth of the city’s 600,000 population. The city is relocating about 3,500 families from these flood-prone areas. 

The city is in the northern portion of Metro Manila which consists of 17 local government units. Valenzuela is among the 16 cities of the rapidly growing and expanding metropolis. The metro’s lone municipality is Pateros.

About 5,300 families in Valenzuela City were evacuated at the height of the flooding brought about by the habagat.

The damage to property was initially estimated to be P15 million, according to the office of the city mayor.

Valenzuela City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian announced the city was under a state of calamity in the wake of the floods.

Yung (Barangay) Polo area, which is about 10% of our land area, ‘yun ‘yung prone sa tidal effects at sa malakas na ulan. Ang ‘perfect disaster’ sa atin yung malakas na ulan, high tide, at pagkawala ng dam,” Gatchalian told Rappler. (The Polo area, which is about 10% of our land area, is the most prone to tidal effects and heavy rain. Our “perfect disaster” consists of rain, high tide, and dam water releases.)

An accumulated 472 millimeters of rain was recorded from August 6-7, surpassing Ondoy’s rainfall in 2009, according to Dr Mahar Lagmay, executive director of the National Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH). A recent Asian Development Bank report revealed that the Philippines is the 4th among Southeast Asian countries most vulnerable to coastal and inland flooding.

RELIEF AND RECOVERY. Red Cross Philippines joins Valenzuela City relief efforts for flood-stricken families. Photo  by Voltaire Tupaz

Causes of floods

When the La Mesa Dam spills over, released water flows to the Tullahan River that borders Valenzuela City to the south, before emptying into the Manila Bay.

Various other rivers that swell during heavy rainfall also snake through the northern part of the city.

Gatchalian cited climate change as the bigger cause of the worsening flood problem.

Pero there’s another phenomenon ngayon, itong climate change. Ito yung Ondoy or Habagat, na sobrang lakas ng ulan at napupuno yung drainage natin, napupuno yung mga creeks, tapos ang La Mesa Dam ay napupuno rin,” Gatchalian said. (But there’s another phenomenon now — climate change. It’s Ondoy or the southwestern monsoon which caused heavy rainfall, filling our drainage, creeks, and the La Mesa Dam.)

Is Metro Manila still safe?

Gatchalian said Metro Manila mayors should collectively address the problem of flooding, raising the question: “Mas mabigat yung tinatanong ko ngayon sa mga mayors at sa karamihan na nanirirahan dito sa Metro Manila: ang Metro Manila ay safe pa ba na tirahan?” (I have a bigger question to ask the mayors and those living here in Metro Manila: is Metro Manila still a safe place to live in?)

“Interrelated yung mga problema namin in terms of waterways, in terms of traffic, in terms of geography. Pare-pareho yung problema namin, so ‘yung solution dapat sama-sama rin,” he added. (Our problems are interrelated in terms of waterways, in terms of traffic, in terms of geography. Our problems are the same, so our solutions should also be collaborative.)

On Wednesday, August 15, Metro Manila mayors met with the Department of Public Works and Higways (DPWH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to assess the flooding problem and to discuss appropriate actions to take. 

Gatchalian has also pushed for the construction of the cancelled Valenzuela-Obando-Meycauayan (VOM) Flood Control Project, saying that “the flood control efforts of the city will be useless and could only worsen the situation of the neighboring areas” without the multi-city project. 

The VOM project is supposed to be the second phase of the unfinished Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela (CAMANAVA) Mega Flood Control Project. In a statement, the Valenzuela City government said that the VOM project was “cancelled due to lack of funding and its resurrection is being opposed by some authorities due to the perceived ineffectuality of the first phase.”

The city government is planning to construct an interceptor canal that stretches from Valenzuela City through Obando to Manila Bay as a short-term flood control mechanism. 

Radical change

Gatchalian also recognized the need to empower communities so that they can participate in disaster risk-reduction efforts. 

“Radical change yung gagawin namin. Before, yung aming preparation is barangay-based, pero ngayon community-based,” declared Gatchalian, a recipient of The Outstanding Young Men 2011 (TOYM) award for public service. (We will undertake radical changes. Before, our preparation was barangay-based. Now it’s community-based.)

According to Gatchalian, the community-based approach includes evacuation centers, communication systems, volunteer systems, among other disaster-reduction components.

Hindi kaya ng one barangay alone, especially ‘yung mga malalalang barangay. So we really need the participation of the community in terms of preparation. (A barangay cannot do it alone, especially if it’s very vulnerable. We need the participation of the community in terms of preparation.)

Republic Act 10121 (An act strengthening the Philippine disaster risk-reduction and management system) mandated local government units to organize Barangay Disaster Coordinating Councils (BDCC).

But Gatchalian felt there has to be a more proactive group.

We still need the action plan. That’s (BDCC) only a policy-making body. But we need the team that will move. ‘Yan ‘yung pinaka-importante dun. (That’s the most important),” Gatchalian said.

Drivers of risks

“There should be more effort from the government to tell them that the paradigm has changed. These are not even typhoons, these are just monsoon rains,” Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Chairman Richard Gordon told Rappler, while leading a relief operation in Valenzuela City. 

“The significant thing that the government must do is reform not just the moral infrastructure of the people, which is important, meaning to say that they don’t have to be carried or spoon-fed, but also important for the long pull is to make risk reduction work, so that people will leave ahead and will know what their challenges or hazards are and improve their capacity,” Gordon said.

Disaster risk management experts believe that building local government units which are resilient to climate change is key to reducing the impact of disasters.

In 2005, the Philippines joined 167 other governments in adopting a 10-year global plan of action that sought to attain disaster resilience for vulnerable communities. The plan generated a ten-point checklist of essentials for making countries and communities resilient to disasters

In a meeting with Philippine mayors last May, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) chief Margareta Wahlstrom enumerated the following drivers of disaster risk in local government units that should be addressed to achieve resilience:

  • Rising urban populations and increased density
  • Weak urban governance, unplanned urban development
  • Lack of available land for low-income citizens
  • Inappropriate construction
  • Concentration of economic assets
  • Ecosystem decline


Growth areas

Gatchalian plans to identify and create new growth areas that are far from the vulnerable ones with high population densities.

Isang very, very unique feature na ipapasok namin sa (plano para sa) flood-prone areas is yung vulnerability to floods. ‘Yun ‘yung dapat pag-isipan, tulad ‘yan ‘yung malapit sa tulay. Dapat siguro gawing lesser density. Yun mga sa Polo area, dapat lessen yung density. Sa mga commercial areas, taasan yung density.”

(One of the unique features which we are including in the plan for flood-prone areas is vulnerability to floods. That’s what we should consider. For instance, lessen the population densities in areas near bridges and the (Barangay) Polo area. In commercial areas, increase population density.)

Gatchalian also said the city government is in the process of undertaking post-calamity assessment, updating land use plan, and creating hazard maps. 

“Those are the information we need to make our community safer and to plan for the future,” Gatchalian said. – Rappler.com

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