Battered by typhoons: Why aren’t Philippine flood control projects working?

Manila, Philippines – With the objection of a fewer pieces of hanging laundry, the archetypal 2 floors of 65-year-old Veronica Castillo’s three-storey location are practically empty.

“Our belongings are up top. We physique our houses upwards here. Every twelvemonth the floods volition scrape the ceilings of the 2nd floor,” Castillo told Al Jazeera, surveying her location successful 1 of Marikina city’s slums, among the astir flood-prone areas of Metro Manila.

But portion the authorities is gathering a pumping presumption to code the occupation conscionable 5 minutes away, operation has been going connected truthful agelong that Castillo wonders whether it volition ever beryllium finished. “It’s been 8 years,” she said.

Since taking bureau successful 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has spent astir fractional a trillion dollars to code persistent flooding from utmost upwind successful the Philippines. But contempt the important spending, cities proceed to beryllium inundated successful a state that typically sees astir 20 typhoons a year.

During a code successful July, Marcos Jr boasted astir his medication completing much than 5,000 flood power projects, of which 656 were successful Metro Manila.

Days later, Super Typhoon Gaemi deposited a month’s worthy of rainfall connected the country wrong 24 hours, sidesplitting dozens and leaving parts of the sprawling metropolis submerged.

Veronica Castillo lives connected the apical storey of her location due to the fact that of the hazard of flooding [Michael Beltran/Al Jazeera]

Earlier this month, it was followed by Tropical Storm Yagi. Officials enactment the outgo of the harm astatine 4.7 cardinal Philippine pesos ($84.3m) with astir 7 cardinal radical affected.

At slightest a twelve much typhoons are expected earlier the extremity of the year.

The Philippines has topped the World Risk Index‘s database of countries struggling to header with earthy hazards for 16 years successful a row. According to the planetary engineering radical GHD, floods and storms volition outgo the federation $124bn by 2050.

Some analysts accidental the government’s attack is failing.

“No magnitude of engineering tin wholly power floods,” said biology geographer Timothy Cipriano from the idiosyncratic radical AGHAM and the Philippine Normal University. “We mightiness beryllium capable to power street-level flooding, but we person neglected the overflow from rivers and coastal areas.”

Cipriano notes that Metro Manila and its 12 adjacent provinces are “one large basin surrounded with the coasts connected immoderate sides and the mountains connected the different positive the galore man-made activities means aboveground runoffs rapidly increase, and thus, rivers overflow.”

Currently, the authorities has 9 “flagship” flood power projects successful the pipeline. Each involves gathering factual oregon “grey” infrastructure to drain oregon trap excess water.

At a nationalist enquiry past August, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) chief, Manuel Bonoan, said Marcos Jr’s accomplishments were lone for “immediate relief” and admitted galore big-ticket projects had encountered delays.

Government information shows that conscionable 1 of the smaller “flagship” projects was completed this year, portion the remainder person languished successful their preparatory stages since astatine slightest 2018.

This includes the Metro Manila Flood Management Project, which aims to rehabilitate 36 pumping stations and physique 20 caller ones by this year. Despite a $415m World Bank loan, lone 2 stations person been rehabilitated and nary of the caller ones person been completed.

The 60-kilometre (37-mile) Central Luzon-Pampanga floodway, meant to drain stormwater from Metro Manila, was expected to statesman operation successful 2024. However, past month, Bonoan conceded that delays had acceptable the task backmost by 3 years.

The DPWH besides reported that 70 percent of Metro Manila’s “antiquated drainage system” was clogged with rubbish and silt, hampering flood management. It besides reported that the state lacks a nationalist flood power maestro plan, with lone 18 scattered plans for large stream basins which are “still being presently updated”.

Perspective shift

Most flood power efforts steer stormwater westbound to Manila Bay oregon Laguna Lake successful the southeast. However, civilian engineering adept Guillermo Tabios III says this attack has been ineffective for galore years, and sometimes conscionable transfers flood risks to coastal communities.

“We divert astir 2,500 cubic metres of h2o to Laguna Lake,” helium said, adding that h2o besides means “a batch of the surrounding towns volition beryllium submerged”.

Cipriano blames accelerated urbanisation and adjacent quarrying for strangling Metro Manila’s 31 rivers and their tributaries.

Merjelda Toralba successful her home. She says the floods get worse each twelvemonth [Michael Beltran/Al Jazeera]

During Gaemi, Merjelda Toralba, 70, spent astir 24 hours connected the extortion of her makeshift creek-side home. She had to necktie a enactment from her woody doorframe to a coconut histrion to halt the rising existent from carrying the full location downstream.

“The flooding is worse each year. And I’m much acrophobic each clip it rains hard. In conscionable a fewer hours, I’d beryllium trapped and the waters conscionable won’t spell away,” she told Al Jazeera.

Environmental and sanitation adept Jose Antonio Montalban of Pro-People Engineers and Leaders (Propel) says overmuch of the caller infrastructure is costly to maintain.

In Yagi’s dense downpours, sections of the Molino Riverdrive Project collapsed arsenic floodwaters spilled onto the roads. Montalban blames unavoidable erosion to the cement and imaginable substandard materials, but “it was intelligibly implicit its maximum carrying capacity. Now repairs volition outgo taxpayers yet again”.

Montalban says what is needed is simply a “holistic approach” that considers “all factors economic, ecological, hydrological and social. Unfortunately for us, rudimentary engineering applications are the norm”.

During Gaemi, the authorities admitted that 71 of the Metro Manila pumping stations were incapable to grip the rainfall, which was much than treble the system’s 30mm/hour capacity.

Cipriano says the authorities request to look astatine flood-prone areas arsenic a “sponge city. Instead of controlling water, you plan spaces to accommodate water. Make it little of a factual jungle, let waters to seep oregon travel without constricting rivers.”

Big spender

Since 2015, the Philippine authorities has allocated 1.14 trillion Philippine pesos ($20.3bn) for flood control, with 48 percent of it during the Marcos Jr administration.

Independent nationalist fund expert Zy-za Nadine Suzara says probable “patronage politics” was progressive aft noticing that flood power was often a last-minute insertion by legislators into the nationalist spending plan.

Rubbish clogs a waterway adjacent Castillo’s location successful Manila [Michael Beltran/Al Jazeera]

Despite a deficiency of treatment astir the designs and methods to code floods, “suddenly a immense magnitude of the flood power projects are added during the past week of fund legislation”, she noted.

Congress has presently earmarked 779.38 cardinal Philippine pesos ($13.9bn) for the DPWH flood power efforts successful 2025, astir 12 percent of the projected nationalist budget.

Suzara says that flood power projects person ever been considered corruption-prone due to the fact that they deficiency mechanisms for outer monitoring and often flight immoderate rigorous scrutiny earlier the fund is finalised.

She called it a “waste of fiscal space. These funds could person been utilized for thing with overmuch amended readying for clime alteration adaptation”.

For 2025, the Marcos Jr medication has tagged 1.01 trillion Philippine pesos ($18.1bn) of the fund arsenic “green spending” oregon Climate Change Expenditures, an summation of 84 percent. This includes a clime lump sum, which means its circumstantial usage has not been identified. The lump sum was much than 1 cardinal Philippine pesos much than successful 2024.

“Climate alteration shouldn’t beryllium utilized arsenic an excuse to bargain from the people’s coffers,” Congress Assistant Minority Leader Arlene Brosas told Al Jazeera.

Marcos Jr has acknowledged the taint of corruption and asked senators to look into the contented during past year’s typhoon season.

Senator Joel Villanueva, a vocal advocator for amended flood management, said helium volition “file cases against those who indispensable beryllium held liable”. To date, nary idiosyncratic has been prosecuted. Villanueva says helium is preparing to tackle the substance again successful upcoming legislature proceedings.

Brosas added: “The radical merit transparency and accountability successful clime expenditures. Funds indispensable beryllium channelled into morganatic clime adaptation programmes alternatively than into the pockets of corrupt officials.”

Schools often treble arsenic evacuation centres for communities affected by floods. Lessons are postponed truthful that dozens of families tin instrumentality structure successful the classrooms, surviving connected nutrient donations.

“It’s hard, lying connected bedewed mats successful crowded rooms, wishing for amended weather,” said Castillo, who rushes her 5 grandchildren to the nearest evacuation centre each clip determination is simply a hazard of floods.

Should the authorities neglect to hole the occupation of flooding, residents similar Castillo look the imaginable of galore much years crowding into evacuation centres arsenic they hold for the floodwaters to subside.