Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Residents and motorists wade through floodwaters in the intersection of Andrews Avenue and Domestic Road in Pasay City on July 24, 2024. Gigie Cruz, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17548193575271754819350674.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Residents and motorists wade through floodwaters in the intersection of Andrews Avenue and Domestic Road in Pasay City on July 24, 2024. <em>Gigie Cruz, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Billionaire Ramon Ang, chairman of San Miguel Corp., announced this week that he and his conglomerate are volunteering to solve Metro Manila’s flooding, an announcement met with applause by mayors and officials at the event.</p><p>Ang, holding court before Metro Manila’s mayors and the chair of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, said he would take care of the long-standing problem “at no cost to the people, at no cost to the government.”</p><p>He said all that needs to be done is to remove obstructions on waterways that drain into Manila Bay and that all he needs is authorization from government to do it.</p><div><a class="fr-green" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2025/8/8/ramon-ang-volunteers-to-solve-metro-manila-flooding-at-no-cost-to-gov-t-1004"><strong>Ramon Ang &#x27;volunteers&#x27; to solve Metro Manila flooding at no cost to gov&#x27;t<br/></strong></a></div><p>“Lahat ng obstruction doon, tanggalin natin. Kailangan pa ba ng batas ‘yun? Hindi na. Gawin mo lang, pabayaan mo sila mag-demanda kung gusto nila,” he said, with some in attendance mentioning “political will” in response.</p><p>(We’ll remove all the obstructions. Do we need a law for that? No. Let’s just do it and let them sue if they want.)</p><p>Ang said the solution he has in mind is simpler than digging cisterns and water detention systems, or putting up pumping stations that some &quot;geniuses&quot; have proposed.</p><p>&quot;Hindi naman po ako yung &#x27;genius&#x27; na &#x27;yun (I am not the &#x27;genius&#x27; you&#x27;re referring to),&quot; MMDA chair Romando Artes said as Ang described what he said was a poorly-planned pumping station that someone had put up.</p><div><a class="fr-green" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/regions/2025/8/3/mmda-chair-dredging-spillway-will-help-keep-laguna-de-bay-from-overflowing-1302"><strong>MMDA chair: Dredging, spillway will help keep Laguna de Bay from overflowing<br/></strong></a></div><p>Ang said removing structures blocking the flow of water would solve the problem. He said he would buy land where schools and homes to be cleared could relocate.</p><p>&quot;Solve na ang baha ng buong Metro Manila. Wala na kayong hanapbuhay non,” Ang said to laughter from the capital&#x27;s local chief executives.</p><p>(The problem of flooding in Metro Manila will be solved. You won&#x27;t have a source of livelihood anymore.)</p><p>Sen. Panfilo &quot;Ping&quot; Lacson, who has been looking into the growing cost of flood-control projects that seem to have done little to avert flooding, praised the proposal.</p><p>He said the Palace could use the opportunity to get the Philippines&#x27; other billionaires to chip in to &quot;do what government spends hundreds of billions on in tax money every fiscal year, but seems to fail to deliver.&quot;</p><div><a class="fr-green" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/weather-traffic/2024/12/5/part-i-communities-struggle-to-stay-afloat-as-delays-impede-flood-management-in-metro-manila-2003"><strong>Communities struggle to stay afloat as delays impede flood management in Metro Manila</strong></a><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17548194759481754548778936viber_image_2025-08-07_14-36-23-344.jpg.webp" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">MMDA General Manager Procopio Lipana, together with Valenzuela City Mayor Wes Gatchalian and MPTC Chief Regulatory Officer Arrey Perez, led the cleanup operations at Caingin Bridge along Caingin Road, the boundary of Valenzuela City and Meycauayan, Bulacan, on Thursday, August 7, 2025. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>AT NO COST?</strong></div><p>The promise that the solution would come at &quot;no cost&quot; to the government has made it even more enticing but, economist and IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa warns flood control is too complex for a single conglomerate to claim to know how to solve and too important for government to give up control of.</p><p>&quot;Thinking otherwise overestimates private capacity, underestimates the powerful profit-seeking impulse of corporations, and diminishes the state&#x27;s vital role in public infrastructure,&quot; he said in an online exchange with ABS-CBN News.</p><p>The argument that private corporations can provide services better and more efficiently than government can has led to the privatization of vital infrastructure like highways, airports and ports and of utilities.</p><div><a class="fr-green" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2025/7/29/lwua-primewater-s-poor-services-affect-around-7-million-filipinos-1633"><strong>LWUA: PrimeWater&#x27;s poor services affect around 7 million Filipinos<br/></strong></a></div><p>These have often been met with concerns about higher fees and diminished service as corporations try to make good on their investments and seek to profit from them as shareholders expect them to.</p><p>&quot;Turning over essential public functions to corporations shifts priorities from the common good to profit maximization,&quot; Africa also said, adding handing over flood control planning and projects to corporations would remove &quot;the citizen accountability that only government projects can provide.&quot;</p><p>He said while government might not spend money, the initiative may give rise to &quot;private benefits&quot; like access to contracts and to &quot;legislative franchises and regulatory leniency, and increased influence over local and national policymakers.&quot;</p><p>As things stand, SMC has control of the Skyway, South Luzon Expressway, Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the NAIAX that leads to it.</p><p>It is also building the Bulacan Aerotropolis, which is projected to replace NAIA and, according to environmentalist groups, will cause or worsen flooding in the province.</p><div><a class="fr-green" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/business/09/25/20/engineering-interventions-to-mitigate-flooding-in-new-airport-in-bulacan-says-ramon-ang"><strong>&#x27;Engineering interventions&#x27; to mitigate flooding in new airport in Bulacan, says Ramon Ang</strong></a></div><p>Africa said the conglomerate has diverse interests, including in oil and energy and in mining, that would benefit from friendly relations with government.<strong></strong><br/></p><p>&quot;From this context, the flood control offer isn&#x27;t philanthropy or a gift to the public but a strategic investment for profit and power.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;AGAINST CONVENTIONAL BUSINESS THINKING&#x27;</strong></div><p>In a separate online exchange, Ateneo de Manila University Political Science assistant professor Arjan Aguirre said Ang&#x27;s offer &quot;<strong></strong>goes against conventional thinking about private entities...dealing with public entities like the government—this always involves being mindful of the payoffs or benefits, gains for their business or interest.&quot;</p><p>He said that Ang might be making the offer because solving flooding would lower business losses that the perennial problem brings.</p><p>He said, however, that it is &quot;logical and reasonable&quot; to look at the proposed initiative as a way to increase influence.</p><p>&quot;It may be used for other issues that might need a more powerful pressure to the government for them to get what they want,&quot; Aguirre said.</p><p>Anthony Lawrence Borja, an associate professor of Political Science at De La Salle University, told ABS-CBN News that &quot;since government has generally failed in flood control&quot;, there is logic to Ang&#x27;s offer for the private sector to do it.</p><p>&quot;The problem is, it doesn’t resolve corruption and inefficiencies as the ultimate causes of such government failures, rendering supposedly public goods like flood control dependent on the capacity of private entities,&quot; he said.</p><p>He added that, aside from the profit motive in what should be a public good, corporations are not immune to failures or mismanagement either.</p><p>&quot;The overt influence of capital notwithstanding, the public must be wary of Ramon Ang’s &#x27;no cost&#x27; proposal and they must keep an eye on the roots of the current flood control crisis, which is government mismanagement,&quot; Borja also said.</p><p>He added that while billionaires are welcome to invest in research and support for flood control efforts, giving them authority to plan and implement projects would be &quot;like making lions compete, they can end up eating the circus masters.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gSt5miNbBB8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Economist and IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa warns flood control is too complex for a single conglomerate to claim to know how to solve and too important for government to give up control of.</p>

Economist and IBON Foundation Executive Director Sonny Africa warns flood control is too complex for a single conglomerate to claim to know how to solve and too important for government to give up control of.

WRAP: ‘No cost’ Metro Manila flood solution raises question of hidden price tags

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

Traffic

Manila

Horoscope

Nation

WRAP: ‘No cost’ Metro Manila flood solution raises question of hidden price tags

Jonathan de Santos,

ABS-CBN News

Published Aug 10, 2025 10:30 PM PHT

|

Updated Aug 10, 2025 10:44 PM PHT

Read More:

Ramon Ang

San Miguel Corp.

Flooding

IBON Foundation

Privatization

ABSNews

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2025 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.