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

MANILA — Elena Asor, 38, together with her three children—the eldest 12 and the youngest just under two years — decided to wait out the storm in their house, as they usually did.

Having grown accustomed to frequent floods in Barangay Tatalon, Quezon City, she didn’t see a reason to evacuate. Metro Manila wasn’t under a storm signal, no warnings indicating the typhoon would be severe.

This time was different. The water rose rapidly, making evacuation impossible.

Floodwater was up to ankle level on the second story of their rented house, the situation becoming dire.

Not knowing how to swim, she couldn’t risk taking her children out of the house. To make matters worse, their rented home lacked a window on the second level to escape through.

Aware of the dangerous situation, her husband planned a safe escape with his co-workers. They had no choice but to dive into the murky water to quickly escape through the submerged doorway. Staying any longer would have posed extreme danger as the relentless rains caused the water level to rise rapidly.

With no rescue boats in sight, they swam against strong currents as the floodwaters surged toward ROTC Hunters Street, adjacent to the San Juan River.

“It was deeply traumatizing,” she explained, noting she'd never experienced anything like it in her 15 years in the community.

“Surviving floods is extremely difficult, especially for someone like me who doesn’t know how to swim. It was even harder because I was left alone to ensure my children’s safety,” recounted Elena.

Eight out of ten residents in the National Capital Region are vulnerable to flooding. As extreme weather brings more frequent and intense rains, vulnerable communities struggle to weather the rising floodwaters, while flood management projects in Metro Manila struggle with delays.

Severe flooding, reaching at least one meter high and lasting more than two days, impacts at least two out of ten residents in the metropolis according to the Department of Science and Technology's GeoRisk PH database.

Another village faces a similar situation 15 kilometers to the south.

In Barangay 180 in Maricaban, Pasay City, the flooding situation can be even worse. According to Barangay Captain Patrick San Miguel, over 95 percent of his constituents were affected by the massive flooding on July 23 and 24.

While seven out of ten of Barangay Tatalon’s residents experience severe flooding, the GeoRisk PH database indicates that every resident in Barangay 180 is affected.

Barangay 180, Maricaban, Pasay Courtesy of GeoAnalysticsPH		Barangay Tatalon, Quezon City Courtesy of GeoAnalysticsPH

“Kakambal na namin ang baha.” This is how the residents of Barangay 180 describe their lives as being inseparably intertwined with flooding.  Asked about the major typhoons that have hit the metropolis over the years, they vividly recall surviving each 'waterworld’.

Thirty-year-old Tin Villanueva’s family was evacuated on July 24. She had to make sure they relocated her father, who suffered a stroke in 2021, to safer grounds as the floodwater rose rapidly.

The water nearly reached the height of an adult. The creek overflowed, and the water was only two steps away from reaching the second floor. If the rain hadn’t stopped, it could have risen even higher.

“We had no choice but to evacuate because it was also leaking on the second floor, and the limited space made it impossible for everyone to stay.” 

Tin also recalled how difficult it was for her family to evacuate when the floodwaters rose dangerously high.

She was attending to her one-year-old child and her sick father and the power went out as the floodwaters rose, making the situation worse.

“This forced us to find a safer place. I’m grateful the barangay responded quickly when we called for help.”Tin recalls how years before her father fell ill he would tie a rope from their second-floor window to the barangay to help them escape. As the water surged, the family had to cross what felt like a raging river.  When Typhoon Ondoy struck in 2009, some neighbors refused to let them into the third floor of their homes.

'They kept telling us we were on our own,' she said. 'We had to make them understand that we would die if we stayed stranded.'

By noon, the rain still hadn’t stopped, and their house was completely submerged.

The Expensive Dream of Metro Manila Flood Management Project: Costs and objectives

Residents scramble to safety as floodwaters rise along Barasoain Street in San Juan City, as intense rains brought by Tropical Storm Ondoy cause massive flooding in Metro Manila and nearby provinces on September 26, 2009. Gigie Cruz/File 

The unprecedented rainfall brought by Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) on September 26, 2009, severely inundated a big part of Metro Manila, affecting nearly 9 million residents in the region.

Combined losses from Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, which struck Luzon less than three weeks apart, reached around $4.4 billion, equivalent to  2.7 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.

Given the magnitude of devastation, Ondoy became the “new normal” for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), according to Engineer Lydia Aguilar, core unit head of the Planning and Programming Unit of the Unified Project Management Office - Flood Control Management Cluster.

“After Ondoy, the Philippines received a significant amount of assistance from various agencies and lending institutions. This included technical assistance to conduct a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment, which highlighted the need to reassess and update the 1990 Flood Master Plan.”

With assistance from Australian Aid facilitated by the World Bank, the updated 'Flood Management Master Plan for Metro Manila and Surrounding Areas' was approved during the term of former President Benigno Aquino III in 2012.

Considering all the flood risks and the threats of climate change, the project outlines a long list of initiatives in response to the 'rarity' of Ondoy-level flooding, which engineers classify as a 100-year flood.

A 100-year flood doesn’t mean that such flooding occurs every 100 years; rather, it indicates a one-percent chance of occurring in any given year.

“The master plan is actually a road map, a guide that the government should follow, but it is not the project itself. At the very least, if we follow those structural measures, we can say that we are safeguarded against another Ondoy-like event,” Aguilar said.

“However, currently, it’s not just about structural measures; non-structural measures also need to be considered. In 2012, the estimated cost for implementing the master plan was around P352 billion (USD 7.4 billion, based on 2012 rates).”

She clarified that the actual cost would still depend on the project details and on when the projects are approved.

Part of this master plan is the $500-million Metro Manila Flood Management Project, which specifically targets improvements in flood management in selected areas within the metropolis.

A World Bank document shows that the Philippines borrowed a total of $415.2 million to fund the first phase of the Metro Manila Flood Management Project, which was approved on September 28, 2017.

The project ranks as the 10th most expensive infrastructure project in the country, funded through foreign loans, alongside other major infrastructure projects in Metro Manila.

A restructuring report published by the World Bank in September 2024 shows a reduction on project cost to $368 million following a meticulous review of outputs across the project’s four components, which include Modernizing Drainage Areas; Minimizing Solid Waste in Waterways; Participatory Housing and Resettlement; and Project Management.

The revision led to a reduction of one in every ten dollars borrowed for the said project.

The MMDA plays a crucial role, as flood control functions and responsibilities in Metro Manila were transferred to the agency through a Memorandum of Agreement signed on July 9, 2002.

The agency will implement the solid waste management component while civil works—including the design and construction of drainage pipes, culverts, river walls, dikes, embankments, and the dredging of major rivers and waterways—remain under DPWH.

Five priority sites were identified as part of the modernization of pumping stations. These are the Vitas, Balut, Paco pumping stations in Manila,  Labasan pumping station in Taguig and Tripa De Gallina Pumping stations in Pasay.

Engineer Jerry Fano, project manager of the Flood Control Cluster of the DPWH explained that the identified areas -Vitas, Balut, Paco, Labasan and Tripa De Gallina were prioritized “because these are low-lying (depressed) areas where flood water usually goes.

These  pumping stations  were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s, which direly need upgrading and rehabilitation.” he further explained.

Among these priority sites, Tripa De Gallina Pumping Station (meaning chicken intestine) covers the largest catchment area in Metro Manila covering about nearly 2,000 hectares from Makati to Pasay.

The creek is also the longest in the metropolis, winding about 7.4 kilometers to Manila Bay through the Parañaque River.

TRIPA DE GALLINA CATCHMENT AREA 

Located along Maricaban Creek, Barangay 180 was set to benefit from the modernization of the Tripa De Gallina Pumping Station as part of its nearly 2,000-hectare catchment area.

Maricaban Creek merges with Tripa De Gallina Creek, which is being serviced by the TDG Pumping Station.

However, among the priority sites, modernization and rehabilitation of the Tripa de Gallina met the most delay, with its rehabilitation starting only last December 21, 2023 and scheduled to be completed by August 2025.

Pumping capacity is seen to increase from the current 72 cubic meters per second to 80 cubic meters per second to speed up movement of water from Tripa de Gallina into the Parañaque River going to Manila Bay, according to DPWH.

As Metro Manila experiences more intense rainfall, the modernization and redesign of its drainage systems become imperative.  (To be continued in Part 2 of 3 )


[Part II]: The price of underestimating climate change <
[Part III]:Lack of accountability, costly mistakes and delays keep Metro Manila prone to flooding

NOTE:  This story was produced with the support of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network as part of the Media Action on Sustainable Infrastructure in the Philippines Project. 

METHODOLOGY The author utilized data on the Metro Manila Flood Management Project from published reports by the World Bank, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and the Commission on Audit (COA). Information on Official Development Assistance was sourced from published reports by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). Data on populations susceptible to flooding were gathered from PHIVOLCS GeoRisk PH, published by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Rainfall data were obtained from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) - Climate and Agrometeorological Data Section (CADS). To gain a better understanding of the situation, the author conducted interviews with residents of Barangay Tatalon in Quezon City and Barangay 180, Maricaban, Pasay. Furthermore, the author interviewed representatives from the MMDA and DPWH to gather feedback on the data findings. Experts from Propel - Pro-People Engineers and Leaders, as well as Dr. Guillermo Q. Tabios III, Professor Emeritus at the UP Institute of Civil Engineering, were also interviewed for their feedback and recommendations.