By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet
Even as Filipinos continue to get drenched by heavy rains brought by the enhanced southwest monsoon (habagat), the DPWH and MMDA noted significant improvements in their observation of how floods are kept under control.
Speaking before the media at a press briefing on Monday, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairperson Don Artes shared this welcome progress in the administration’s campaign to address flooding, especially in low-lying areas.
Secretary Dizon began by citing that his agency doubled down on conducting dredging operations along major waterways, spearheading long-overdue drainage improvements in strategic areas, ensuring that pumping stations run at their full capacity, and facilitating regular collection of garbage that accumulates on drainage systems.
These activities are aligned with the mandate of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. under the Oplan Kontra Baha Program, which seeks to rectify the shortcomings and mistakes of previous administrations in kickstarting programs and initiatives to keep communities from being inundated with floodwaters.
The Department of Public Works and Highways’ (DPWH) top official, moreover, shared some key priorities such as the execution of flood control masterplans, repair of damaged flood control projects, and improvements to existing flood control structures in support of the nationwide campaign against flooding.
For his part, Chairperson Artes shared that despite the voluminous downpour, the cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela (Camanava) were not significantly affected by floodwaters despite having a history of floods during heavy rains.
He also cited the recent drainage improvements made to the G. Araneta Avenue, which kept the major thoroughfare from being submerged and impassable to small vehicles amid the habagat-induced rainfall.
Chairperson Artes also mentioned that the agency remains hard at work in removing structures and garbage that impede the flow of floodwaters, as well as in relocating informal settler families (ISFs) displaced from their homes precariously perched on the banks of Metro Manila’s waterways.
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