Baha!!!

Floods! That’s been the alarm bell ringing in our ears every time we dared to venture out in the middle of a downpour, year in, year out without fail. This year has not been any different. If at all, the rains seem to have intensified and have become more frequent, no thanks to the worsening consequences of climate change.

The recent weeks of July saw Luzon, particularly the National Capital Region, besieged by three consecutive typhoons, one after the other. Urban dwellers and informal settlers were hit hard, especially those living in the highly vulnerable coastal areas and in houses built on top of makeshift roads and on the edges of unfinished road excavations.

Unconscionable local governments have compounded the perennial problem of flooding by foolishly and selfishly setting up flood barriers in the dire hope of blocking onrushing flood waters coming from neighboring upland LGUs. Irresponsible and unthinking riverside dwellers add to the problem by clogging the waterways with all sorts of trash and waste dumped into the rivers.

Just how bad in fact has been the damage wrought by the floods? Apparently, it has been so devastating and widespread that in his last SoNA, President BBM declared in no uncertain terms — to thunderous applause, standing ovations, and nods of agreement — his instruction to weed out the malevolent culprits both in government and the private sector responsible for the shenanigans that accompany almost all public works projects meant to prevent flooding.

The latest reported damage estimate as of 8 August was at least P2.9-billion for agriculture and P15.7-billion for infrastructure, bringing the total damage so far in 2025 to about P71.2 billion.

Over the past 10 years, the cumulative damage was estimated at P558.7 billion. Lost lives due to landslides, drowning, and collapsed structures during flooding have so far been reported at 190 in 2025 alone, and about 2,870 lives from 1978 to 2018. In the same period, some 222,119 people were rendered homeless. For 2025 alone, approximately 6.7 million people are estimated to have been affected by the monsoon and tropical cyclones.

The number of totally damaged houses in 2025 has been reported at about 16,900, excluding another 24,800 structures that were partially damaged. Over the past 10 years, the estimates were 137,000 totally damaged houses and 207,900 partially damaged. It’s notable that 2025 has registered the highest number of damaged structures at 44,700 so far, compared to the low of 18,800 in 2019 and the previous high of 39,000 in 2024, suggesting that the natural disasters have been truly increasing in intensity and frequency.

The dangers of climate change have definitely been demonstrated and should put to rest any lingering doubts about belittling the risks of inadequate sustainable action that needs to be undertaken as soon as possible.

What then can be done to protect ourselves from the far greater furies of what will surely be coming our way?

Here are some thoughts. For starters, we need to identify the root causes of the perennial flooding. Is it the lack of sufficient funding for these projects? From 2011 to 2025, the allocated budget was over P1.7 trillion with P349.4 billion for 2025 alone, which is roughly about one-third of our national infrastructure budget. So it apparently isn’t the lack of funding. But hold on, P213 billion had been flagged for nonexistent or failed projects. Another 3,047 infrastructure projects worth P131.5 billion have been cited by the Commission on Audit for poor planning and execution.

What then are the issues and what can we do about them? Without a doubt, the most glaring is the out and out corruption that accompanies every flood control project. Why, even BBM has loudly called this out. Perhaps what we need is to legislate a unit a la that of Elliot Ness that battled crime during the Al Capone era in the US—an independent and fully equipped organization with powers to investigate and prosecute, an Anti-Corruption Oversight Independent Commission of sorts.

Another issue is the lack of an integrated management plan that would ensure a cohesive and coherent approach to flood control. Ramon Ang recently vividly explained the problems he observed, citing poorly thought out projects such as installing flood barriers that block the natural flow of water to the detriment of localities and building a road over waterways that inevitably attract informal settlers who put up makeshift houses over the waterways. BBM should probably appoint him the Czar who can devise solutions and oversee the execution of an integrated plan.

An integrated plan is not rocket science, it’s just common sense. Just follow the path of the natural waterways and if there are blockages in its path, artificial or otherwise, simply demolish them and ensure that no barricades are built over them. But of course, this requires political will and an iron-fisted implementor. Let’s stop BAHA once and for all!

Until next week… OBF!