Parañaque City is rising above paradoxes. Being Metro Manila’s southern catch basin is a geographical fact etched in its low-lying terrain and crisscrossed by the main waterway, a vital drainage lifeline — the Parañaque or Tambo River.

This isn’t a flaw, though, but hydrology. Billions have been invested in engineering defense. Booster pumps of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) stand as sentinels while vast drainage networks snake beneath streets, all designed to wrestle floodwaters towards Manila Bay.

Yet, several streets submerge during a heavy downpour, and lives are disrupted. The uncomfortable truth laid bare by this necessary infrastructure is that even the mightiest pumps are rendered impotent by the smallest acts of citizen neglect.

Admittedly, while flood control in Parañaque City could be an engineering challenge, it is a test of communal responsibility, starting with how residents dispose of their garbage.

The science is undeniable and unforgiving. Parañaque City receives water from its own skies and from the higher elevations of Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Taguig, and beyond. The booster pumps are supposed to be the crucial exit valve.

This entire sophisticated system, however, has an Achilles’ heel — blockage. Every plastic sachet casually tossed from a jeepney window, every bag of household waste dumped illegally into an estero, every piece of styrofoam swept into a storm drain is more than just litter. It is a potential plug to the city’s arteries. These items travel downstream, converge in the canals meant to channel water to the pumps, and form monstrous rafts of debris.

When the rains come, these blockages turn drainage systems into dams, causing water to back up and overflow long before it even reaches the pumping stations designed to save the day.

The pumps, no matter their power, can only move water. They cannot magically vaporize the mountains of solid waste irresponsibly discarded.

Too often, the narrative focuses solely on government failure — “the booster pumps weren’t working,” “the drainage is insufficient,” or the local government is inept. While demanding accountability and continued infrastructure investment is vital, this narrative conveniently absolves the populace of its critical role.

The relentless clogging of Parañaque’s waterways and creeks — the city has more or less 21 creeks (based on a Department of Natural Resources waterways map) — is a direct consequence of a pervasive culture of irresponsible waste disposal. It’s the everyday actions and inactions multiplied by millions:

The “tapon anywhere” mentality — treating streets, vacant lots, and canals as extensions of one’s personal trash bin;

Non-segregation at source — failing to separate biodegradables, recyclables, and residuals, leading to contaminated waste streams that are harder to manage and more likely to end up clogging drains; and

Illegal dumping — businesses and individuals bypassing proper collection points to dump large volumes of waste directly into waterways under the cover of darkness.

The lack of civic pride is evident in the way public spaces are viewed as “not my problem,” leading to the accumulation of litter.

This is not putting the blame on the flood victims, but rather recognizing a shared vulnerability and responsibility. When a single neighborhood neglects its waste, the consequences cascade downstream, literally flooding other communities within Parañaque’s catchment. The water arriving from other areas already carries its own burden of neglect, and adding Parañaque’s self-inflicted garbage load creates a catastrophic bottleneck right where the water needs to flow out the fastest.

Paranaque’s geography as a catch basin is immutable. The engineering marvels of booster pumps are essential but inherently vulnerable. Their ultimate effectiveness hinges on the mundane, daily choices of every single resident.

The floodwaters rising in Barangays San Dionisio, San Isidro, Moonwalk, BF Homes, among others, may originate from miles away, but their destructive potential is amplified exponentially by the chips bags, plastic bottles, and other discards carelessly tossed within the city’s own boundaries.

The shocking garbage haul from Parañaque’s post-flood cleanup operations from 18 to 26 July — 557.8 cubic meters or 1,673.4 tons of garbage pulled from streets, creeks, and drains. That’s how much the waterways were blocked. All of this preventable.

Building higher walls and bigger pumps is only half the battle. The other half is fought in our kitchens, on our streets, and in our collective conscience.

Until every citizen embraces their responsibility to dispose of garbage correctly, Parañaque’s fight against floods will remain an uphill struggle against a tide of our own making. The flood fight also needs every citizen’s hands on it.

The pumps are ready. Are we?