Here’s an idea for Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon: make full use of the new law signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., the Accelerated and Reformed Right-of-Way (ARROW) Act, Republic Act 12289, for flood control projects in Metro Manila.

When the controversy over the “ghost projects” dies down and the culprits are jailed, Secretary Dizon can go back to the drawing board and identify flood control works as national priority projects, particularly in areas where floods traverse several cities and jurisdictions, such as Metro Manila.

Each time a strong typhoon hits, cities in the National Capital Region sink under a single downpour. As former DPWH Secretary Babes Singson, now a member of the ICI, noted, flooding is not simply an infrastructure problem. It is a water management problem.

For decades, the government has spent billions on dikes and pumping stations when what is needed is a system that manages how, where, and when water flows. Floods must be treated as part of the natural water cycle: captured, stored, and redirected, not merely blocked by concrete barriers.

The ARROW Act was designed to fast-track major infrastructure projects like the Metro Manila Subway. It empowers implementing agencies to take possession of needed property within seven days of making a valid offer and deposit (Section 9) and it limits courts’ ability to issue injunctions (Section 13).

In the recent Corinthian Gardens case, the homeowners’ association agreed to a P222 million settlement with the Department of Transportation for an underground easement before the ARROW Act took effect. Residents knew that once the law was in place, the government could acquire subsurface rights more swiftly and with limited compensation.

Metro Manila’s outdated drainage network can no longer absorb the intensity of today’s rains. I am not an engineer, but I believe the metropolis may benefit from a network of underground reservoirs to catch and redirect floodwaters.

I am now in Tokyo, where it has been raining for days and there is no flood in sight. I learned that Japanese engineers built the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, a series of cisterns and tunnels about 50 meters underground that collect stormwater during typhoons. This “underground cathedral” prevents flooding and was possible because Japan has a clear legal framework for deep underground use rights, allowing construction beneath private land without full expropriation.

Metro Manila can do the same. With the ARROW Act in force, the DPWH can design a unified, intercity flood-control master plan instead of the piecemeal, city-by-city projects that now dominate local budgets. Floodwaters do not stop at city boundaries; they can surge from Quezon City to San Juan, Mandaluyong, Pasig and Manila in one unbroken flow. Only a nationally led, DPWH-executed plan can address that.

The ARROW Act was crafted to dig faster for progress. Under Sec. Dizon, it can now be used to dig deeper for protection, turning Metro Manila’s vulnerability into a blueprint for resilience.

For comments, email darren.dejesus@gmail.com.