When the streets flood, the first question is often: Where did the flood-control project fail?

And that is a legitimate question.

Government projects should be scrutinized. Billions of pesos are spent on flood control, drainage systems, pumping stations, dikes and waterways. When these projects fail to protect communities, taxpayers have every right to demand answers.

But there is another question we rarely ask.

What if the water could not flow because we filled the system with our own garbage?

During Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon’s inspection of the Redemptorist Water Channel in Barangay Baclaran, Parañaque City, he encountered a waterway heavily obstructed by garbage—so much that clearing operations required heavy equipment and dozens of DPWH personnel.

It is an ugly sight.

But perhaps the uglier truth is that it is not unique to Metro Manila.

The same scenes can be found in provincial towns across the country: canals filled with plastic, drainage inlets covered with discarded packaging, creeks turned into dumping grounds and rivers carrying household waste after heavy rain.

Then the rain comes.

The water rises.

The roads disappear.

And the question becomes:

“Why did the flood-control system fail?”

Sometimes, that question is absolutely warranted.

If a project was poorly designed, poorly constructed or poorly maintained, government must answer for it. If public funds were wasted, the people have every right to demand accountability. If officials knew that a waterway was chronically clogged and did nothing, they should also be called out.

But perhaps we should also ask:

“Did we help make it fail?”

Flood-control infrastructure is not magic.

A drainage canal cannot efficiently carry water when its passage is blocked. A pumping station cannot perform at its intended capacity if garbage obstructs the waterways feeding into it. A river cannot carry water effectively when its flow is restricted by accumulated waste and debris.

None of this absolves government.

In fact, it adds another responsibility.

Government is expected not only to build infrastructure, but also to maintain it, monitor it and enforce the laws that are supposed to keep waterways clear.

The Philippines has laws governing solid waste management. Local governments have responsibilities for collection, disposal, segregation and enforcement.

Yet here we are.

Still pulling mountains of garbage out of waterways after every major rainfall.

That means the problem is bigger than infrastructure.

It is also a problem of enforcement and behavior.

Yes, there are Filipinos who deliberately throw garbage into canals and waterways. Someone who tosses a plastic bottle into a drainage canal cannot later blame the government when that same canal becomes clogged.

But it would also be unfair to say that Filipinos are simply an undisciplined people.

Millions of Filipinos dispose of their garbage properly every day. Communities organize cleanups. Families segregate their waste. Ordinary citizens volunteer to clean rivers and streets.

The problem is that bad behavior has been allowed to become normal in too many places.

One person throws a bottle.

Another leaves a plastic bag.

Someone dumps a sack of household waste.

Nobody stops them.

Nobody gets fined.

Nobody gets held accountable.

The garbage accumulates.

Then the rain comes.

And suddenly, everyone is asking why the city flooded.

The garbage did not come from nowhere.

It came from somewhere—and often, from someone.

This is where the conversation about responsibility becomes uncomfortable.

We cannot demand that government build bigger and better flood-control infrastructure while continuing to feed those same systems with the waste that compromises them.

We cannot complain about clogged drainage while treating drainage canals as convenient garbage bins.

We cannot demand accountability from officials while refusing to examine our own contribution to the problem.

But neither should government use public irresponsibility as an excuse for its own failures.

The two things can be true at the same time.

A government project can be defective and a waterway can be clogged with garbage.

An official can be negligent and citizens can be irresponsible.

A flood-control system can be inadequate and communities can make the problem worse through illegal dumping.

Accountability does not have to belong to only one side.

We can demand that government build quality flood-control projects and demand that those projects be protected from illegal dumping.

We can investigate questionable infrastructure and enforce environmental laws.

We can criticize government officials and tell our neighbors to stop throwing garbage into waterways.

We can demand better drainage and stop treating drainage as a trash can.

Because if a flood-control project fails because of defective construction, government must answer.

If it fails because it was poorly designed or maintained, government must answer.

But if a functioning waterway is rendered ineffective because we collectively turned it into a garbage dump, we cannot honestly say government was the only one who failed.

The uncomfortable truth is that sometimes the flood-control system did not fail alone.

We helped make it fail.

And perhaps that is the part of the flooding conversation we do not want to hear.

It is easier to point a finger at City Hall, Malacañang, DPWH or the contractor.

It is harder to look at the garbage floating beside us and ask:

Who put it there?

Until we are willing to ask that question, we will keep building projects, clogging them with garbage, flooding again—and then asking why government failed us.

Perhaps the solution is not simply to build more.

Perhaps it is also to stop destroying what we already have.