MANILA, Philippines — Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon said on Saturday that the government was shifting away from its traditional reliance on concrete structures to nature-based solutions to address chronic flooding in Bulacan.
Dizon said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had for decades tended to turn to concrete structures such as sheet piles, concrete dikes and other engineering works whenever flooding occurred.
“We need to change that,” Dizon told The Manila Times.
The DPWH chief said flood-control planning should also consider how the natural environment could be used to reduce the effects of flooding instead of relying almost exclusively on concrete infrastructure.
“Nature cannot simply be addressed through engineering or concrete. We need to think about how nature can help protect us against the negative effects of nature itself,” he said.
Dizon cited ongoing work in Malolos, also in the province, where he inspected infrastructure projects earlier this week, as a pilot for the approach, saying its effects were already being observed after about a year.
The government should accelerate the implementation of such projects and increase national government investment in nature-based flood-control measures, he stressed.
The top DPWH official also questioned the agency’s traditional preference for concrete dikes, saying alternatives such as earth-based structures should be considered.
He cited the experience of Dutch consultants working with the government, saying the Netherlands uses nature-based solutions for more than half of its flood-management measures despite being a wealthy country.
“In our country, everything is concrete,” Dizon said.
He said concrete structures could deteriorate and suggested that the government's approach to flood control needed to change.
Dizon said the DPWH planned to use the Malolos pilot as a model for a wider flood-control program covering communities around Manila Bay in Bulacan and neighboring Pampanga.
He identified the towns of Hagonoy and Paombong in Bulacan and towns of Masantol, Macabebe and Sasmuan in Pampanga as among the areas where similar solutions could be pursued.
The initiative, he said, would build on the experience of Malolos Mayor Christian Natividad, with whom Dizon had met two weeks earlier to discuss measures addressing the province's recurring flooding.
Dizon said the government needed to act more quickly because residents in Bulacan had been experiencing flooding year after year.
“The people are suffering,” he said, stressing the need for immediate action on the province's long-running flood problem.
