THE murderous flash floods in Nepal last week did not happen without any warning. We are shocked by its scale of devastation and thousands of dead or missing. Yet, scientists and engineers had warned of the dangers that such flashfloods might indeed occur at such devastating speed to kill thousands in an instant.
Neither is the Philippines a stranger to devastating flashfloods and mudslides. The reverse is true. The Philippines is one of the most experienced countries in the world to experience such calamity. We can claim of being hardnosed veterans of these disasters. We put names on them — the Ondoy floods of 2009 which drowned Metro Manila, the Guinsaugon mudslide that buried an entire village in Southern Leyte, Cagayan flashfloods during the Covid pandemic, the Ormoc flashfloods, the Infanta floods, the Cebu flashfloods, the Davao City floods, and so on. The list seems endless and it keeps getting longer every year. This week we saw Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac, Batangas, Laguna and Metro Manila under water most of the days and nights. And yet these were the areas where trillion of public works budget were allocated only to be plundered.
How everyone wishes that those plunderers drown in these floods! But the political reality punches all of us in the face that these plunderers never suffer the pain and deaths these floods bring. As their fellow Filipinos die and drown under the brutal whip of the super typhoons of the tropical monsoon season, they live lavishly under the sultry sun of summer in expensive villas in Europe and the US. Countries such as Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy or the Bahamas as well as the US cities of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco host the vacationing families of these soulless plunderers. They have private planes, boats and yachts which their children shamelessly post in Instagram as they jet from city to city or sail from shore to shore.
Our scientists and engineers had known the problems and the solutions a long time ago. They tried their best to mitigate the adverse effects of nature whose raging forces can cause the end of the human race. Our scientists knew and our grade school teachers taught all of us that floods come from the mountains scalped out of forest cover. They warned us that blocking waterways would certainly cause the bursting of the rivers as water would always find its natural course. Not only in science but also in faith. Our predominantly Christian nation speaks of the Great Flood almost wiping out the entire humanity with the exception of Noah and his family. Cities on very high elevations such as Baguio, Tagaytay and recently Lipa in Batangas experienced the raging waters coming from the mountains. It is foolish to believe in the safety of high elevation when urban developers fail to acknowledge that building on natural paths of water is a dangerous thing to do. Nepal is high up in the Himalayas. Instead of being safe, the melting glaciers and the man-made destruction of the slopes of the mountains combined to wipe out communities and buried thousands without any warning.
All of us know why there are floods. But our political leaders are simply blinded by greed and corruption. They would rather look away from the obvious. And this greed fed on the real lives of our people. They rather ignore what scientists had to say. They rather look away from scientific data. They will prefer to look at these data if only they present them with opportunities to have projects where kickbacks and bribes can be extorted.
For example, Project NOAH serves a vital role in disaster management — specifically to keep people safe from floods. But it was ridiculously defunded under a national budget awash with flood control projects that turned out to be ghosts. Trillions of public funds stolen but one of the most important tools in predicting and managing floods was left with no resources. Fortunately, the University of the Philippines, whose budget was also cut, decided to bring Project NOAH under its auspices instead of wasting it altogether. Finally, this administration recognized the critical role of this project and gave it back the resources it needs.
What can be done? The solution was already tested during the time of Secretary Rogelio Singson at the DPWH. He has a very simple formula in the governance of public works projects — the 5Rs. Right project. Right cost. Right quality. Right time. Right people. If our government is serious in minimizing corruption in public works projects, it does not need to look for a new formula. It is already there and has been proven to be effective.
The 5Rs can be adopted to flood control projects:
– Right project. Ensures flood control structures are built where science shows they are needed.
– Right cost. Prevents the loss of funds through corruption through transparent costing.
– Right quality. Ensures all projects are done based on quality standards and specifications.
– Right on time. Ensures that projects are completed on time without delays.
– Right people. Ensures engineers and experts with integrity and competence, rather than political interests, guide implementation.
But first, let us protect our forests, mountains and foreshore lands from destruction and overdevelopment. Stop the illegal quarrying in our mountains such as the Sierra Madre and the Cordilleras. Stop the illegal reclamation in Laguna de Bay and other coastal areas of our country. We prevent floods from the source in doing this. And lastly, government officials, particularly those in Congress, must be forbidden to be related or be engaged in government contracting. If government does not do this, then we are simply being taken for another ride. We just pray that it need not be as big and as fast as the flashfloods of Nepal.