By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA, Philippines — The government is moving to expand Metro Manila’s flood-control capacity with 13 additional pumping stations as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a stronger response to increasingly heavy rainfall and persistent flooding across the National Capital Region.
The new facilities will bring to 86 the number of pumping stations under the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), with the projects targeted for completion by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
MMDA Chair Don Artes said four of the 13 will be newly built facilities, while nine others will involve upgrades to existing pumping stations.
Construction is already underway on the four new stations in Doña Imelda, Tatalon, Roxas I and Roxas II, all in Quezon City.
Marcos announced the expansion after inspecting the Tripa de Gallina pumping station in Pasay City, the biggest pumping facility in Metro Manila and one that has been operating since the 1970s.
While Marcos found the station’s pumps functioning properly, he identified a persistent enemy of the city’s flood defenses—garbage clogging the waterways and drainage system.
“We really need to address our problem with garbage disposal. Even if we have a good pumping station and powerful pumps, if garbage continues to enter the system, its efficiency will decline and it will not operate as effectively,” Marcos said.
He said the government was looking at more environmentally friendly waste-management measures, including converting organic waste into compost and reducing the volume of garbage sent to landfills.
A waste-to-energy program is also being considered.
Marcos said the scale of garbage dumped into waterways remains alarming, noting that authorities have encountered everything from kitchen sinks to mattresses.
Artes said all 73 existing MMDA pumping stations were operational during the recent torrential rains brought by the enhanced southwest monsoon, or habagat, which caused widespread flooding in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon and the Visayas.
But with rainfall becoming heavier and more unpredictable, Marcos said the government must expand its flood-control infrastructure.
“Because of climate change, because of the increase in volume of rainfall that has been coming to the Philippines and in the future, we are installing additional pumping stations,” he said.
The 13 additional stations are being funded through the Metro Manila Flood Management Project, with the Department of Public Works and Highways-Unified Project Management Office (DPWH-UPMO) as implementing agency.
The project, approved in 2017, was originally scheduled for completion last year but was extended through 2026.
The pumping-station expansion is being accompanied by another major flood-control measure: the MMDA’s plan to establish 39 large rain-catchment structures across Metro Manila.
The proposed sites are distributed across 17 cities and municipalities, including areas in Caloocan, Las Piñas, Malabon, Makati, Manila, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pateros, Pasig, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig and Valenzuela.
The facilities are intended to temporarily hold rainwater and reduce the volume rushing into already strained drainage systems during heavy downpours.
Marcos earlier said some of the rain-detention facilities could be operational before the next rainy season.
With flooding repeatedly exposing the limits of Metro Manila’s drainage network, the government is now relying on a combination of new pumping stations, upgraded facilities, rain-catchment structures and tighter waste management to keep floodwaters from overwhelming the capital.
But the President’s inspection also underscored a basic problem: even the most powerful pumps can be undermined if the waterways feeding them remain clogged with garbage.
ia/xf
