FLOODING in Iloilo City has long been viewed as an engineering issue, solved with drainage projects, pumping stations, and flood-control structures. But the recent quad committee hearings at the Sangguniang Panlungsod made it clear: flooding goes beyond infrastructure. It is a collective failure — of planning, governance, and public discipline.
The revelations are disturbing. The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office still relies on maps from the 1950s, while the Department of Environment and Natural Resources admits to depending on Google Earth for topography. Pumping stations stand idle, drainage systems remain clogged, and natural waterways have been lost to unchecked urban sprawl. At the same time, informal settlers continue to occupy riverbanks and basins, worsening risks during heavy rains.
Councilor Rex Marcus Sarabia was right: the problem is “collective.” It cannot be pinned solely on the Department of Public Works and Highways for flawed projects, nor on City Hall for weak enforcement. Residents also share blame when garbage is dumped into canals, waterways are blocked with illegal structures, or relocation programs are resisted. Every lapse — whether in agency coordination or citizen discipline — adds to the city’s vulnerability.
The flooding that repeatedly disrupts barangays such as in Lapuz and Jaro districts and other low-lying areas is not an unavoidable act of nature. It is the outcome of systemic shortcomings and piecemeal solutions. Unless Iloilo City adopts a holistic approach, it will continue wasting funds on projects that fail to deliver relief while communities suffer preventable disasters.
Real solutions require political will and shared accountability. Agencies must finally coordinate, data must be updated, drainage maintained, and resettlement pursued with compassion but firmness.
Equally vital, citizens must recognize that their everyday choices — disposing of waste properly, respecting easements— c arry direct consequences for the city’s safety.
Flooding is not just an engineering problem, nor merely a government problem. It is everyone’s problem. Until Iloilo City accepts this and responds as a community, it will remain, quite literally, knee-deep in its own failures.
