EVERY time a storm hits, towns and across Western Visayas are reminded — painfully — that progress built without proper drainage is an illusion. Recently, Tropical Storm “Ramil” turned streets into rivers and homes into ponds, not merely because of heavy rainfall, but because the very systems designed to channel water away were clogged, neglected, or never properly built.
For years, local governments have proudly unveiled widened roads, decorative plazas, and towering civic structures — the visible symbols of development. Yet beneath these projects, the unseen arteries of urban life — the drainage canals, culverts, and water catchment systems — are left to decay. Maintenance is often an afterthought, and the routine clearing of waterways is sacrificed to budget politics and bureaucratic delay.
The result? Every downpour becomes a disaster waiting to happen. Roads collapse, neighborhoods flood, and lives are disrupted. What should have been manageable rainfall turns catastrophic because water has nowhere to go. The scenes from northern Iloilo, Roxas City and nearby Capiz towns after “Ramil” — flooded homes, submerged roads, and debris-littered drainage — are not acts of nature alone. They are symptoms of misplaced priorities.
Urban development must not be measured by how smooth the roads look, but by how well cities absorb and survive a storm. Real progress means building from the ground down — investing in sustainable drainage networks, enforcing easements along rivers and creeks, and penalizing illegal structures that block waterways. It also means regular desilting, not just when floods come, but as a year-round public service.
Local leaders must remember that the most life-saving projects are often the least glamorous. A well-maintained drainage system may not win votes or make headlines, but it prevents the very tragedies that dominate them.
If towns and cities truly wish to build resilience, they must return to the basics — because neglecting what’s underground will always undo what’s built above it.
