ILOILO City – Alarmed by worsening floods that have inundated entire communities and claimed a young life, Councilor Rex Marcus Sarabia has called for a full-blown legislative investigation into public and private infrastructure projects that may be obstructing Iloilo City’s natural waterways.
In a privileged speech during Wednesday’s Sangguniang Panlungsod session, Sarabia pushed for the creation of a “quad committee” to probe whether projects — particularly those implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) — have encroached upon river systems, creeks, and drainage channels, aggravating flood risks in the city.
“What we saw last week was not a super typhoon. ‘Crising’ was an ordinary storm, and yet entire communities were submerged,” Sarabia said. “If this level of flooding is what we now consider ordinary, what happens when we face a truly powerful storm?”
The councilor pointed to the bike lane projects with slope protection along Buntatala and Dungon creeks, being built by the DPWH-Iloilo City District Engineering Office (ICDEO), as having narrowed waterways and disrupted natural flow. He said residents’ complaints were supported by findings from the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) and the Iloilo City Task Force on Drainage.
The floods, which swamped barangays Lanit, Camalig, Balantang, Buntatala, and Tagbak in Jaro district during “Crising”, reached depths of up to 37 inches — nearly waist-high in some areas, residents claimed.
Sarabia also criticized the DPWH-ICDEO for allegedly pushing through with the projects without adequate public consultation. Of the five affected barangays, he said only Barangay Tagbak was consulted.
“People were not given the chance to raise their concerns. These projects were imposed on communities without adequate technical studies or meaningful dialogue,” he said.
Driving home the human cost of these oversights, Sarabia recounted the death of a Grade 8 student from Tagbak who was swept away by floodwaters and found lifeless along Buntatala Creek.
“This was not just a design flaw. It was a failure of governance, a failure of empathy,” he said. “These floods are not acts of God. They are man-made disasters born of negligence.”
While lauding Mayor Raisa Treñas for issuing a cease and desist order on the DPWH projects, Sarabia decried the agency’s dismissive response and refusal to halt construction.
“What sickens me is not just the flooding, but the refusal of a national agency to cooperate with the city government in the face of a clear and present danger to public safety,” he said.
The quad committee, composed of the standing committees on Environment, Public Works, Public Safety, and Disaster Relief, will be chaired by Councilor Romel Duron.
The probe is expected to summon DPWH and city officials, engineers, contractors, and affected residents to shed light on the planning and approval of projects impacting Iloilo City’s waterways./PN
