
TROPICAL Storm “Ramil” has once again revealed what Ilonggos have long known but the government has failed to act upon — that Iloilo’s drainage system is woefully inadequate. Roads have become rivers, low-lying barangays have turned into temporary lakes, and families have been forced to flee their homes because rainwater has nowhere else to go. It is a shameful cycle of construction and destruction — new roads built without proper canals, flood control projects duplicated or misaligned, and billions of pesos spent only for the same communities to end up underwater.
This cannot continue. Iloilo urgently needs a provincial-wide drainage master plan — one that unifies all efforts under a single, science-based framework. At present, the province suffers from piecemeal, often redundant projects executed without coordination between the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Provincial Engineering Office, and the local governments. The result: a patchwork of box culverts and canals that don’t connect, drainage outfalls that lead nowhere, and projects that merely push water from one barangay to another.
A proper master plan must begin with a comprehensive hydrological and topographical assessment of the entire province — from the highlands of Calinog to the coastal plains of Carles and Estancia. It should map natural water basins, flow directions, and chokepoints. Drainage design must be harmonized with road construction, housing developments, and reclamation projects. Most importantly, implementation must be insulated from politics, guided instead by engineering logic and transparency.
Inter-agency coordination is key. The provincial government should take the lead in convening the DPWH, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), and the local disaster offices to create a unified drainage and flood management program. The national government, through the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), must ensure that funding for these efforts is sustained — not released in spurts of post-disaster rehabilitation spending that only treat the symptoms, not the cause.
Drainage may not be as glamorous as a flyover or a new boulevard, but it is the foundation of a livable and resilient Iloilo. Each storm that turns roads into waterways is a costly reminder that true progress isn’t just measured in kilometers of concrete, but in how well our infrastructure protects lives and livelihoods.
It’s time to make drainage reform Iloilo’s next big infrastructure priority — before the next storm reminds us, yet again, of the price of neglect.