Generals blame floods on corruption, ‘declare war’ against perpetrators
Fed up with recurring killer floods, retired generals have “declared war” against the culprits – thieving officials.
Their manifesto spread as public works Sec. Manuel Bonoan admitted that government has no anti-flood masterplan. The hundred billion-peso yearly flood fund was only for emergency patchworks.
“Stop saying floods are an act of God,” urban planner Felino Palafox Jr. told Sapol-dwIZ. “It’s a sin of omission of those ruling us.”
“We will not be silent. We will not be ignored. We will not accept evident theft,” a growing number of star officers stated. “We urge individuals, leaders and institutions to step forward and demand justice. This is more than a call to action; it’s a declaration of war on corruption.”
President Bongbong Marcos in his State of the Nation boasted 5,500 flood works. “Those are immediate projects and engineering interventions nationwide that are not part of the master plan,” Bonoan told the Senate Aug. 1.
The Aquino admin, 2010-2016, had no masterplan either. Before term’s end, the then-DPWH chief Rogelio Singson proposed an Integrated Water Resources Management Program, he told Radyo5 broadcasters Ted Failon and Czarina Guevarra.
Duterte admin DPWH head, now senator Mark Villar, was mum on his tenure, 2016-2022. He wondered why floods reached the Senate building ground floor for the first time ever at the height of typhoon, July 23-25.
Government spent P1.14 trillion for flood control in the past ten years – all for naught, Sen. Joel Villanueva noted. The budget for 2024 alone is P245 billion.
Most of the signatory generals are from PMA Classes 1960s, 1970s, 1980s. They graduated with engineering degrees in those years. Others are advanced ROTC and reformist-professionals from top universities.
They blamed floods on four forms of sleaze:
(1) Kickbacks, bribes – Constructors are made to pay hefty upfront fees to bag contracts, resulting in higher costs and lower quality.
(2) Ghost projects – Inexistent or incomplete works are funded.
(3) Substandard work – Unethical techniques and subpar materials render projects useless.
(4) Nepotism, favoritism – Political ties substitute for merit in project allocation, leading to inefficiencies and waste.
“Billions set yearly for flood prevention slip into the pockets of the corrupt,” the generals said. “Corruption not only undermines public trust, but also endangers lives and livelihoods.”
As far back as 1975, Arch. Palafox had led the drafting of a Greater Manila anti-flood blueprint. Pasig Spillway, built only in 1986, was to divert rainwater from the Sierra Madres onto Laguna de Bay. But the Parañaque outflow to Manila Bay was never dug. “So the lake is like a giant toilet bowl with no flush drain.”
The outflow was to be a smart tunnel. Vehicles can pass on dry days, but only for lake water during rains, like in Kuala Lumpur. Homes now crowd the area. “But it’s still doable,” Palafox said. “Dig tunnels parallel to Manila airport runways.”
World Bank-funded Metro Manila Transport and Land Use Development Plan was not only for 17 core cities but 40 comprising a megalopolis.
“India is demo-crazy like us,” he said. “But in 2010 it started urban renewal in the 633,000-hectare Mumbai Metropolitan Region.” Today the city of 22 million is Asia’s technology center.
Forty countries have tapped Palafox for urban planning. Dubai was all desert. The sheikh asked him to “bring us to first world in 15 years.” Soil was imported from Pakistan to build a garden city. It attracted 17 million tourists in 2023 alone.
Palafox built townships for Vietnam. He marvels at the transformation of French colonial prison-island Con Son into a laid-back travel destination.
Metro Manila is 64,000 hectares, a bit smaller than floodless Singapore. “Extortion rules every step in erecting structures in the capital,” Palafox said. “Pay under the table to get an excavation, building, occupancy and fire permit.”
“Our country needs political will, visionary leaders and good management,” Palafox said. Yet less than a tenth of 1,643 have joined Baguio City’s Benjamin Magalong’s Mayors for Good Governance. Languishing in Congress for two years now is Rep. Christopher de Venecia’s bill for an Office of Architectural Planning and Design in every municipality, city, province.
Only under private sector does flood control succeed. Examples:
• San Miguel Corp.’s dredging of Pasig, Tullahan and San Juan Rivers, P3 billion in three years, no taxpayer money.
• SM Malls’ huge underground cisterns to collect and treat rainwater for toilets and government fire trucks.
• Bonifacio Global City’s similar cistern underneath Burgos Circle, designed by ex-secretary Singson.
Only a handful of 42,029 barangays have implemented the 35-year-old Rainwater Collector and Springs Development Act. Yet they’re all obligated to dig anti-flood rainwater catchments that double as water sources during dry spells.
Read generals’ manifesto and signatories: https://tinyurl.com/Jarius-Bondoc
- Latest
- Trending
