November 11, 2025 | 7:05am
MANILA, Philippines — Severe floods have recently been blamed on clogged drains and substandard flood control projects run by allegedly corrupt officials. But with storms dumping more rain in a short amount of time, Filipinos are beginning to question what’s happening on the mountains and in rivers.
When the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) launched an investigation into Monterrazas de Cebu — a luxury development on a mountainside in Guadalupe, Cebu City — the public response was quick to ask: who approved it in the first place?
While no evidence has directly linked the Monterrazas project to the floods that hit Cebu during Typhoon Tino, officials and experts say it raises valid questions about whether hillside developments comply with environmental and flood-mitigation rules.
Gaps in oversight
The DENR said the controversy uncovers deeper issues in land-use planning — a gap that Usec. Carlos David described as particularly critical for local governments.
“When we place structures on the natural environment, there are consequences. … There are advantages, but you also generate disadvantages,” David told One News PH’s “The Big Story.”
Climate Change Commissioner Albert Dela Cruz said building structures on natural slopes often involves cutting trees and covering soil with concrete, which prevents water from being absorbed and sends it down to low-lying communities.
“We should not have a concrete road (on these slopes), concrete jungle, because the water absorptive capacity of our land will lessen,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino on “The Big Story.”
David had a similar point, stressing that building structures on areas where water is naturally absorbed or flows through does not make the water disappear. Water from rain or from rivers, he said, would simply go to low-lying communities where there may be no dikes.
“Every time you constrict, divert, block or alter the natural course of a waterway — a river, for example — you are probably protecting the adjacent communities from flooding, but you’re simply translocating the problem elsewhere,” he said.
“That is where the disaster will occur — that is precisely what we are seeing in Cebu,” he added, noting that lapses in laws and policies governing floods and natural waterways have likely contributed to the problem of leaving communities more exposed.
What makes the problem even more complex, David said, is that extreme weather events such as Typhoon Tino leave some areas naturally prone to flooding. The decision of whether to invest in dikes or relocate communities falls to the government, especially local authorities.
DPWH coordination overdue
David said the DENR bears part of the responsibility for worsening floods due to weak coordination with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and years of poor reforestation.
“It’s like we’ll have to learn our lesson first before working together because in the past, there’s really no coordination,” David said.
Asked if such coordination was new, David said that, based on what he knows, it is only under the new leadership that the DPWH has begun working closely with the DENR.
Since September, the DPWH has been led by Secretary Vince Dizon, who has been cracking down on allegedly corrupt officials in connection with the flood control scandal.
David said that while Monterrazas is the project currently in focus, it is not the only development under review. “All other types of development” are also being examined for their environmental risks, he added.
Strong storms and deep floods are a recurring reality for Filipinos, with the poorest and most marginalized communities bearing the greatest risks. Decades of logging, mining, and unsafe development have left many areas exposed. As urban planner Jun Palafox puts it, “corruption kills,” and good governance is the key to protecting vulnerable communities.