Will the Marcos administration’s initiative, worth billions of pesos, be effective in mitigating floods in Metro Manila and key cities in the country? Only the upcoming rainy season can tell.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday inspected the ongoing ‘drainage improvement project’ on G. Araneta Avenue in Quezon City as part of the government’s intensified flood mitigation efforts under the ‘Oplan Kontra Baha’ program.
‘Historically, whenever the rain becomes too strong-or even when it simply rains-this area gets flooded immediately. When the rains are heavy, floodwaters can rise above a person’s height,’ he said.
According to Marcos, the stretch of G. Araneta Avenue is among the critical flood-prone locations being prioritized by the government, but he said similar interventions are being carried out across Metro Manila and other parts of the country under Oplan Kontra Baha.
The construction of the flood mitigation structure from G. Araneta Avenue to San Juan River started on March 6, 2025. It is expected to be completed by the end of the month and address the perennial flooding problem in the area.
Funding for the P482.5-million project was sourced from the 2024 national budget.
The project spans 758 meters from Kaliraya Street to E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue and includes the installation of two high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes with a diameter of 1.5 meters (59 inches) to upgrade the existing drainage lines, which are only 0.91 m (36 in) wide.
This will result in rainwater flowing out of the drainage system more quickly, which will prevent the accumulation of water on roads during rains.
Two mobile pumps will serve as a support system and can pump out 2 cubic meters of water per second.
These will help accelerate the discharge of floodwater to the sewer systems, so it will not remain in low-lying areas around G. Araneta, especially when the water level in San Juan River rises or when the natural flow of the drainage system is no longer sufficient.
Pipe-laying activities are expected to be completed next week, while the construction of the pumping station is targeted to start within the year or early next year
‘These are the [flood mitigation] strategies we are employing. This is just one of them. We are already doing so many things around Metro Manila and across the Philippines to find ways to control flooding,’ the President said.
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon, who joined the President during the inspection, said residents have already felt some improvement during recent rains since the interventions began.
‘During the heavy rains last weekend, we already saw some alleviation and improvement. But we should not be satisfied with that yet. We need to keep going and finish this before June,’ Dizon said.
He added that the President’s directive is to complete the project before the onset of the rainy season, which starts between late May and early June, triggered by the onset of the southwest monsoon (habagat) and persists until November.
Launched in November last year at the height of the flood control projects mess, the Oplan Kontra Baha initiative involves waterway clearing operations, drainage rehabilitation, and pumping station upgrades intended to reduce flooding in Metro Manila and other flood-prone areas in the country.
President Marcos ordered zero budget to be allocated to locally funded flood control projects under the DPWH for the 2026 national budget to prevent another corruption scandal.
The program shall be carried out until July this year, with the DPWH and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) spearheading the program with a P2-billion budget.
It aims to clean up at least 4 million cubic meters of trash and silt-which can fill 1,600 Olympic-size swimming pools-across the waterways in Metro Manila. The organic matter collected will then be used for the waste-to-energy initiative of the Department of Energy.
But even without the national government’s directive, local government units are mandated to clean and clear obstructions along their respective waterways.
In 1998, then-President Joseph Estrada launched a similar initiative, the ‘Brigada Kontra Baha,’ supposedly a one-time national cleanup day, but which would then be institutionalized through the Linis Bayan program through his Administrative Order No. 32.
The program, however, had not prevented the heavy rainfall, flooding, and landslides-worsened by the La Niña phenomenon from 1998 to 1999-in the country the following year, including the Cherry Hills Subdivision tragedy.