President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said 30 sites across Metro Manila, including Camp Aguinaldo and Rizal Memorial Stadium, have been identified for proposed nature-based flood mitigation measures designed by Dutch engineering consultancy Haskoning.
Marcos made the announcement after attending a briefing at the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Command Center in Pasig City on Wednesday on measures to address perennial flooding in the National Capital Region.
‘Moving forward, what we are looking at is…we found someone from the Netherlands who conducted a study on what we can do [to mitigate flooding]. This will involve digging in existing facilities. For example, these are football fields, open fields, and even those with buildings,’ Marcos told reporters partly in Filipino.
He said the 30 sites include Rizal Memorial Stadium, Camp Aguinaldo and the University of Santo Tomas, where underground cisterns or water-storage facilities could be built.
‘We are just waiting for the detailed engineering [design], which will be finished within this month,’ Marcos said.
MMDA Chairman Romando S. Artes said Haskoning has already submitted a preliminary draft of its plan for nature-based flood-control measures and water catchments.
Among the proposals is the construction of a 10-meter-deep rainwater catchment designed to reduce flooding along EDSA near the White Plains subdivisions.
The plan also calls for deepening the Sunken Garden at the University of the Philippines Diliman so it can temporarily hold more water during heavy rainfall, which can then be discharged gradually.
‘The purpose of the nature-based solutions and catchment is to prevent runoff, which overwhelms antiquated and small drainage, which also gets clogged by garbage during heavy rainfall,’ Artes said.
Marcos also instructed the MMDA to study how water collected in the catchments could be put to productive use.
‘He told us to coordinate with water concessionaires on what we can do to use the water that we can save in the rain catchment,’ Artes said.
The MMDA is targeting the implementation of some components of the plan before the start of next year’s rainy season.
‘A lot of the 30 sites which were identified will not need large infrastructure…We will coordinate with the DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways] to make sure there will be no duplication [in flood-control measures],’ Artes said.
The MMDA plans to seek funding for the project under the proposed 2027 national budget once the detailed engineering plan is completed.
Artes said the project is expected to be financed by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, with counterpart funding from the Philippine government.