DAVAO CITY, Philippines – When it rains it pours, and it floods.
The recent downpour on May 2 brought by a low pressure area flooded barangays Tibungco, Panacan and Bunawan, raising again the city’s constant problem of flooding.
For over a decade, Davawenyos experienced the inconvenience of floods. Commuting turns into a nightmare as many get stranded downtown. Residents in low-lying barangays near the riverbanks in Talomo, Lasang, Bunawan, Matina, Talomo and Lipadas have frequently evacuated, such as during last January that displaced 600 families. Even elevated areas such as Calinan and Jade Valley in Buhangin have experienced flooding.
Local officials still need to address these concerns, as floods and environment concerns affect their constituents.
Recently, First District re-electionist Representative Paolo Duterte was reported to have spent P51 billion in his congressional budget for three years for infrastructure and drainage problems in his district, which is mostly the downtown area. But floods still persist during huge downpours.
The Davao City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office also identified inadequate drainage systems, along with poor city planning as the reasons for flooding in the city.
Massive urbanization
A Davao Research Journal showed a ten-year land use assessment from 2013 to 2023 that revealed a significant decrease in the city’s vegetative cover, dropping from 80.32% to 68.49%. The decline is due to rapid urban expansion, where industrial and residential developments have taken over farms, forests, and wetlands.
The study revealed the environmental effects of urban expansion including increased flood risks and reduced biodiversity.
The environment group Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) said with aggressive urbanization that encroaches on riverbanks, the city has lost the natural buffer it once had against floods through the removal of green spaces.
“There are still issues of poor waste management, clogged drainage, and high rates of river pollution here,” added IDIS executive director Mark Peñalver.
Waste management: A city underwater with trash
Waste disposal and management is also an issue related to flooding as canals in urban areas are clogged with disposable garbage.
Davao City generates more than 600 tons of trash daily, with its only sanitary landfill at Barangay Carmen exceeding its designed capacity up to 800,000 tons, the landfill now contains over 900,000 tons since 2016.
The city government floated the proposal for a Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant, which is backed by Mayor Sebastian Duterte. But the proposal is being criticized by environmental groups, challenging the city council to reject this program, claiming that incineration of wastes would bring long-term health and environmental concerns for Davao.
IDIS and other groups are proposing more emphasis on waste reduction, segregation, recycling, and enforcement of legislation protecting the environment.
Green Vote
IDIS raised a Green Vote survey for 79 local candidates to respond to environmental issues. No mayoral candidate responded to the survey. Only one aspirant for vice mayor, two congressional candidates and 26 city council hopefuls participated in the survey.
The city’s third district – home to the city’s watershed – finds no congressional aspirant expressing their platform on environment concerns.
The survey results showed some contrasting positions. While the majority of the respondents favor the ban of single-use plastics to minimize waste, the majority also support the WTE project.
Most respondents oppose the establishment of residential and farming units, or the setup of tourism programs in the city’s watershed and conservation areas.
Work with nature
There is still much to be discussed on how the city will tackle the drainage problem.
The issue was already discussed in the previous election, where first district congressional aspirant Mags Maglana, who is running again, proposed that the solution is to work with nature.
“Let’s not think about controlling the waters. Let’s try to live with the water systems of Davao because nature always finds a way. We have dikes actually built along the Bankerohan, but they always got destroyed by the flow of the rivers as the nature always finds its own way,” Maglana was quoted in a news report.
“We should live with it in terms of harnessing it and not thinking of controlling it as if we have power over it. That’s the mindset of people that’s quite problematic when it comes to discussion about development. You do not subdue nature, you work with nature. That’s the sustainable way,” she added.
Maglana mentioned that the local government should look at its own feasibility study conducted with the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to draft a solution to the problem of flooding. (davaotoday.com)
2025 Elections, davao city
