Alvin Toffler says in Future Shock that the existing political system is blind to the challenges of tomorrow. “Instead of thinking and preparing for the foreseeable problems and opportunities that tomorrow brings, politicians just jump from one crisis to the next”, explained Toffler. An example is the worsening flood problem that now exists in areas that were not flood prone.

We have experienced the horrendous flood that happened in Metro Manila in September 2009 because of Ondoy. Soon, Habagat arrived. Ten years later, we see a worse scene in Ulysses. In 2023, even the provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan were submerged in the flood caused by Falcon. Many speculate that the flood problem has degenerated due to the questionable reclamation projects in Manila Bay that were sanctioned by the previous administration.

Rogelio L. Singson, former Secretary of the DPWH, revealed that they completed many feasibility studies to solve the flood problem from 2010-2016. One of the recommendations involves the construction of vast “water impounding areas” similar to Tokyo, Bangkok and Malaysia. But they were put aside because the priority of Duterte’s 6-year administration was not solving the flood. During the recent meeting held by President Marcos in Pampanga to find long term solutions to the flood in Central Luzon, Singson mentioned the construction of water impounding areas in Candaba and San Antonio.

Let’s look at the successful flood control projects of other countries.

The Tokyo G-can underground discharge channel was started in 1992. This decision was made after those in Tokyo suffered from severe and consecutive floods in 1991. It was completed in 2006 after 14 years. This underground flood control project is 2 miles long and can hold flood water equivalent to 54 Olympic size swimming pools. It has 78 pumps with a capacity of 10 MW(13,000 hp) that can suck 200 tons of water per second that it releases to the Edo river. An estimated 90% of Tokyo’s flood problem has been solved by this project.

Malaysia, on the other hand, has a Storm water Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) flood tunnel in Kuala Lumpur as a remedy for flash floods in the area. In summer, the tunnels are used as expressways.

Thailand, on the other hand, has monkey cheeks that store flood water. It is a project of the late King Bhumibol. Now, the Thais plan to make underground monkey cheeks so that the flood in Bangkok will disappear forever.

Jim Dator of the University of Hawaii said, “Throughout the centuries, we’ve been taught to worship our ancestors and respect their traditions, and that’s fine. But now, because of the many new challenges that rush to us from the future, we have to do something that we have never done before which we fear that we do not have the ability to do now, to adore our grandchildren and love them more than ourselves. “

Politicians are reluctant to put funds into anti-flood projects that will not be completed within a three- or six-year period because the credit will be taken by the next administration. They prefer “band aid solutions” such as road dikes, riprapping and dredging that can be finished and inaugurated during their term in office. Unfortunately, these projects do not address the nagging problem of land subsidence as a result of urbanization and rising sea levels due to climate change that aggravates the economically devasting inundation of properties.

Only two years to go and national and local elections will ensue. It is time for the people to accept the fact that our grandchildren are to suffer from politicians who just jump from one crisis to another without settling the festering unresolved problems that becomes more arduous to patch up through time. I hope that the Marcos Jr. administration will not end up just as a sequel of the Duterte administration in terms of cracking the flood problem and despoiling the environment.

Atty. Magi Gunigundo is a former lawmaker, civil law instructor, and author of law books. He is also an education reformer and an advocate of anticipatory governance.