A GLOBALLY RECOGNIZED urban planner, Architect Felino Palafox Jr. has been mouthing solutions to the last eight Philippine presidents on how to solve the country’s perennial devastations during natural calamities.
He has been sitting down and submitting formal recommendations to all eight administrations, which were all but ignored.
An exasperated Palafox, who has gone tired of pitching his voice anew, has opted to lay out his plans to media and formal business groups hoping that chief executives of companies and the country would finally do something about his proposals.
SNOBBED ANEW
Since the seventies, he had been proposing solutions to presidents. He had written recommendations to presidents Gloria Arroyo, Benigno Aquino III, Rodrigo Duterte and of late, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“I sent Marcos Jr. 200 recommendations, which are less expensive, to address the hazards before they become disasters costing human lives, infrastructure and economic losses in agriculture, livelihood and properties.”
He wrote numerous articles on how corruption kills, the first of which was after typhoon Yolanda, after Ondoy people were blaming God for the floods, which is not in any way an act of God but of people’s sin of omission running the country.
Once, he asked why there is no pork barrel for prevention only to be told that “pag state of calamity, there is no bidding of consultants, contractors and suppliers. So we should be concerned about one year of calamity as there will be a bonanza of corruption, without biddings.”
CEBU DECIMATED
Cebu, which is regarded as the richest province in the country, absorbed fatal blows which took place weeks apart.
On September 30 this year, a destructive earthquake shook Cebu province, resulting in 12 casualties, 1,271 injuries, destroying almost 160,000 houses. Damage to public infrastructure was placed at P16.23 billion.
It was the strongest earthquake ever recorded in the province — and the deadliest in the country since 2013.
Not long after, Typhoon Tino battered the entire province and other areas of the country leaving the nation a horrific imprint in its path, again people lamented why the problem of flooding, tidal surges, landslides and immeasurable damage to property buries them deeper into the stench and mire.
POLITICAL WILL
According to Palafox, “We don’t lack solutions to our problems, but we lack the will to implement them.”
Cebu’s recent flooding was not just a natural disaster—it was a man-made failure, Palafox said, citing the “painfully familiar” root causes as denuded mountains, poor drainage, unregulated development, and the absence of long-term urban planning.
For instance, the proposed water impounding project upstream of the Mananga River in Cebu was designed not only to prevent flooding but to supply the province badly- needed potable water.
A visionary plan, supported by experts like former Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson, who understood that watershed protection and sustainable infrastructure go hand in hand.
Interestingly, Singson now forms part of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, which was created to probe irregularities in flood control projects covering the last 10 years.
GREEN SOLUTIONS
For decades, Palafox has laid out master plans that integrate flood control, green infrastructure, and disaster-resilient zoning. These are not theoretical blueprints. They are practical, science-based strategies that have worked in other countries.
But in the Philippines, these proposals gather dust in bureaucratic shelves—ignored by leaders who prioritize short-term gain over sustainability and long-term survival.
We build over rivers, cut down forests, and allow informal settlements in danger zones. Then we act surprised when the waters rise. We treat floods as acts of God, when in truth, they are humanity’s neglectfulness.
“We must do more than clean up after every storm by strictly enforcing zoning laws and environmental regulations/clearances; investing in green infrastructure and watershed rehabilitation; empowering urban planners, not just politicians; and holding accountable those who profit from environmental destruction
AVOIDING FLOODS
To our government officials, do your duty, adopt feasible and doable solutions now.
“Floods are not inevitable. But failure is,” if we continue to ignore the warnings of experts like Palafox and Sec. Singson.
The time to act was yesterday. The next best time is now.