Government agencies are now taking a second look at the Metro Cebu Flood and Drainage System Master Plan after heavy rains from Typhoon “Tino” on Nov. 4 triggered widespread flooding in Metro Cebu that killed more than 100 people, crippled businesses, and caused billions of pesos in damage to homes and infrastructure.
Master plan revisited
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon assured local officials that major infrastructure projects for Cebu in 2026 would be based on the plan, according to Vice Gov. Glen Soco.
Soco, who attended the briefing with Dizon and President Marcos Jr. on Nov. 7 at the Capitol, said that aside from the projects, the master plan will be updated, particularly its hazard maps, in light of the recent floods.
The upgrading and the projects could go hand in hand, he noted, since some of the plan’s identified projects remain unimplemented.
Dizon, who received a copy of the master plan from Soco, raised the study with President Marcos Jr. during the meeting on how Cebu’s flooding should be addressed. The President agreed to revisit the master plan.
“I was elated to hear the President mention the master plan because after all these years, it takes the President’s initiative for this plan to move,” said Soco.
Plan rooted in JICA study
According to the vice governor, it was the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) along with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that prepared the masterplan.
It was derived from the Roadmap Study for Sustainable Development of Metro Cebu, conducted by JICA in 2013 and endorsed by the Metro Cebu Coordinating and Development Board (MCCDB), which oversaw development planning for Cebu at the time.
The study outlined measures to manage floodwaters from Carcar City in the south to Danao City in the north, in anticipation of rapid urban growth and climate change.
It also identified priority projects and policy recommendations to address flooding in Metro Cebu — including interventions in upland and lowland areas, and the construction of water catchment facilities for subdivision developments.
In 2017, Cebu was hit by a 55-mm rainfall that caused floods in parts of Cebu and Mandaue cities.
Funding secured
Soco, then president of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry, attended a meeting with former Public Works Secretary Mark Villar and his engineers where the master plan was presented as a long-term solution to Cebu’s flooding problem.
Soco then endorsed the master plan to the Regional Development Council when he was appointed chair of the RDC’s Infrastructure Development Council.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secured P700 million in funding in 2018 and P1.2 billion in 2019 to widen and rehabilitate two major rivers in Mandaue and another two in Cebu City.
The agency also created a Unified Project Monitoring Office (UPMO) to oversee the progress of these flood control projects.
Aside from the UPMO, the MCCDB and the RDC’s project monitoring office also oversaw the implementation.
Shelved
But since 2020, not a single project identified in the master plan has been funded.
Soco, who was elected board member in 2019, said he later learned that the funding for flood control projects went directly to the DPWH district engineering offices and not through its regional office.
The UPMO, the local DPWH monitoring body, was either abolished or reconfigured.
Asked where these projects were based, Soco replied: “That, I cannot answer you anymore.”
“There's no way of knowing if these projects were related to the master plan or within standards set by RDC,” he added. “The projects were done without consultation with the RDC.”
But the vice governor said what followed were random, uncoordinated projects.
“Some done in the wrong places, others substandard and many inconsistent with the master plan. To be blunt about it: we abandoned the plan and the people paid the price.”
Soco wondered if the destruction caused by Typhoon “Tino” could have been prevented had the master plan been implemented, since it recommended interventions along major rivers — including one in Danao, the Cotcot River in Liloan, and the Butuanon River in Mandaue — all of which overflowed during the storm and inundated nearby communities.
Calls for accountability
Even though government action is now being taken, provincial officials are still calling for accountability for the flood control projects that failed to protect Cebu from floods during “Tino.”
Soco said those who profited from the substandard or anomalous flood control projects must be held responsible.
“We can’t keep rebuilding what was built wrong. We can’t keep fixing symptoms while ignoring the cause,” he added.
Gov. Pam Baricuatro, for her part, asked President Marcos Jr. in a letter dated Nov. 8 to conduct a full and independent investigation into the causes and failures surrounding the flooding, including flood control systems, river easements, slope protection, drainage network, and quarrying or land altering activities that might have worsened the disaster.
At the same time, she asked for national support to strengthen Cebu’s environmental protection, watershed rehabilitation and disaster-risk prevention infrastructure as well as reinforcement of a climate-driven hazard program to safeguard communities in the face of storms and other seismic events.
“Cebu will rise, as it always has. But this time, we must rise with clear answers, strong systems, and a renewed covenant of leadership centered on human life and dignity,” she wrote.
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