Metro Manila Flooding - Who's to Blame?

As far as plastics are concerned I think I read somewhere that the plastics that are produced right now are more degradable then what it was decades ago when it was first introduced. I think if you would noticed most plastics now are quite thin already. Plastics now are more easily decompose though it is still longer but compared to the plastics before they are less durable than it was ten years ago. I agree what plastic can do to our environment but it should not be blamed totally for them because at one time they were made to good use as well. Paper bag on the other hand can handle so much and they are easily destroyed especially when you are handling wet products such as fish and meat products plastic bags are still the best choice for this kind of products since they could hold water better than paper bags. I would rather choose the resusable green bag which is made of cloth since they can still be used over and over again before they really give in. They also degrades much better than the plastic.

Plastic products if use properly is indeed one of the greatest technology ever discovered by man. Because of its wide range of usage. Surely its one of the cheapest technology ever invented. That's why paper bags where outdated by it. But there are also the dark side of it, as it takes hundreds of years to fully decompose. To make matters worst, everyone of use were careless in throwing it away anywhere.

Yet no matter how the plastics decomposition is reduced, we are still taking of about more than 5 years. If one million of people throw a plastic candy wrapper in a day, that would already a huge amount of waste that will eventually clogged our water ways.

Yup, here in Calamba, the use of plastic bags are already forbidden. I personally get apprehended by our community officials before for using a plastic bag and was slapped with a fine. Other few cities in metro Manila is doing it too and been truly implementing it. But I think were a bit too late of this and the impact to our environment is already there. And we are only reaping what we sow. Though paper bags is not that good to be use as compared to its plastic counterpart, we can always opt to use the "eco-bags" which can be re-use over and over again. Not only that it helps a lot but also gain 2 points when used in SM grocery.lol. I know that paper comes from trees, but at least those paper bags comes from recycled paper.

We are also starting to use paper bags as well. However, even if you paper bags, if people just throw them carelessly, there is still gonna be problems. Paper can still clog and they can also be cause of some problem or another. It’s not an ultimate solution but people’s attitude with garbage disposal

I actually prefer the use of plastics than paper bags. Aside from it is more convenient, we can still reuse it (for our garbage cans for example). I agree with both of you. Whatever we use (plastic or paper) it would not make a difference if we do not change our attitude towards making our whole surroundings our very own private trash can. I would just like to share something. I attended a seminar of DTI and one of the presenters is from a manufacturing company of plastics (I forgot the name). He said that the reason why some of the major cities in our country are patronizing the use of paper bags is because these paper companies are giving these LGUs a "considerable amount" to ban the use of plastics in their city. The sad thing is these government officials use the excuse of being "environment friendly" in order to cover up the personal gains they get from banning plastics.

Unfortunately one of the country for example is Japan, they have this system that prevents the further increase of water during rains and floods.the sad part is that informal settlers DOESN't Care about the little things they throw on the rivers, that it goes back directly to us. the people have much to learn indeed but it should have been a long time ago...

Yup, like they own the creeks and rivers. Like the whole area that they have been living is a garbage dump site where they can throw all the garbage they want. Sometimes I wonder, is it the governments fault simply because it can't provide enough jobs to these people or its our own fault because we as citizens did not do anything about it.

Speaking of the anti-flooding system, I would say that our drainage system can no longer accommodate the huge volume of water pouring in during rainy season. I think there are efforts to rehabilitate these drainage but still it is the wrong habits of people who will clogged this drainage.

Unfortunately, there was a plan decades ago during marcos time that should have prevented this disaster. unfortunately with some many unresponsive sewers during floods i think there should build a bigger sewer to prevent this from ever happening again. but of course, only if the people are discipline to prevent the garbage from clogging the pipes

I think the people in the DPWH, MMDA, etc. already had tons of proposals to end this problem. I think the problem lies on the government people simply by their lack of political will to implement such projects. For a start, some would surely will not approved it simply because it will entail huge amount of budget. I would think that the effort should start in the barangay level. Simply cleaning their own drainage system, impose fines to the smokers and litterers, banning the use of plastic would make a great difference. If we wait for the government to act on these problems, it would take many more similar tragedies before we can see the results.

As I said, we are all to blame on this. I knew of a rich family in Pasay who build a building in between a creek. Looking at the building outside, you would not even think that there is a creek running on its foundation. How come the local city of Pasay issue a building permit to the owners? Well, your guess is as good as mine. The same thing also applies to your views about this.

Surely the building contractor had taught about it, as I see it during construction that they had buried concrete file to ensure that the building lasts forever. And yet the city government had let this one slip in their hands.

Wait till the creek little by little eat the foundation of the building, yep all of us are to blame in varying degrees and magnitude of participation, you are right we have to change or mend our ways and habits.

Little things if all of us are doing it, would mean a lot to help mother nature. As I said above, it would be better to start on our community by simply passing a Baranggay ordinance that would prohibit the use of plastic bags for example. Or imposed fines for smoking or littering in public places. I think it is very much better to implement it in our local community first rather than the whole country where the government is lacking the manpower to fully implement it.

My next question is, is there a chance that we can still saved our environment if we start doing our share now? Will our descendants be able to live a happy life in the future without experiencing the same problem that we had just faced several days ago?

that's absolutely a good idea Fulltank..in that small way we can save and preserve our dying mother nature have a great day..

I think its because the regular outlets (rivers and creeks) of water that leads to Manila Bay were already too shallow if that clogged with garbage. Therefore the flood waters of Manila will flow into low lying areas outside Metro Manila. And since these provinces are lower than Metro Manila (like Bulacan & Pampanga) its where the Manila flood waters go. Then, there's the problem of our balding mountains which holds most of the rain water. Since tree not longer exists on it, rain water directly goes to our dams. One of the reason why dams water level rises very quickly.

For a start, people living near the banks of the creeks and rivers should be relocated so that they can widen it to accommodate the huge amount of water during rainy season. But, I am seeing two problems about it. First the government is lacking the will power to do it. Second, those people who were relocated (usually outside the city) would simply go back to these areas because there are no enough jobs waiting for them in the relocation site.

There is also our mentality that it should begin with other people and not myself. Sometimes it takes a hard law simply to push us to do something or obey the rules. But, I think it would be better if Barangay ordinances should be passed in each community so that we could start from the lowest form of government.

Yup, their are some few that we can mentioned, but if the majority is on the other side of the boat, then sooner or later the boat will sink. Our Homeowners association woo is doing simple things to help ease up our suffering during times of monsoon rains which in turn really is doing great. But with quality of life, there's always the cost of money involve. It good for us since, we can spend a little more out of our budget which should be taken from our hard earned taxes collected by the government. If we wait for the government to act, then are still suffering from the effect of flood in our community.

Agree. Not everybody does the same thing – right or wrong. Many people’s efforts to recycle or good are always overshadowed by the problems caused by the bad actions of other people. Sometimes, this is the reason why other people stopped doing the right thing later.

In Metro Manila, one the of the reason why people runs for a Baranggay level position is the there is so much money pour in it that people would kill each other just to be elected for that position. Second, commercial establishments in these Baranggays are giving tax to them.That would mean a huge amount of money already in which many people are willing to kill for.