TURNING POINT | The Flood of our Making

NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews 25 August 2026) — Metropolitan Manila and many other urban areas in the Philippines are submerged under floodwaters when there is a 30-minute to about an hour of downpour. Countless causes have been identified, and solutions proposed and acted upon, but the problem remains because we have not targeted and hit the essential cause.

If there is one to blame for this perennial malady, it is no one but ourselves.

Our easy-go-lucky consumerism and throw-away culture explain all.

We buy bottled water or soda and throw away the plastic bottles anywhere after consuming their contents. One-use plastic bags and other household trash are likewise disposed of anywhere at one’s convenience, all ending up in and clogging old, narrow open canals and natural waterways. 

Once, the canals and esteros are overloaded, water spreads over and transforms streets and roads into waterways.

And all the trash and more return to us.

We get stuck in traffic.

We miss school.

We miss work.

We get sick.

We missed our flight.

We blame the government for its ineffective flood control projects, but we don’t blame ourselves for causing the flood. 

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental)