DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 April) – Different approaches in addressing the flooding problem in the city were among major issues discussed during a forum initiated by the Archdiocese of Davao for congressional candidates, one suggesting the building of a dam upstream and “river walls” to block the river flow, the other saying the problem will not be addressed by constructing infrastructure that would try to control the rivers.
Only two of the four candidates for the 1st congressional district showed up during the Archdiocesan Political Education Committee’s “Kinsa Sila … Unsay Ilang Plataporma?” (Who are they .. What is their platform) election forum: independent candidates Jamal Kanan, a businessman, and Maria Victoria “Mags” Maglana, a much sough-after facilitator and consultant on peace, development and governance. Both are independent candidates.
Reelectionist Rep. Paolo Duterte (Hugpong ng Pagbabago) and fellow candidate Jovanie Mantawel were absent. Organizers said a member of Duterte’s staff called on April 19 to say Duterte will not be able to attend because he will be in Manila on April 25 for the campaign of his sister Sara, the outgoing Davao City mayor who is running for Vice President.
Only two of four candidates for Representative of the 1st district showed up at the Archdiocesan Political Committee’s face-to-face forum for candidates to present their agenda to the public and for them to answer questions raised by a three-member panel. The forum for congressional candidates was held on Tuesday April 26, 2022. The three candidates for Congress in District 2 and two In District 3 were absent. MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
The three candidates for the second congressional district and two for the third district were also absent. Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang, a candidate for 2nd district representative, confirmed attendance but was a no-show, his chair between Kanan and Maglana, unoccupied until the end of the nearly two-hour forum.
Flash floods are among the major problems in the city, particularly in the first district which has 54 of the city’s 182 barangays. The district, which hosts the largest voting population at 355,052 out of the city’s 992,538, includes the downtown area.
Businessman Jamal Kanan, candidate for Representative of the 1st district in Davao City talks about his proposed dam to solve flooding and inadequate household water supply in Davao City during the Arhdiocesan Political Education Committee’s face-to-face forum for congressional candidates on Tuesday, 26 April 2022. MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
Kanan proposed to address the flooding by building a dam upstream in Marilog district and more “river walls” to block the river flow.
He said building a dam can also provide free water for drinking and irrigation for the locals and agricultural farms.
“It’s raining, after a few hours, there will be flood. Based on my visit to flood prone areas, the main problem is the river, it’s overflowing. I personally visited the area. That’s why, even though we have canals especially when the rain is strong, it will overflow. The solution is we need to make a river wall, we need to block riverside,” he said.
“Work with nature”
For Maglana, the perennial problem of floods here will not be addressed by constructing infrastructure trying to control the rivers.
She said one of the things that she finds problematic about the current approach in the hopes of finding a solution to the flooding problem is the mindset of the people to control nature, instead of living in harmony with it.
She said the city has several water systems but those rivers are not the culprits in the problem of flooding that has worsened over the years.
Maglana said rivers are not the enemies of the locals as those are part of the ecosystem. The problem, she stressed, lies in how people treat them.
“We treat our water systems as if we can just dump garbage at any time we want and dispose chemicals there at any time,” she said.
Maria Victoria “Mags” Maglana, the lone woman among four candidates for Representative of the 1st district, a post held by reelectionist Paolo Duterte, discusses her agenda in the Archdiocesan Political Education Committee’s face to face forum on Tuesday, 26 April 2022. MindaNews photo by CAROLYN O. ARGUILLAS
She said the government constructed dikes along the rivers here as a flood control measure but these were destroyed by the rivers.
She said development planning must take into consideration the rivers.
“My proposal is different. Let’s not think about controlling the waters. Let’s try to live with the water systems of Davao because nature always finds a way. We have dikes actually built along the Bankerohan, but they always got destroyed by the flow of the rivers as the nature always finds its own way,” she said.
Instead of building structures along the river, Maglana proposed that the more sustainable solution is to work with nature.
“We should live with it in terms of harnessing it and not thinking of controlling it as if we have power over it. That’s the mindset of people that’s quite problematic when it comes to discussion about development. You do not subdue nature, you work with nature. That’s the sustainable way,” she said.
A man wades through the floodwaters near Bankerohan Market area in Davao City on Wednesday, November 10, 2021. The nearby Davao River rose beyond critical level, flooding the communities along its bank. MindaNews Photo
She said flooding has become a major problem in the city, but efforts to address it by national and local governments fail to address it.
“There efforts being undertaken by local and national governments but what we should ask is if our understanding of the problem is right because even though we have these projects, the problem of flooding keeps on coming back and it has become even more frequent, affecting more people,” she said.
She said the feasibility study of the local government conducted with the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) could be an “important reference” to drafting comprehensive solutions to the problem of flooding. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
