To-do list

I spent the past few days researching on the steps authorities can take to significantly reduce flooding in Metro Manila and beyond.

It’s not going to be easy and it would require a whole-of-nation approach but we must take the necessary steps so that when the next great flood comes, we are better prepared than we ever were.

The first would be a major clean-up of our creeks and waterways, ridding these passages of garbage, filth and what-have you. One doesn’t need to go around Metro Manila to see that many parts of the metropolis are teeming with all sorts of things. There’s a hodgepodge of everything that’s not supposed to be there. These, in effect, clog our canals, rivers, creeks and waterways.

Citizens must do their part in keeping our cities clean and livable. Sometimes, I would see motorists just throwing thrash out of their car windows. Is it that difficult to throw their waste in the trash can when they get home or wherever they’re heading?

But that’s just a small part of the problem. It’s really the lack of discipline on the part of Filipinos to manage waste but we must do it so that we can keep our surroundings, our communities, our cities and not just our homes livable.

An engineer reader, Alex Serrano, also shared with me his proposed flood-control measures.

These include an underground drainage tunnel. Serrano also suggested specific areas where the structures can be put up.

Since boring equipment and technology are now available in our country, I hope that the MMDA in coordination with JICA will consider the feasibility of constructing underground concrete drainage structures in support of our metro-wide flood control program along the major roads of Metro Manila going toward Manila Bay as follows:

• Along Dr. A Santos Ave. exiting at the Las Piñas Parañaque Wetlands Park;

• All over the NAIA Compound directed toward Tripa de Galina then toward Manila Bay;

• Along EDSA branching out to Libertad Channel in the north and the Redemptorist Channel in the south then toward Manila Bay;

• Along Buendia Ave. toward Manila Bay;

• Along Quirino Ave. toward Manila Bay;

• Taft Ave. to Kalaw Ave. then toward Manila Bay;

• Taft Ave. to P. Burgos Ave. then toward