Remarks by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Following the Situation Briefing at the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Command Center

Good afternoon everyone. We are here in the MMDA. Kakatapos lang ng briefing on the effects of the monsoon na nakikita natin kung ano ‘yung naging epekto lalong-lalo na dito sa Metro Manila, sa National Capital Region.

At sa ating nakuhang briefing ay nakita natin may mga lugar na talaga namang tinamaan pa rin ng baha pero mas bawas na. Kung dati ay two storeys ang baha, ngayon siguro hanggang tuhod na lang. ‘Yung iba hindi na nabaha.

At ang isa pang bagay diyan ay mas mabilis na ang paglabas ng tubig. At kung dati maghihintay ang tao ng dalawa, tatlong araw bago mawala ‘yung baha, ngayon wala pang isang araw ay wala na.

At sa loob ng limang oras, 201 millimeters. Ito ay katumbas ng 44% na—ito bumagsak ito, bumagsak itong tubig ito in five hours. This is 44% of the water — the rain that fell during Ondoy, Typhoon Ondoy, over a period of 24 hours. So, one half of the water volume that fell for 24 hours in Typhoon Ondoy, this time, within five hours, 44% of that.

So it was 201 millimeters that fell in five hours. And that is… ‘Yan ang ating ngayon na hinaharap dahil nga sa climate change dahil ‘yung Ondoy was special, was unusual. Now this is a little bit — becoming a little bit like the new normal.

Nakita natin na maganda naman ang naging epekto. Patuloy ‘yung ating dredging, ‘yung ating mga ininspeksiyon, ‘yung pinalaki natin na mga drainage systems, naglagay tayo ng malalaking tubo. Kung maalala ninyo mayroon tayong mga pinuntahan na pinalitan ‘yung mga… After World War II pa ‘yung mga drainage na ginawa ay pinalitan natin ‘yung maliliit na concrete na tubo at pinalitan na natin na mas malaki na tubo para mas mabilis ang paglabas ng — ang pagdaloy ng tubig.

Pati na ‘yung mga pumping stations natin. We have 73 pumping stations that are — all of them are functioning now. Marami doon ay hindi pa nakapag-function — ni minsan hindi pa gumana ‘yun, ‘yung mga iba diyan, ngayon napapaandar na natin lahat.

At patuloy pa rin ang ating dredging, patuloy pa rin ang ating pagbomba, ang pumping station, mayroon pa tayo ‘yung mobile na pumping equipment. We have 11 of those, I believe, that we are also using.

Ang tinamaan dito ay 4,700 barangays, 1.7 million families. We have unfortunately already 27 casualties and 17 who are injured.

So, you can see that the effects of the monsoon has been widespread and severe in terms of its effect.

And so, moving forward, what we are looking at is mayroon tayong na-identify, mayroon tumulong sa atin na galing Netherlands na tinuruan tayo at pinag-aralan kung saan, paano pa, ano pa ‘yung mga ibang puwede natin gawin.

And those are — na maglalagay, maghuhukay tayo sa ilalim ng mga existing facilities. Halimbawa, ‘yung mga football fields, ‘yung mga open fields, kahit na may building puwede namang hukayin ‘yun. And they have already identified 30 sites, some of which are in Rajah Sulayman, Rizal Memorial, Camp Aguinaldo, para sa ilalim lahat ito. Huhukayin ito tapos ire-restore naman kung ano ‘yung nandoon dati — sa Camp Aguinaldo, sa UST.

At ang natapos na, kaya’t mayroon na tayong 30 na sites na puwede nating gamitin para dito sa mga cistern at hinihintay na lang natin ‘yung detailed engineering, which will be finished… When?

[Official: Hopefully within the month, Mr. President.]

Within this month, matatapos na ‘yung detailed engineering. ‘Pag natapos na ‘yung detailed engineering, titingnan namin, ipa-prioritize na namin, sisimulan na namin ang paghukay.

We are already, at present time, conferring and speaking to the areas, kung sinuman ang namamahala doon sa mga area na ‘yun na pumayag sila para hukayin nga ‘yung kanilang lugar.

And, we are also looking at the continuing upgrading, for example, of the seawalls, of all the other detailed management of the floodwaters. That is what we are trying to do. And not only in the initial briefing, doon sa mga huhukayin natin, na lalagyan nga natin ng, kung saan natin iipunin ‘yung tubig.

At sabi ko pag-aralan natin na imbes na itapon ‘yung tubig sa dagat ay sana makahanap tayo ng sistema. Gagawa tayo ng sistema para kung anuman ‘yung nakolekta na tubig ay magamit din. Magamit for household use, magamit for industrial purposes, magamit for irrigation, whatever uses that we can find for it. Para hindi naman masayang dahil nakakapanghinayang makita natin nakapagkolekta tayo nang napakarami na tubig na freshwater, eh tatapon lang natin sa dagat, at kailangan na kailangan natin ‘yan.

There is an interesting statistic here that the 201.7 millimeters na bumagsak na tubig na ulan ay katumbas ng halos 50,000 na Olympic-size na swimming pool. Kaya’t you can just — para to be able to conceive or to be able to have an image for yourselves kung gaano karami ‘yan, it is 50,000… The equivalent of 50,000 – 50-meter swimming pools that — ‘yung nakikita natin sa Rizal Memorial at sa mga ibang lugar. Fifty thousand of those size pools, the water that is contained in that was what fell in the past few days.

So, these are the things that we are doing. We will continue to dredge. Hindi naman titigil ‘yan.

Some of the pumping stations have stopped operating because there is no more water to pump out. But, of course, they will stay on station at pagka tumuloy pa ‘yung ulan, then we will continue to do what we had started to do this time.

So, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. But with the effects that we have seen, because after all, if we look at the beginnings of the water management that we have done… This is the effect of the work of the last six, seven months na nakita natin, nakabawas kaagad.

Kaya’t ipapagpatuloy natin ito. And to make sure that we have solutions for the very short term, we have solutions for the medium term, and eventually we will have solutions for the longer term.

All right? Thank you.

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