Of all the flood-prone areas in Metro Manila, the coastal city of Navotas has been seemingly spared from the impact or wrath of typhoon "Ondoy" which caused heavy damages in terms of lives and properties in Metro Manila, notably Marikina City and several parts of Rizal province.

"We are just lucky, at malakas lang ang aming panalangin," Mayor Toby Tiangco said, when asked why Navotas was not gravely affected by "Ondoy."

Tiangco, who is now on his third and final term as mayor, said "we just do our part by minimizing flooding through the pumping stations we built in almost all barangays."

He said all pumping stations function well for 36 hours during the height of typhoon "Ondoy."

"Gumana lahat ang pumping stations sa loob ng 36 oras, walang nag breakdown, kaya wala kaming evacuees," Tiangco said.

He even thought of announcing the opening of classes at the elementary and high school today,  Thursday, ahead of the schedule set by the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education, saying that almost all areas are passable.

In the past, Navotas, used to be one of the flood-prone areas, but the problem is slowly becoming a thing of the past since the pumping stations were installed in 2002.

In past years, when we were heavily hit by floods, the water subsided within 30 minutes but now it's gone in 10 minutes, Tiangco said.

"I cannot assure that Navotas would be totally flood-free, we can only say that we are doing our best to minimize flooding,” the mayor said, adding "our target is zero-flooding.”

Tiangco also cited the proper disposal of garbage, and the clean-up of all drainage and canals as factors to the free flow of water.

We see to it that esteros are cleared because even if we have the pumping stations floods will come unless they are all cleared, the mayor said.

Engr. Virgilio Cruz, assistant city engineer said, "we don't rely on the Mega flood Control Project in order to mitigate the flooding."

Cruz, said the city government has 24 bombastic pumping stations in Bangkulasi, Sipac-Almacen, Vadeo Dos, Kahunari, Daang-Hari, Babansi, Yangco, Phase-2 Area 1, Mamale, Maliputo, Bagumbayan, Tagahanan, two units at San Rafael and six at Tanza.

They two other units are also being eyed in Barangay Tanza, he said.