(Editor’s note: After 60 years,  floods in Metro Manila have no known solution, as noted by the author.)

MANILA, Philippines — To a promdi who heard about two or three department stores at Escolta (Berg’s was one of them), the attraction was too great to resist. Escolta and Rizal Ave. stores in the 1950s were full of students shopping for a polo shirt (R1.95), nylon socks (R0.99 a pair), pants (R7 to R9 each), fountain pen (R2 to R5 each), etc., for a bargain of less than R10 for three to five items.

Flood on Escolta

But it bothered promdis no end to see that at least 50 meters of Escolta was flooded with sea water from the Pasig.  And if one stood at Jones Bridge (named after the principal author of the Jones Law of 1916), he would see both banks of the river feeding water to Escolta and the back of the Post Office building.

Getting wet at USIS library

I entered the USIS library on Escolta at 9 a.m. and at 11 a.m. water was about two inches deep on the sidewalk which I tried to avoid by walking slowly on my heels. My new pair of shoes (Edwardson) cost me R17 at the never-ending “bargain sale” which hawkers advertised with a few lies without blinking.

Abandoned by commerce

I’m speaking about a period beginning in 1951 or some 60 years ago. Escolta now represents the ghost of a past era, abandoned by commerce, banks, and Cadillacs. Still there’s flooding at Escolta but deeper now by 10 to 15 inches in June,  2011.

It all goes to show that national/local government has not lifted a finger to plug the holes by the Pasig or build strong embankment to hold back or control the waters of the sea or river fed by descending water/tributaries from big towns/cities of Rizal province.

Nick Joaquin’s rod & reel

According to Nick Joaquin, long before WW II, schoolboys of his age were seen fishing and diving into the Pasig near Guadalupe, Makati. The water was clean and teeming with various species of fish in the river or from the abundance of Laguna de Bay. (From Manila, Manila by Nick Joaquin).

In tributaries with waist-deep water or made deeper by torrential rain a boy needed only a bamboo stick (with a small hook and hilo beinte) to make a rod and reel to catch plenty of fish in less than an hour.

Not from drowning

Below the same bank where Joaquin cast his rough bamboo rod, any boy now can die, not from drowning, but from the black polluted water, fed by all kinds of waste from homes, factories, and squatter shanties by the tens of thousands from Laguna de Bay to the Pasig’s mouth near North Harbor.

Wanted: Vicinity map

Any old map of Metro Manila and its vicinity, if still available on file, would show a network of natural waterways from Marikina, Pasig, and Cainta to the Spanish pueblos of Binondo, Sta. Cruz, Quiapo, Paco, Sta. Ana, etc.

In the last 60 years or more, hundreds of natural waterways (creeks, esteros, tributaries) became dumpsites or reclaimed “real estate” with or without the knowledge or consent of LGU engineering offices. Most veteran observers tend to believe that reclaimed waterways were bargained away by LGU officials in favor of traders/merchants like the owners of hardwares and lumber yards.

Floods in early ‘40s

According to old boys in their late ‘70s, there was no widespread flooding in Metro Manila for years before Independence ’46, and inundation was characterized by the following:  1)  floods were not deep enough, 2) heavy rainfall disappeared fast, 3) flood water was not deep brown/black in color, 4) no water hyacinth/lily on the Pasig, and 5) waterways had no stinking or foul smell.

Playing in floodwater

My elder sister Josie (now 92) studied pharmacy at UP Padre Faura. She can still recall that college girls/boys in the late ‘30s waded in flood waters from Taft to Dewey Boulevard and back to their dorms.

But today’s monsoon flood could prove fatal to any person with a small open wound if exposed to rat urine. (Comments are welcome at roming@pefianco.com).