Authorities apparently remained clueless as how to solve the lingering flood in many parts of eastern Metro Manila and the communities surrounding Laguna de Bay, which is threatening to erupt into a full-blown humanitarian crisis due to the worsening garbage, sanitation, and health conditions in the affected areas.

One ranking official even suggested that Filipinos learn to accept floods as a part of life, but no one has offered any concrete solution about the stagnant flooding.

Malacañang Monday simply pushed for a review of urban planning and development programs and incorporate disaster risk reduction measures for the protection of the communities.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Anthony Golez said local executives should take remedial steps to improve their respective urban development blueprint and even consider issuing ordinances that would help reduce loss of lives and properties in case of another natural disaster.

For local executives in the provinces, Golez also encouraged them to strictly implement safe practices in mining and logging operations to curb the further denudation of the country’s forests that often lead to floods.

“The most important thing is to do remedial measures on how to effectively discharge or effectively implement the supposedly urban planning and development of every locality,” Golez said in a news conference in the Palace.

“One very important ingredient in coming out with urban planning and development would be putting into consideration disaster risk reduction measures. Meaning to say, policies, ordinances, must always be put into account disaster risk reduction measures,” he added.

Asked if the government will review the policy on mining and logging operations following the destruction left by storms Ondoy and Pepeng in Luzon, Golez said: “Any decision of any government official that must be implemented should have a shadow of the disaster risk reduction.”

The Department of Public Works and Highways, for its part, proposed a review of land use and zoning laws to stop informal settlers from clogging and rendering ineffective flood mitigation projects in Metro Manila.

“We must have a serious review of the zoning laws and ordinances. We have to prevent informal settlers from clogging and defeating the purpose of constructing multi-billion dams, mega-dikes, spillways and floodways,” Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said.

Patrick Gatan, DPWH Major Flood Control and Drainage project director, said a review of the factors that cause floods is needed although he said the amount of rainfall during Ondoy was higher than that of Hurricane Katrina which ravaged New Orleans in 2005.

“Our system of mega-dikes and other flood mitigation projects in Metro Manila just couldn’t hold the high volume of water that Ondoy brought to us. Although we have made plans for more flood mitigation projects ahead of time, funding problems have stalled their immediate implementation,” he said.

Based on a report by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), “flooding is becoming a more serious problem in Metro Manila and other flood-prone areas because of the rapid urban expansion, inadequate river channel capacities, and insufficient equipment for maintenance for existing drainage facilities, which have been continuously clogged by squatting and garbage dumping.”

Ebdane said Filipinos should consider changing lifestyles by adapting the ways of those who have learned to live with floods.

“People in low-lying areas can follow the residents of Candaba. Laging binabaha pero hindi nagrereklamo dahil ‘yung first floor nila protected ng walls at ang mga gamit nila piled up sa second floor,” Ebdane declared.

The DPWH said it is reeling from the non-implementation of the P4.2 billion Pasig-Marikina River Improvement Project, which it said could have lessened the overflow of Pasig River and saved many lives. It was scheduled to start construction in 2007 but funding lack hampers its implementation.

Senator Francis Escudero, for his part, focused on the threat of a possible earthquake and urged the government to revisit preparedness plans for Metro Manila, particularly in areas traversed by the (West) Valley fault (formerly called Marikina fault) line.

“Even as we try to cope with the devastation caused by Ondoy, let us not make the fatal mistake of forgetting that dire warnings have been made regarding a possible big quake in Metro Manila,” he said.

Escudero issued the call a day after at least 1,100 people were killed by two successive earthquakes in South Sumatra, in Indonesia on Wednesday and Thursday.

According to a report on a 2002 study funded by the Japanese government, if a 7-to 9- magnitude quake triggered by the West Valley fault line hits Metro Manila today, it could be “unlike any tragedy seen or imagined in Metro Manila.”

Escudero said the Metropolitan Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study includes 100 actions plans that would mitigate the impact on areas expected to suffer most from the projected quake.