Drowning in Neglect: Architect Felino “Jun” Palafox Exposes the Real Reasons Behind Metro Manila’s Never-Ending Flood Crisis

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Metro Manila doesn’t just flood—it drowns in a deluge of bad decisions.

Every monsoon season, residents of the National Capital Region brace for the inevitable. Streets transform into rivers, homes are swallowed by muddy water, and lives grind to a halt under the weight of calamity. The people have become numb to it, but one man refuses to accept it as normal: Architect Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr., the country’s foremost urban planner, who has been sounding the alarm for decades.

In a city drowning not just in water but in apathy, Palafox’s voice rises like a warning siren—one that, tragically, continues to fall on deaf ears.

The Blueprint of a Disaster

According to Palafox, the recurring floods in Metro Manila are not acts of God but the consequences of man’s ignorance, greed, and failure to plan. “This is not climate change alone—it’s character change, leadership failure, and a loss of foresight,” he says.

Let’s be clear: Metro Manila is not merely waterlogged. It is suffocating beneath the ruins of what should have been a modern, resilient metropolis. Palafox lays out the damning reasons why:

1. Natural Waterways Turned Into Concrete Graves

Once crisscrossed by clean rivers and esteros, Metro Manila has become a graveyard of natural drainage systems. Palafox reveals that countless rivers, creeks, and lakes have been illegally occupied by informal settlers, and, in some cases, by government projects and private developers that paid no respect to the natural flow of water.

"Nature has a memory," Palafox says. "It will always take back what is hers."

2. A City Built on Flawed Foundations

Metro Manila is not just overpopulated—it’s poorly planned. Palafox is blunt: “We built on floodplains, we ignored topography, we allowed buildings where water should’ve flowed.” He laments that many development decisions were made without consulting professional urban planners, or worse, went against their recommendations.

The result? A city designed for failure, where rain doesn’t just fall—it stays, stagnates, and strikes back.

3. Drainage Systems from a Bygone Era

Imagine using a cellphone from the 1970s in today’s hyper-connected world. That’s the kind of logic we’re applying to Metro Manila’s decades-old drainage systems. Designed for a much smaller population and milder rainfall, the city’s outdated pipes and canals are no match for the wrath of today’s supercharged monsoons.

Palafox warns: “You can’t solve 21st-century problems with 20th-century infrastructure.”

4. Concrete Over Green: The Death of Absorption

What used to be open parks, trees, and grassy lots are now parking spaces and condominiums. “We have paved over our future,” Palafox laments. Without green spaces to absorb rain, water has only one path—straight into our streets and homes.

Every lost tree, every razed field, is another nail in the coffin of Metro Manila’s flood resilience.

5. Reclamation Projects: Sinking for the Sake of Progress

Palafox has long opposed the aggressive push for reclamation along Manila Bay, calling them “an invitation to disaster.” These projects block tidal flows, disrupt marine ecosystems, and cause flooding to rebound inland with greater force.

“We are creating land for the rich by drowning the poor,” he says with chilling clarity.

6. Choked by Our Own Waste

Floods in Metro Manila are as much a garbage problem as they are a rainfall problem. Clogged esteros, canals, and drainage lines are overflowing not just with water, but with plastic, junk, and untreated waste.

Palafox does not mince words: “We’re drowning in our own garbage—and no one is being held accountable.”

7. Politics Over Planning

Perhaps the most frustrating truth Palafox lays bare is this: the problem is not a lack of plans. The blueprints exist. The solutions are known. But they are ignored, shelved, or replaced every time a new administration takes office.

"We suffer from a fatal discontinuity of governance,” he asserts. “Urban planning is not a political platform—it is a life-saving necessity."

8. Climate Change: The Final, Rising Wave

Though he emphasizes that most of the flooding is preventable, Palafox also acknowledges that climate change is magnifying everything. Stronger typhoons. Heavier rainfall. Unpredictable weather. Metro Manila, already crippled by bad planning, is now facing a monster that knows no boundaries.

“We built a fragile city. Now the planet is testing it,” Palafox warns.

From Warnings to Action: Will We Listen?

Palafox has presented dozens of master plans for Metro Manila and other vulnerable cities. He has proposed flood control parks, urban forests, elevated walkways, and disaster-resilient communities. But most of these plans gather dust in government drawers while floods continue to ravage the nation’s capital.

His final message? “We don’t lack master plans. We lack leadership, integrity, and the courage to do what’s right—even if it’s unpopular.”

As another rainy season looms and Metro Manila holds its breath, one thing remains painfully clear: we’re not just victims of floods—we’re victims of our own failure to prepare.

And if we continue to ignore the wisdom of people like Felino “Jun” Palafox, the next deluge may be the one we can’t recover from.

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