Mont Property Group general manager Marie Camille Bondad stated that Monterrazas de Cebu’s detention ponds recorded zero discharge during heavy rainfall on July 30, 2026.
Resident William Medici shared a video on Facebook on Sept. 22 showing flooding in Guadalupe Heights reaching as high as seven feet, prompting an inspection by the Office of the City Engineer.
Monterrazas officials identified a remaining 400- to 450-millimeter drainage section along Guadalajara St. as a possible bottleneck and called for a citywide review of surrounding hillside developments.
FOLLOWING heavy downpours that flooded nearby streets, real estate developer Monterrazas de Cebu reported zero discharge from its detention ponds during the rainstorm on July 30, 2026. The company is now calling for a citywide review of hillside developments and has expressed openness to a third-party inspection of its stormwater management system.
While the reported zero discharge indicates that the developer's storage ponds held back rainwater, it does not independently establish where the floodwaters came from or whether other drainage systems contributed to the flooding.
During a site briefing on Tuesday, Sept. 22, Mont Property Group general manager Marie Camille Bondad explained how the company monitors its drainage facilities.
“When we have a heavy —when it rains, we do post-rainfall inspections,” Bondad said.
She noted that the project's site team checks the detention ponds right after rainfall, while closed-circuit television cameras monitor the facilities continuously. Rainfall monitoring reports are also submitted to government agencies following significant rain events.
According to Bondad, water levels inside the detention ponds remained low during the July 30 downpour, staying about a meter from the bottom of the basins. She stated that no water spilled or discharged from the catchment system into lower areas during the event.
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Despite the zero-discharge reading at the hillside property, nearby communities experienced severe flooding on the same day. Portions of Guadalajara St. and Guadalupe Heights saw significant water accumulation.
William Medici, a resident of Guadalupe Heights, shared a video on Facebook on Sept. 22 displaying the extent of the flooding in his subdivision. Medici stated that floodwaters in the area have previously reached as high as seven feet. He has requested support from City Hall, prompting the Office of the City Engineer to inspect the neighborhood and evaluate potential solutions.
Bondad explained that if the detention ponds had overflowed, nearby residents would have been among the first to see the surge. Instead, she pointed to a remaining 400- to 450-millimeter drainage section along Guadalajara St. as a possible bottleneck.
Monterrazas previously expanded one portion of the drainage system from 450 millimeters to 1.5 meters, but the adjacent section remains narrow. However, the claim that this remaining pipe acts as the primary drainage bottleneck has not been independently established.
Mont Property Group construction head Ranel Pelpinosas, also attributed the flooding along Guadalajara St. and Guadalupe Heights to a combination of surrounding catchment areas and the drainage bottleneck.
Bondad emphasized that Monterrazas is only one development within a broader watershed consisting of multiple catchment areas. Rainwater runoff from neighboring residential and commercial properties also feeds into the downstream drainage networks.
Across its 118-hectare property within the Kinalumsan and Guadalupe watersheds, Monterrazas operates 24 detention ponds across 14 identified catchment areas. These ponds are built to store runoff temporarily and slow down downhill flow rather than hold endless amounts of water. For Catchment 01—which spans roughly 20 hectares—six detention ponds provide a combined capacity of 27,483 cubic meters, exceeding the developer's cited design requirement of 8,220 cubic meters.
To address long-term solutions, Bondad urged city officials to conduct a broader evaluation of the surrounding drainage infrastructure, including runoff generated by other developments.
She recommended evaluating all local flood-mitigation setups against uniform standards, highlighting Cebu City’s ongoing inspection of 65 developments. Bondad added that Monterrazas is ready to provide full access to its technical data and facilities for an independent, third-party assessment.
Ultimately, detailed evaluations from the City Engineering Office alongside independent technical reviews will be required to determine whether the flooding stems from downstream drainage limitations, runoff from adjacent developments, or a mix of contributing factors.