FOR several years now, Davao City has experienced serious flooding which saw many barangays and streets soaked even with a few-minute heavy downpours. And this is what worries the Dabawenyos these days with La Niña in the offing.
Those who have stayed in the city for a few decades have observed how developments changed the city's environment.
Several posts on social media have shown areas in Davao City where floods have frequently occurred where they were absent several years past.
Roxas Avenue for example, according to Cesar Jusol, an octogenarian living in Brgy 21-C, had never experienced being ever flooded when he arrived in Davao City around the 1960s.
"Wa may baha sa Davao City sauna, kung magbaha man ugaling kana na gyung naay bagyo o pila ka adlaw ang kusog nga uwan (There were no floods in Davao City before, if there was any, only if there was a typhoon or several days of heavy downpours)," Jusol said.
Among the worst flooding incidents that occurred in the city was the one Jade Valley Subdivision residents had experienced, the most recent of which was in early February this year.
According to Lemuel Manalo, an environmental and urban planner, the reason why the Jade Valley Subdivision becomes flooded every time a continuous downpour occurs is because "Jade Valley was THE river."
Manalo conducted his Master's thesis focusing on urban wetlands and land use change in Davao City. In his Facebook post on February 2, he stated that according to a survey map in 1944, "this meander (river curve) is currently the Jade Valley homes."
"The geophysics of a floodplain is that the river can naturally 'play' along its channel, it can go linear, curve, bend or erode forming other ways and etc, it's unpredictable," he said.
Manalo added that it might be that the Davao River changed its current form sometime in the 60s or 70s, leaving its old channel, which some had dried up and other deep portions become "Oxbow Lakes" or wetlands, forming from the remnants of the river. However, some developers saw this "idle" space as a good venture for residential subdivisions "without risk assessments or even extensive elevation-filling works."
Residents at Jade Valley could not help but evacuate during a flood, and return and clean their muddy houses after every flood.
When a resident was asked why they persist in staying in a flooded subdivision, he said: "Kini nga balay was my investment, dili nako dali-dali mabuhian ning balaya kay dili pud sayon makapalit og balay (This house was my investment. It's not easy for me to let go of this house because houses are not cheap).
This same goes with other residents, not just at Jade Valley Subdivision in Buhangin District.
In the case of some barangays in R. Castillo Street in Agdao, Davao City, most residents agreed that floods were seldom and not as severe as how they experienced it now.
They claim that the construction of the mall in Lanang had made the flood worsen and more frequent, even with just a slight downpour.
Manalo, in an exclusive interview with this writer, explained that this is because wetlands and marshlands, which are natural catch basins of rain waters and seawaters during high tide, have been paved, making these waters go directly to canals, creeks and rivers, and even to the drainage system constructed by the governments, both past and present.
Manalo added that not only big infrastructures have contributed to the lessening or even destruction of marshlands and wetlands but also the people who build their dwellings in these areas.
According to him, there has been a 91 percent loss of wetlands and marshlands from 1944 to 2021.
"In fact, land use changes are due to: 51% high-density residential gyud labi na tong nakapuyo sa (especially those living in) Agdao mga (who are) informal settlements, plus mga (the) onsite development; 33% is commercial, (those) warehouse sa (in) Agdao; other 10% is low to medium density, kini tong mga subdivisions nga mga high-end subdivision, mga dagko nga subdivisions pero gamay ra ang mga balay (these are large subdivisions which only have a few houses built)," Manalo said.
He explained that wetlands are uninhabitable, but planning mistakes in the past administrations have made these areas residential zones. This has even been made worse as these were constructed with high-density residential, which left no room for open spaces and backyards.
Meanwhile, Manalo clarified that Davao City has eventually crafted a comprehensive land use plan (Clup) using his and the Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability's (Idis) studies. An ordinance was also eventually passed on land use and zoning, which has now become a basis for granting permits for developments, either for residential, industrial, or commercial. CEA
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