THIRD District Councilor Alberto Ungab has proposed the creation of an inter-agency flood control task force to address the city’s worsening flooding issues.
Ungab, who chairs the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, said the city is currently experiencing a "totally different" flooding compared to how it faced five years ago. He explained that floods now affect even far-flung barangays such as Carmen and Wines areas that rarely experienced flooding ten years ago.
Davao City flooding explained
Efforts to pinpoint the cause of widespread flooding point to key factors:
Clogged or insufficient drainage systems. Many areas lack proper storm drains, and existing ones are often blocked by debris and garbage.
Fragmented and reactive flood control efforts. While the city has implemented 62 flood mitigation and drainage projects since 2022, gaps in coordination and planning persist.
Erosion and structural strain. In Matina Gravahan, logs — some buried underground from the area's logging past — surfaced during erosion episodes, striking and damaging sections of a flood dike. Despite the dike being mostly intact, this highlights the threat that such incidents pose.
Body eyed to address flooding
Ungab shared that he had suggested during one of the council sessions the formation of an inter-agency task force specifically to address flooding in the city.
A similar task force was initially created in 2016, and there were three meetings held with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
However, after those meetings, no further updates were made.
“We suggested that the city will initiate the inter-agency flood control task so that we will not be pointing fingers with each other every time,” he said during the Pulong Pulong sa Dabawenyos, on Tuesday, September 6, 2025, at the Sanguniang Panlungsod.
Reducing city flooding
The councilor pointed out that in the case of the Davao River — which originates in San Fernando, Bukidnon, if flood control systems were put in place at the source, flooding could be reduced.
Otherwise, the river overflows and carries the water downstream into Davao City.
The same applies to the Talomo River, whose tributaries come from North Cotabato.
“Davao City does not have control over the waterways, we have control over the exit, but on the entrance, there are a lot of tributaries coming from other provinces,” Ungab said, stressing the need for a task force to address the specific causes of flooding in the city.
He said that he just proposed this last week during the council session and that the proposal is still in its planning stage.
Damaged dike in Matina Gravahan
Regarding concerns about the damaged flood dike along Matina Gravahan, Ungab explained that it was caused by whole logs.
He said that since Davao City was a former logging area, there are still whole logs buried underground. When erosion occurs, these logs are unearthed and swept into the river.
“And if it hits a dike, then imagine the force of water with a whole log going to the dike, it’s possible. As long as it is only a portion, hindi lahat nasira, because there would be problems if all of the dike is destroyed,” he said.
Ungab emphasized that it is normal for parts of the dike to sustain damage and that the DPWH should find ways to repair these specific sections. He added that if the dike had been substandard, a single impact would have caused a total failure.
Identified flood-prone areas in Davao City
To recall, the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) has identified 265 flood-prone areas in Davao City, most of them in District 1.
Of the total, 140 sites are in District 1, 69 in District 2, and 56 in District 3, based on data from the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO).
The bigger picture
Beyond the main streets, Davao City flood challenges are part of a broader pattern of climate-induced weather disturbances.
For instance, nature-based solutions are gaining traction. The environmental group Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (Idis) Inc. encourages restoring wetlands — most of which, about 95%, have been lost since 1945 — to serve as natural buffers against floods.
On the national scene, events like the 2025 Philippine monsoon floods, exacerbated by storms such as Wipha (Crising), highlighted issues of fragmented planning and underscored the need for robust flood control systems.
On August 19, 2025, many residents were left stranded in the downtown area. To ease the situation, the local government deployed vehicles to ferry stranded commuters home. RGP