The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has completed a draft National Flood Management Framework aimed at setting a unified, long-term policy direction for reducing flood risks nationwide.
The framework shifts flood management away from a purely disaster-response approach and places it within overall water resources and development planning. It follows an integrated water resources management approach, linking flood control with irrigation, water supply, hydropower, food security, environmental protection, and local development.
Environment Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said the framework is meant to align the work of agencies involved in water, land use, and infrastructure, particularly the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), which handle most major flood-control projects. The policy guidance aims to ensure that investments in flood control also support water storage, irrigation, and potable water supply.
The framework is built on four principles: protecting and restoring watersheds and ecosystems to address flooding at its source; capturing and storing stormwater for productive use; combining green infrastructure such as wetlands and mangroves with traditional flood-control structures in urban areas; and strengthening land-use planning to avoid development in high-risk flood zones.
The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development said the framework should guide all flood master plans to ensure consistency across national and local governments. DPWH has also formed an advisory group of flood control experts, including DENR Undersecretary Carlos Primo David and University of the Philippines professors Mahar Lagmay and Guillermo Tabios III, and will require DENR concurrence for future flood projects.
The draft framework is now being circulated among key agencies and local governments for review, with the goal of establishing a unified national approach to flood risk reduction and sustainable water management before coordinated programs are rolled out.
