This is what happens when flood control is taken seriously

While many cities struggle with incomplete and ghost projects, what comes knocking on the door of the residents are broken promises. Pasig, though, is not like the others as it caught the attention of the world in the Mayors Challenge, where local but innovative solutions are put on a global scale.

Actually getting work done
Trust is hard to earn, but Mayor Vico Sotto makes it look so easy.

Following the world’s rising population by 1.4 million people each week, Bloomberg Philanthropies spurred the Mayors Challenge, where municipalities compete to develop local government innovation that will improve lives in cities worldwide.

Out of 50 finalists in the Mayors Challenge, Pasig City made the cut, winning a $1 million grant. And in a country often starved of good governance, this win was proof that progress in the Philippines is still possible.

Pasig’s winning proposal, though, focused on a problem most Filipinos know all too well: flood control.

The only exception
For Pasig’s entry, the local government co-designed with Pasigueños floating parks in flood-prone waterways, aiming to: reduce overflow, add green space, and strengthen community ties

Revealed in September 2025, the prototype of a floating park was built on the city’s historical river. The structure exhibited how it could hold necessary services such as libraries and health clinics, while also serving as gardens, playgrounds, pocket parks, or flexible community spaces – all while keeping the city dry.

But like any other city, Pasig has borne heavy rains and high water levels, with countless residents forced to face life-threatening floods.

For instance, a monsoon in 2025 alone highlighted how floods are already a way of life for many, with how:

• 14,249 individuals sought evacuation centers
• 57 areas were flooded, some reaching gutter-deep.

However, with a population of 853,050, Sotto plans to make the Pasigueños the driving force behind the solution: building these floating parks. After all, he said that they will help in “designing, building, and managing or operating these parks – and not just be mere visitors.”

Amidst anomalous flood control projects, Pasig seems to be the only exception. But why?

Doing flood control right
The Philippines is the world’s most disaster-prone country, yet P42.3-111.8 billion have been washed away from flood control corruption.

In fact, the very 2025 national budget that funded irregular flood control projects was filled with P100 billion insertions, with “almost all” senators in the 19th Congress taking part.

That is why Sotto’s honest governance in Pasig resonates, so much so that people keep asking if he’ll run for any national positions.

But still, the numbers on 2025 floods and storms reveal how much work still lies ahead and how Sotto, while planning not to run, can instead inspire other cities to follow suit:

• 30 million people affected
• 3 million people displaced
• 1 million damaged houses
• 100k people displaced in Mindanao

Clearly, rain falls on everyone, but the most vulnerable are the ones who drown as a result of poor execution.

But while the substandard flood control projects are a big contributor to the problem, it is not the sole cause. Urbanization itself in the country reduces green spaces and wet lands that could have controlled the flood itself. The Philippines is reliant too on single-use plastics such as sachets and bottles which clog drains and stop the flood from exiting.

These problems, though, are roots that were addressed in Pasig’s floating parks as its unused waterways turned into green spaces that absorb water, involve residents in maintaining them, and reduce floods.

These floating parks showed that massive concrete projects aren’t always needed to form solutions.

Don’t settle for less
Pasig shines as proof that leadership rooted in honesty is what works, reminding the country of what governance should look like.

With Sotto serving his third and final consecutive term as Pasig City mayor, it should not be a drive to push him to run for any post. Instead, his legacy should serve as a standard where residents would not have to settle for the bare minimum.

At the end of the day, when governance is honest, progress is not a dream for its citizens.