WALLS THAT FAILED: How the P1.9B Mananga River project backfired Talisay City

When Typhoon Tino made its landfall, the Mananga River rose quickly. It flooded homes immediately. Due to the river’s inability to contain the floodwaters, a few hours of rain already covered the Talisay City with deep and muddy waters.

This Mananga River Flood Control Project, with 16 segments, costing 1.9 billion pesos, was originally built to stop flooding like this. Seven residents were reportedly drowned, hundreds fled to roofs for safety, and a few even resorted to hiding in drainage passages. Ironically, what was made to solve problems caused more rather than solving the already existing ones.

From clean source to polluted stream

Before constructions, the Mananga River was actually one of Cebu’s main hopes for clean water. This then earned the title as one of the region’s few Class A rivers in 1997, meaning it is suitable for drinking purposes if treated and filtered properly. From this point onwards, the river has helped livelihoods and irrigated farms efficiently within the parts of Talisay.

However, from 2016 to 2019, the city recorded alarming levels of pollution within the river, officially ending its purpose as a life-sustaining river, as it has been marked unsafe for human, animal, and even plant use.

To deal with the river’s waste problem, Talisay City has enacted the Ordinance 2007-03 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 into a local policy named Comprehensive Waste Management System of the City of Talisay, requiring all households to segregate garbage and each barangay to operate the Materials Recovery Facilities.

This intervention, however, did not help much as the Talisay City Ecological Solid Waste Management Office reported in 2019 that almost 34 metric tons were removed from just a short stretch of the river during a clean-up drive.

Institutional response to environmental problems

As the river’s health continues to decline due to severe pollution, government officials presented the Mananga River Flood Control Project as a solution. The officials reasoned that, as floods could not be stopped by cleanup drives and waste segregation, concrete walls may hold back the water.

The Mananga River project was then designed as the center of Cebu’s flood control program. Between 2022 and 2025, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has commissioned 16 segments of embankments and revetment walls across the river’s upstream and downstream stretches.

All contracts totalled P1.9 billion, which was all granted to QM Builders and Quirante Construction Corporation — two sister companies run by the same family. These firms were also identified as among the top 15 contractors nationwide that received multi-million-peso projects in relation to flood control. In just Cebu alone, 40% of the flood-control projects, which amounted to P9.4 billion in public funds, were constructed under Quirante Construction Corporation.

This flood control project belongs to a broader pattern of public spending in the city. Within just three years, starting last 2022 until this year, Cebu has already recorded 414 flood-control projects totalling to P26.6 billion, making it the second highest in the country with the most flood-control projects and funds.

Walls that worsened the waters

These structures were meant to hold the river’s surge and protect surrounding barangays during calamities. Yet when Typhoon Tino arrived, the water even rose faster compared to before. It was then found out that the concrete walls rebounded toward residential areas.

During a site inspection at Sitio Isla Verde, Brgy. San Isidro, Talisay City, on November 6, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said the constructed revetment walls failed to stop the floodwaters, washing the communities instead. The secretary suggested that a dam system in the upland areas along the Mananga River should have been built instead to control the strong water flow during typhoons.

“The most important flood control was never done… For downstream communities along major river systems, the key solution is upstream. We should have built dams. That was not done… Obviously, the plan was not executed,” Dizon said.

He then suggested allocating funds in the next national budget for the creation of a new master plan for flood control all over Cebu.

Contracts, costs, questions

According to CDN Digital’s data analysis named “Sumbong sa Pangulo,” the Mananga River project was allotted out into 16 separate contracts, all issued within just three years. Each contract described almost identical scopes of work, such as construction of flood-mitigation structures, revetment walls, and riprap protection along adjacent stretches of the river.

Based on other data from the DPWH Region VII procurement summaries and allotment releases, the segmentation appears rushed. Some of the contracts were valued only at slightly below the P120 million ceiling that requires stricter competitive bidding and third-party review.

Moreover, SunStar Cebu reported that residents noticed that some walls were built too close to the river’s center, squeezing the channel by up to two meters in certain sections. Technical notes from the 2024 post-construction assessment, which was forwarded to local councils but never released publicly, acknowledged that there were “minor deviations in alignment,” though no corrective action was taken. However, reports that residents were fined for staying quiet about the issue have been circulating in the city.

Cebu’s flood-control efforts were supposed to reflect resilience and preparedness, yet they also reflect a recurring governance pattern. Pollution first reduced the river’s capacity to deliver clean water efficiently. But instead of addressing the waste buildup that caused this through sustained environmental management, the government pushed infrastructure-heavy solutions that cost billions instead.

Infrastructure had then become a substitute for effective environmental planning. What began as an ecological problem evolved into an engineering one — and later, into a financial concern when questions about funding and contract distribution emerged.

Non-existing accountability

The Manange River is more than just a waterway; it has become a record of decisions made over time. From its decline due to unmanaged waste buildup to its transformation into a billion-peso infrastructure, each decision mirrors how governance shapes environmental outcomes by either lifting up the residents’ burdens or further worsening them.

The typhoon not only exposed the strength of natural forces but also revealed how human systems fail when accountability weakens. Projects built to control the river may have instead changed its course, turning what was once a protection into a source of risk.