“The Potential Helpfulness of the Pasig River During Calamities”

     The recent typhoon submerged the entire metropolis and rendered most of its roads impassable, useless, and even dangerous. However, there is one particular “road”, designed for bikes and pedestrians, the construction of which, is still ongoing, that withstood the lash of the storm and the volume of rainwater the storm mercilessly poured on unsuspecting cities of the national capital region: It is none other than our beloved Pasig River Esplanade. Though some of the leaves of its plants drooped; in total, it looked like it just had a thorough shower. It looks fresh. One can see the deplorable road conditions from its platforms. The water of the Pasig River turned muddy brown of, course, as is to be expected.

     So what am I trying to say? Imagine the entire length of the Pasig River having esplanades on both banks and going on loops. One can assess from both banks the deplorable conditions of the public roads submerged in flood brought by typhoons of, Nature forbid, diluvial proportions. And people can buy what they need from the shops that would choose to open in the esplanades, which regular shops and malls won't be able to provide because they'd be inaccessible and probably submerged.

     It shows once more that the Pasig River, though presently still in the condition of being biologically dead, is ever our friend in time of need. People who would walk and bike along the banks of the Pasig River through the esplanade can find that all things are still bright and beautiful where everywhere else is a total mess.

     But this picture of a resilient Pasig River won't be realized if its capacity to catch and hold diluvial typhoon waters would be lessened by being laden with obstructions like a thousand humongous concrete stakes supporting an elevated road above that is supposed to ease the apocalyptic traffic elsewhere with this addition. But the solution to apocalyptic traffic is not really additional roads and even road widening. The solution is a system that makes the people less dependent on cars and more on walking, biking, and mass transportation, like the ferry. The Pasig River is not as wide as the city rivers in other countries; and so, an expressway along and over it ain't feasible. Uh-huh. It ain't gonna fly. The expressway itself won't be useful to its limited users during flood. Such gargantuan concrete works are better done in the sea in order to connect islands.

     So, among other things, an elevated road along and over a river is definitely not helpful during typhoons in Metro Manila. It might even become the cause of flood.

by: Marven T. Baldo