MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Corporation’s massive river-cleanup campaign has removed nearly 9.4 million metric tons of silt, garbage and other obstructions from more than 204 kilometers of waterways since 2020, helping several rivers carry heavy stormwater during recent rains.
But despite the scale of the cleanup, San Miguel chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang is warning that dredging rivers is only one piece of the country’s flood-control puzzle.
The bigger challenge, he says, is making sure floodwater can actually reach those rivers in the first place.
Nearly 9.4 million tons removed
Under its Better Rivers PH program, San Miguel Corporation said it had removed more than 9.387 million metric tons of silt and waste from over 204 kilometers of waterways across Metro Manila, Bulacan and Laguna as of August 18.
The privately funded initiative has involved removing accumulated sediment and garbage, deepening and widening sections of waterways, and carrying out maintenance dredging.
The program has also expanded beyond Luzon, including work on the Butuanon River in Mandaue City, Cebu.
Recent reports indicate that the cleanup has made a measurable difference in several areas during weeks of heavy rain.
San Miguel said no major river-related flooding was recorded along the Tullahan River, waterways in Laguna, areas surrounding Ninoy Aquino International Airport, and the Zapote and Las Piñas rivers, despite sustained rainfall.
However, this did not mean all surrounding communities remained flood-free.
The San Juan River showed the limits of river cleanup
One of the clearest examples came on August 17, when exceptionally heavy rainfall pushed portions of the San Juan River in Quezon City beyond critical levels.
DOST-PAGASA’s Science Garden station recorded 201.7 millimeters of rain in only five hours, including 138.7 millimeters between noon and 2 p.m.
The intensity was enough to overwhelm parts of the river system, with overflow reported near Barangays Tatalon and Talayan.
Farther downstream, however, no river overflow was observed in San Juan City and Mandaluyong, where San Miguel’s maintenance dredging was nearing completion.
San Miguel said it has removed more than 442,700 metric tons of silt and waste from the San Juan River since 2022.
The Tullahan River has also undergone extensive cleanup, with more than 1.3 million metric tons of silt and waste removed, including material cleared through continuing maintenance work.
Why some areas still flooded
This is where Ang’s warning becomes important.
Flooding does not always begin with a river overflowing its banks.
Localized flooding can happen much earlier—when rainfall overwhelms drainage systems, when canals and creeks cannot handle the volume of water, or when garbage blocks the pathways that are supposed to move stormwater toward larger waterways.
In Quezon City, for example, flooding was still reported around G. Araneta Avenue even as rainfall eased and waters eventually receded.
Other flood-mitigation measures were also cited, including improvements at the Matalahib Creek Pumping Station, new drainage pipes installed by the Department of Public Works and Highways, and stormwater detention basins constructed by the Quezon City government.
San Miguel teams also reported seeing significant amounts of garbage after floodwaters receded.
That highlights a persistent problem: even a dredged and widened river cannot perform at full capacity if water cannot reach it because smaller drains, canals and creeks are clogged.
Ang: The entire flood-control system has to work
Ang stressed that cleaning major waterways is important, but it cannot be treated as a stand-alone solution.
The system has to work from the smallest drainage channels to pumping stations, creeks, flood-control infrastructure and finally the major rivers carrying water toward the sea.
The message is significant because the recent flooding demonstrated the difference between river capacity and drainage capacity.
A river may have enough room to carry stormwater, but if neighborhood drainage systems are blocked or undersized, water can accumulate in communities before it ever reaches the river.
A broader flood-control effort
San Miguel’s Better Rivers PH program has been aligned with the government’s broader Oplan Kontra Baha initiative, which involves the Department of Public Works and Highways, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, national agencies, local governments and private-sector participants.
The company’s earlier cleanup projects have included major waterways such as the Pampanga, Tullahan, Pasig and San Juan river systems.
In Pampanga, San Miguel previously completed a major cleanup that removed nearly 700,000 tons of silt and debris along 26.3 kilometers of the Pampanga River. The company said the project was undertaken without cost to the government or taxpayers.
The program’s scale has continued to grow. BusinessMirror reported in April that SMC had already crossed 9.12 million metric tons of removed waste and silt, showing how rapidly the cleanup total has increased since the program began.
The bigger lesson from the recent rains
The latest figures offer an important distinction in the country’s continuing struggle with flooding.
Cleaning rivers can create more room for floodwater—but it cannot guarantee that communities will remain dry.
The recent rains showed that flood resilience requires multiple systems to function simultaneously: clear rivers, unobstructed drainage, functioning pumping stations, adequate canals and creeks, properly designed flood-control infrastructure and responsible waste disposal.
For Ang, the public also has a role.
Keeping garbage out of drains and waterways is critical because every blocked drainage channel can become a bottleneck in the flood-control chain.
San Miguel’s nearly 9.4-million-ton cleanup is therefore a major intervention, but its own officials are emphasizing that it should not be mistaken for a complete solution.
The harder question now is whether the rest of the flood-control system can keep pace when the next extreme rainfall event arrives.
And that may ultimately determine whether billions of pesos’ worth of flood-control efforts translate into safer communities—or whether clogged drains and overwhelmed infrastructure continue to turn heavy rain into dangerous flooding.
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