At the height of public frustration over flooding and questionable government projects, the University of the Philippines (UP) Resilience Institute confirmed that “UP-NOAH flood hazard maps are now being used for Project DIME.”
Stay safe this rainy season by checking out how Filipinos can use UP’s flood forecasting tool to prepare for heavy rains and floods.
The announcement via social media came from Dr. Mahar Lagmay, director of UP Resilience Institute and UP NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards). He stressed that relying only on dikes for flood control is ineffective. “Pag-aralan muna yung lugar kasi case specific naman yung intervention na dapat gagawin sa bawat lugar (Study the area first because the intervention that should be done is case-specific for each location.),” he said in a One News PH interview livestreamed on August 25, where he also talked about the mathematics of government flood control spending, which has reportedly reached 1 billion pesos a day.
In the same interview, Dr. Lagmay proposed a range of alternative flood control measures that go beyond simply building dikes:
- Rainwater harvesting systems
- Retention basins
- Sponge roads
- Increasing land absorption
- Expanding grasslands and planting more trees
- Installing more pumps near Manila Bay
- Improving drainage canals with careful timing
- Underground water detention tanks like the one in Bonifacio Global City
- Preserving park lagoons such as the UP Sunken Garden and Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife
- Widening waterways
- De-clogging rivers and adding garbage catchments
- Relocating critical facilities away from floodplains
- Reforesting mountains
- Constructing small upstream dams to slow down water flow
Project DIME, or Digital Imaging for Monitoring and Evaluation, was relaunched in 2023 by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Philippine Open Government Partnership. Its goal is to use satellites, drones, and geotagging to monitor government projects in real-time and allow citizens to directly give feedback on project progress. The DIME project recently launched its Flood Control Project (FCP) component.
Learn how to protect yourself and your community by using NOAH Studio for accurate weather preparedness and real-time hazard monitoring.
DBM’s former Chief Information Officer, Assistant Secretary Clarito Alejandro D. Magsino, explained on the DIME website: “The only reliable judge of the work that we do in the Philippine Government are the Filipino people, so what better way to move forward than to open up DIME and engage more of our citizens in this process?”
Former DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno likewise said on the DIME website: “Project DIME will help ensure that every peso allocated to government programs and projects will be used efficiently and effectively.”
Join the movement to make communities safer by helping UP NOAH gather flood photos that strengthen disaster risk reduction efforts.
The platform’s flood control components give citizens the chance to track budgets, contractors, project status, and even leave comments that go directly to the DBM. This is seen as a response to the rising costs of flood damage, which Dr. Lagmay pointed out have reached “more than 300 billion a year” in government expenditure in recent years, compared to the “50 billion pesos a year” average losses from the hazards.
Citizens can access the platform at dime.gov.ph to monitor government projects and provide feedback.
By integrating UP NOAH’s science-driven maps with Project DIME’s monitoring system, experts hope government resources will finally be directed toward effective, location-specific solutions.
Stay updated on how science and citizen action are helping shape better flood solutions—read more inspiring resilience and accountability stories on GoodNewsPilipinas.com.
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