Arya News - Singapore companies showcased a range of flood control interventions—from capturing real-time data on natural hazards to recycling rainwater—at the 2026 Stormwater Summit held on Tuesday in Makati, Metro Manila.
MANILA – The Philippines is looking to adopt Singapore’s flood management technologies and best practices as it seeks to address the impact of disasters, according to a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) official.
Singapore companies showcased a range of flood control interventions—from capturing real-time data on natural hazards to recycling rainwater—at the 2026 Stormwater Summit held on Tuesday in Makati City.
The DPWH will “assess which of these can be adopted and determine the cost of implementing such projects,” Undersecretary Charles Calima told the Inquirer on the sidelines of the summit.
“We will see how they implement some of their measures in a more effective and efficient manner,” Calima said, adding that proper waste management remains one of the government’s top interventions to address flooding.
The Philippines, an archipelago of at least 112 million people, is prone to flooding triggered by an annual average of 20 cyclones swirling from the Pacific Ocean and monsoon rains.
Real-time data
April Yang, founder and CEO of Flexi Systems and FloodX, highlighted their company’s “Tethys platform” which aggregates five-data streams in real time: water quality and turbidity, rainfall intensity and forecasts, blockage and silt alerts, live flood levels and trends, and tidal influence on drainage.
“Flexi systems capture real-time data so we can react in time or even before to floods,” she said, adding that “knowing gives you peace of mind and lets you plan ahead of time.”
For his part, Ryan Yuen of PUB Consultants, the international business arm of Singapore’s national water agency PUB, cited the country’s investments in infrastructure over the last 50 years to regulate reservoirs, improve drainage systems, and treat rainwater runoff using rain gardens.
“So in Singapore, we introduce water recycling and it’s a key part of our sustainability strategy and so we want to reuse every drop endlessly,” said Yuen.
Both Yang and Yuen, however, acknowledged that a combination of engineering solutions and community resilience is needed to mitigate floods.
In his speech, actor Dingdong Dantes, an ambassador for the Office of Civil Defense, hammered home the idea that resilience “is the courage to adapt,” and “not simply the ability to recover.”
‘Courage to adapt
He shared the story of “Nanay Evelyn,” the subject of a documentary he produced, recalling that her home was submerged in floodwater, and that she had to climb into a small plastic boat to buy food, drinking water and other necessities.
“It was not the flood that broke my heart. It was realizing that she had grown accustomed to crossing floodwaters every day, sleeping on the second floor while the lower part of her home remained submerged, and waiting—hoping that one day, somehow, things would get better,” the actor said.
“Resilience is the courage to adapt, the discipline to prepare, the humility to work together, and the determination to keep moving forward—even when life may never return to what it once was,” he added. /cb