What happened in Navotas, or what happened to Navotas, last Sunday into Monday, comes with a lesson as an experience to learn from.

Rain poured from the sky. The river was swollen. It was high tide. Three factors that combined for drama and trauma, forcing nearly 100 families to evacuate – oh, the floods that were chest-high!

Navotas is almost a neighbor to us in Quezon City, but now it’s like a victim of extreme climate, and all I could remember was urban planner Jun Palafox warning us years ago to “build vertical.” The man has predicted that more than 100 million Filipinos will need 100 new sustainable, smart, resilient, inclusive and livable cities by the year 2050, and he speaks like a prophet of boom! But because 25 years is a long way away, nobody is alarmed. We’d be more attuned if it were “last two minutes” on the court.

What does it mean to build vertical? A four-story house like Singapore’s model for government workers in the 1970’s comes to mind. Over here, where land is not scarce, we take space for granted. The ground floor would immediately suggest a garage, for example, while the three upper floors would not be too hard for a healthy senior citizen to negotiate. Three of them and their families living on three floors sharing one roof sounds like a friendly bargain.

A four-story house as model? Why not? Not high enough to require elevators or escalators, which can be tricky for seniors, but stairs are safe, good for a bit of exercise. In the Singapore model, a rest area like a patio between the second and third floors encourages neighborly greetings and conversations.

The people of Navotas might want to ask their representatives in local government and Congress to study a housing model suitable for their needs, their seasons and temperaments. Climate change, extreme climate – they’re not going to go away. And that goes also for Navotas’ neighbors near and far.

A small story in the business page some days ago reported that housing prices in the National Capital Region have gone up slightly. With the forced departure of a colony of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, or Pogos, another report suggested there’s now an oversupply of condos.