We have seen the impact of Typhoon Basyang on Northern Mindanao, which affected more than 500 barangays and displaced almost 250,000 individuals. Sadly, as of late Sunday, 12 lives have been reported lost.

The cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were the most badly hit. For most residents of these cities, it was a feeling of déjà vu, given the traumatic experience they had when Sendong devastated them. It is also personal to me, since we have our ancestral home in Iligan City, and I have siblings living in the flood-prone areas of Cagayan de Oro City.

The immediate cause of the flooding was extreme precipitation. The typhoon did not just bring rain; it brought a deluge. PAGASA data show that Basyang dumped twice as much rain as Sendong, a volume typically expected over an entire month. And because Northern Mindanao had experienced rain in recent weeks, the soil was already saturated. This meant the rainwater could not be absorbed; it became “surface runoff,” rushing immediately into the river systems.

Both cities are located at the base of massive river basins, with raging waters originating from the high-altitude mountains of Bukidnon and Lanao del Sur. When it rains heavily in these uplands, the water funnels into narrow river channels that descend rapidly toward these coastal cities. Because our forests have been thinned over decades, there is no “natural sponge” to slow the water. It hit Iligan with the force of a freight train.

Urban sprawl has also led to the formation of bottlenecks and dog-legs in the river systems. If we look at the topography of the Iligan rivers from above, it is not difficult to see the problem that caused the raging waters to breach their natural banks and inundate populated areas.

The inevitable question arises: Why is the death toll from Basyang (currently at 12) so much lower than the 1,200+ lives lost during Typhoon Sendong in 2011? The rainfall intensity of Basyang was almost double, yet the outcome was worlds apart.

The answer lies in preemptive action. Back in 2011, Sendong caught everyone, including the government, sleeping — literally. This time, PAGASA and the local governments were more prepared. Forced evacuation was not just a suggestion; it was a mandate. Local governments used social media, sirens, and house-to-house calls hours before the first drop fell. Mayor Frederick Siao of Iligan City mobilized thousands of volunteers and secured assistance from other LGUs and businesses to clear the roads as the waters receded.

But the biggest revelation in the aftermath is that the hardest-hit areas are the same places with completed flood control projects. These are the barangays with projects approved, paid for, photographed, and declared “completed.” Did the projects work — or were they built only for reports and ribbon-cuttings?

To stop this cycle of “flood, cry, rebuild, repeat,” we need a synchronized performance from everyone. My good friend, Pau Lagura of Iligan City, says solving the city’s flood crisis is a joint obligation of several government entities. The waters that inundate the city do not originate within its political boundaries. Rainfall that ultimately overwhelms Iligan’s rivers begins in the upland of Bukidnon, moves across the ridges and valleys of Lanao del Sur, and is further influenced by the shared mountain divides of Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte, before finally discharging into Iligan Bay. As water flows across these landscapes without regard for borders, governance must do the same – coordinated, lawful, basin-wide, and most important, transparent.

He says the path forward lies in an inter-regional, data-driven Integrated Water Resources Management System. This includes DOST putting up unified early warning systems with sensors placed not only in Lanao del Sur and Bukidnon but also along shared uplands in Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte.

The Mindanao Development Authority can be the “glue.” Flooding is a regional problem that ignores city boundaries. Its role is to ensure these provinces and cities are not working in silos but are managing their river basins as one single, living system.

The loss of lives and damage to properties and infrastructure remind us that we are not there yet. Complacency is still our biggest enemy. In the era of climate change, the past is no longer a reliable guide for the future.

The path forward is to turn Cagayan de Oro and Iligan into Sponge Cities. We need to integrate parks that can double as temporary lakes, use permeable pavements that let the earth breathe, and restore our wetlands. We do not need to reinvent the wheel. This has been done in China and Singapore. I know that our DENR is currently looking into this.

Typhoon Basyang was a test. We passed the “survival” portion better than we did in Sendong, but the “sustainability” portion is still being graded. It is time we stop treating these floods as “acts of God” and start treating them as a call to better engineering, better governance, and a deeper respect for the water’s path.

(The author is an executive member of the National Innovation Council, lead convener of the Alliance for Technology Innovators for the Nation (ATIN), vice president of the Analytics and AI Association of the Philippines, and vice president of UP System Information Technology Foundation. Email: [email protected])