By – Glen Palaca Hubahib, Esq.
Flood:
Flooding has always tamed mankind since biblical times – like the great flood of Noah’s. It refreshes the face of the earth and is celebrated by the wildlife in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. The Egyptian dealt with the annual Nile flooding. They diverted the water flow to Fayum creating an oasis in the desert in antiquities. Then they built the Grand Aswan Dam in 1960’s that eliminated the annual flooding down river. Even the Inca’s in the Andes have a brilliant way of diverting waterflow and harvesting flood water.
In 1992, Japan built the world’s largest flood control project popularly known as “G-Cans”. It consists of large tunnels, containment silos, tanks and seventy-eight 10 mega-watt pumps. The latter pumps 200 metric tons per second of water into the river at low tide.
The pressure-adjusting water tank near Tokyo, Japan, contains 59 towering pillars each 18 meters high.
Photo: LightRocket via Getty Images
Meanwhile, in the Philippines where we have brilliant engineers recognized around the world (“kuno”), flooding is getting worst. First, the earth has lost its natural absorptive capacities in the cities because it has become a concrete jungle. Second, the trillion pesos flood control projects are but canals, riprap and small dikes. Worst, some are ghost projects. So, when typhoons and small rain pour during hightide it creates a backflow inundating the cities. Third, this is the effect when our lawmakers tried to perform the task of engineering. More so, when Curlee Discaya thinks that being a foreman is good enough for his billion pesos worth of flood control projects. And have you noticed the construction company’s name under fire are named after saints? Our church leaders should start denouncing this practice.
Love conquers all. Barasoain Church, July 2025. Courtesy of Aaron Favila/AP
Across the globe miles away from home, Digong watched in amazement and awe from his prison window how the Dutch in the Middle Ages tamed the Amstel River and the North Sea by constructing dikes, canals and tributaries. They reclaimed the sea and Marsland by pumping out water using the windmills. The reclaimed land is now a set of farmlands that grow their famous tulips and pasture their cows – the source of their gouda cheese. Of course, in the present day they are now using the powerful pumps just like Japan’s that prevent flooding in Netherlands where 26% of its land is below sea level. The last Dutch flooding was in 1953 when a powerful North Sea Storm breached their dikes just like Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans dikes in 2005.
Rehabbing dikes in Netherland. Courtesy from European Investment Bank
Immigration Scams:
Immigration visa solicitors are just like flood control construction companies. They worked in cahoots with government functionaries. Their promises and contracts are good on paper only and they will vanish just like ghosts when they get the money.
So, you need to do your own due diligence. Visit and research the country’s State Department and consular website, our Labor and Migrant Welfare Offices and verify their licenses. It is accessible via internet and easily understandable. Please remember the good things in life are not cheap and are not easy to get.
[Note: Glen Palaca Hubahib is admitted to practice law in California and the Philippines. He also holds Electrical Engineering and MBA degrees. The article is for information only and is not a legal advice. Send your comments to the author at hubahibg@gmail.com.]