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Despite continuous rains caused by the Southwest Monsoon or Habagat, several areas in Quezon City reported less flooding due to the installation of detention basins.
In a 24 Oras report from Maki Pulido on Tuesday, sari-sari store vendor Gina Gabayan of Barangay Santa Monica in Quezon City could still see the stains on her shop where the floods reached in July 2025.
The floodwaters reached sacks of rice and other products, resulting in about P20,000 in losses for her.
However, this year, Gabayan’s community did not experience the same severity of floods. This was due to a basketball court that was beneath it a detention basin. The detention basin could watch water equal to three Olympic-sized swimming pools.
READ: Water detention basin under QC barangay basketball court uses gravity to work
This is where the water goes to instead of the streets. The barangay no longer had to spend money on evacuation, and the funds could be used for other purposes.
“Health services na po…’yung mga dating ginagawa namin na gustos sa…pangangailangan ng evacuees na lessen yun,” Santa Monica Barangay Captain Charlie Manalad said.
(To health services… the money we used to spend for the needs of our evacuees, it is lessened.)
Another detention basin was also built in Barangay San Jose. Resident Marlyn Jose also noticed the difference.
“Malaki po naging tulong nito buhat po nung nag-ulan hindi umabot tubig na amin sa taas. Hindi na umaakyat sa gutter ngayon mabilis bumaba,” Jose said.
(It has been a big help because when it rained the water did not reach us up there. It did not go up the gutter and it went down fast.)
Detention basins were also built in G. Araneta and Maria Clara Street, so floods that used to last five hours there only lasted two.
In Quezon City Memorial Center, there is also a retention pond that looks like it is part of the park’s landscape. However, it actually serves as a basin for the floods that used to affect the Elliptical Road.
“Ang idea dun is, aside from nagkaroon water feature, ang isang gamit is additional storage in case of increase or run-off or ulan kapag maraming volume ang ulan, dun din convey sa retention pond,” City Engineer Mark Dale Perral said.
(The idea there is, aside from having a water feature, one of the uses is additional storage in case of increase or run-off, if there is a lot of rain, it is conveyed to the retention pond.)
Perral said that this was made possible through science and technology. Water used to naturally flow in the area before it was covered in cement, so the local government mapped where the water would trail and strategically placed the basins there. — Jean Mangaluz/BM, GMA News
