SMC's Ang offers to clean waterways, solve flooding in Metro Manila

[Updated Aug. 8, 2025, 8:14 p.m.]

MANILA, Philippines — Tycoon and San Miguel Corp. president and CEO Ramon Ang has volunteered to help solve the flooding problem in Metro Manila at no cost to the government or the Filipino people.

Ang said this ahead of a press conference with Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Don Artes and several Metro Manila mayors on Friday, August 8, at the San Miguel head office in Pasig City.



Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, Valenzuela Mayor Wes Gatchalian, Muntinlupa Mayor Ruffy Biazon, and Las Piñas Mayor Imelda Aguilar, as well as Las Piñas Rep. Mark Santos, attended the conference.

READ: MMDA: Flood-control works made ineffective by trash

“I, Ramon Ang of San Miguel, am volunteering to be the first to help the whole of Metro Manila address flooding, at no cost to the people and no cost to the government,” Ang said in a mix of Filipino and English.

“We will do the cleaning, but without your authorization, we can’t proceed,” he said in Filipino.

The tycoon proposed that waste clogging waterways and structures, such as houses built along rivers, be removed, as they block water flow toward drains and creeks.

He added that as houses along rivers are cleared to address flooding, residents should also be provided with relocation sites.



READ: Crising floods expose gov’t failures — scientist group

“Let’s provide them with housing so they won’t feel they are being evicted without due consideration,” Ang said in Filipino.

MMDA chair, MM mayors welcome Ang’s offer

In the press conference, MMDA chair Artes and the mayors in Metro Manila aired their support for Ang's offer.

MMDA chair Artes specifically noted the tycoon's commitment to build a replacement for infrastructure that will be removed along the rivers, particularly the replacement of a school that was built in the Tullahan River.

“Mr. Ang has committed that he will build a replacement school so that even if that school is demolished and the river is opened, it will still be replaced. So in advance, Mr. Ang, we thank you for your initiative and love for the country,” Artes told Ang in the press conference.

Meanwhile, Moreno affirmed that the local government of Manila City will support Ang’s proposal of helping mitigate the flooding in the metro.

“The sun will shine again in the city through the help of San Miguel Corporation and Mr. Ramon Ang. We are very grateful and we encourage this. We are going to support it, like what he asked a while ago, if the local will allow him? Yes. We will welcome that,” Moreno said.

Gatchalian likewise said that the offer of Ang will be beneficial, particularly in cleaning up the wastes in the city’s esteros.

“What Sir Ang said earlier is correct; the LGU, at least, has limitations. I want to buy a payloader and additional backhoe; I will still go through the bidding process, canvassing, etc. It will take months, whereas with the help of, like San Miguel, it will arrive immediately. Every hour, their equipment will arrive,” he said.

For his part, Biazon said that he will support the offer of Ang, echoing the tycoon’s remark that clearing up wastes and removing the infrastructures built along the rivers will help mitigate flooding.

“We really should let the rivers flow. But one thing we should also look at is the outdated drainage systems all over Metro Manila. This is where the importance of having a drainage master plan not only for each local government unit, but the entire Metro Manila comes into play,” he said.

A large portion of Metro Manila was recently submerged in floodwaters due to the effect of the southwest monsoon, locally known as habagat, and recent tropical cyclones Crising, Dante, and Emong. /jpv /mr