The Philippines is a tropical country, where most of the typhoons that occur in the Pacific Ocean make landfall every year. It is exposed to geographical and meteorological conditions in relation to disaster risk reduction and, in addition, a great number of urban areas are located in low lying areas that are particularly vulnerable to flooding, as in Japan. The country is more susceptible to flooding during the rainy season. Therefore, the total amount of damage caused by natural disasters in 1999, just before the commencement of the Iloilo Flood Control Project, was calculated to be 11,381 million pesos, which was about 0.4% of the gross national product (GNP) at the time. These disasters were a serious impediment to the country's economic and social development. Iloilo City, the capital of the province of Iloilo, Panay Island, which is situated in the central part of the Philippines, has been having the seventh largest population in the country, and was poised to become the core of economic growth in Western Visayas. However, the city with its geographic features, which include extensive plains with an average elevation of 3 meters above sea level, have been subjected to habitual flood damage due to typhoons and heavy rains. The torrential rains in July 1994 or before the project was planned, inundated almost the entire city, flooding approximately 25,000 homes. A total of 119,028 households had been affected by floods six times between 1998 and 2001. The implementation of flood control measures, including the development of river facilities to mitigate flood damage that occurs almost every year, was an urgent and important issue when the project began. Therefore, this project was implemented in order to reduce flood damage in the area, improve the hygiene and living environment and contribute to the development of the local economy in the major rivers flowing down from Iloilo City and its surrounding cities and towns. Specifically, the improvement of the Iloilo River (4.2 km), the Haro River (5.85 km), the Haro Spillway Construction (4.75 km) took place. With the implementation of this project, socio economic and environmental conditions have greatly improved.