After Typhoon Carina hit the Philippines, many Filipinos were affected by severe flooding including Metro Manila. Heavy rainfall from the typhoon, along with the enhanced southwest monsoon, wreaked havoc on the region and submerged nearby provinces.
Given this climate tragedy, many have questioned the flood control projects and are looking for the billions of pesos allotted for the flood control budget.
John Pama, 70, fondly called Uncle John by his kin, resides in West Riverside in Brgy. Damayan, Quezon City. Their house was among the more than 2,000 households inundated by heavy floods brought about by Habagat, intensified by Typhoon Carina. He noted the situation was akin to the onslaught of Ondoy in 2009, when the flood almost reached knee-to-waist deep even on their second floor.
Uncle John managed to salvage his tricycle, his only livelihood for more than three decades, just a couple of blocks away from their home, which had not sunk in the flood.
In Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), he spoke handsomely about flood control projects and disaster response as if his third year had already claimed victory over such efforts.
Uncle John said he had not watched SONA.
“What else can I expect if it only took a day to test the Marcos Jr. administration’s accountability in all of these?” said Uncle John.
On July 25, Marcos Jr. said that there is a need to “reexamine” the designs of flood control projects amid widespread flooding caused by Typhoon Carina.
According to Jefferson Chua from Greenpeace, “Action on climate justice was conspicuously absent from President Marcos’ SONA—this is a great disappointment for the Filipino people.”
“He didn’t say anything new, and he didn’t say anything that we actually saw that had a real impact on communities,” added Alab Mirasol Ayroso of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines.
Ayroso further mentioned that when it comes to the local government unit’s (LGU) response, there is only a meager, if not fully accountable, action from the national government when it comes to preparing for such disasters. LGUs are not accountable because it is also questionable in providing an adequate budget for disaster and calamity preparedness.
“We all know, and he mentioned, the 5,500 flood control projects. There is the reality that there is a huge budget for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), amounting to 244 billion pesos for flood control projects, but we have seen in reality that these were neither implemented effectively nor prevented the flooding in Metro Manila,” Ayroso added.
