The Philippine Star
November 12, 2025 | 12:00am
The devastation from the apocalyptic deluge unleashed by Typhoon Tino, while highlighting the failure of flood control projects, also emphasized the need to quickly put proper interventions in place, not just in Cebu and Negros Island but all over the country.
This urgent need will have to be balanced with the ongoing effort to hold crooks accountable while implementing measures to stop the country’s degeneration into a looter’s paradise.
Certain quarters have expressed concern that in the absence of the necessary structural reforms, even President Marcos’ declaration of a year-long state of national calamity could open new floodgates for corruption, as procurement laws are sidestepped in the name of speedy disaster response.
Considering the track record of public officials at all levels of government, the President cannot simply brush aside such concerns.
The COVID-19 emergency that prompted the passage of a law allowing negotiated procurement during the Duterte administration, for example, gave the country the Pharmally Pharmaceuticals corruption scandal, which to this day is unresolved.
While putting anti-corruption safeguards in place, the government must also move decisively in confronting another disaster on the scale of the extreme flooding during Tino or, in October last year, during Typhoon Kristine, which submerged much of Camarines Sur including Naga City.
A looming La Niña threatens to bring more rains and cause more killer floods and landslides.
There is less than a year before the next typhoon season to upgrade substandard flood control projects, correct those that actually cause or aggravate flooding, and install proper interventions in areas where non-existent or ghost projects have been identified.
Watersheds and floodplains will take a long time to rehabilitate, and some may never be restored to their natural state before they were converted for residential, commercial and industrial uses.
Where possible, the government must show political will in casting out illegal encroachments on vital natural rainfall catchments. Or else it must implement science-based interventions in such areas to prevent deaths and the destruction of entire communities. All this, while keeping a tight watch on fund disbursements and implementing flood mitigation projects with deliberate speed.