Floods, Typhoons and Contractors

INTRODUCTION

The Philippines has been suffering from damaging floods despite the billions of pesos paid to contractors for hundreds of flood control projects. The Senate uncovers anomalies for ghost/fake projects, overcosting, and underperformance by contractors.

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Some senators have claimed in recent hearings that corruption is widespread. Investigators cannot cope with law enforcement against fraud. Corruption is weak and prone to bribery, which is often used to cover up anomalies. Corrupt politicians are involved in the shady deals, receiving kickbacks from contractors after approving flood control projects. This makes the contractors unable to implement the projects properly.

The people suffer; waterborne diseases spread; roads are impassable, preventing people from getting to and from work; small houses are deluged, with floodwaters rising knee-high, destroying property; and electricity is cut off, spoiling food. All these are causing hardship to millions of people. Their cost to the economy runs in the billions of pesos, and repairing the damage costs billions more.

All these, if the senators are to be believed, are due to corruption because the contractors failed to provide adequate drainage systems. This is exacerbated by natural forces at play. There is land subsistence and rapid urbanization, causing overcrowding and clogging canals and rivers, which blocks water flow and ultimately contributes to the problem.

This will continue because we are facing a climate crisis, in which temperatures are rising due to the burning of coal, oil, and gas, and progress is slow in constructing alternatives, such as wind and solar power plants.

Then there is the warming of oceans, the most excellent absorber of carbon dioxide, which can slow the rise in global temperatures.

Research shows there are approximately 1.9 to 2.3 million registered small-scale coastal Filipino fishermen in the Philippines. They are generally poor and depend on whatever they catch daily. They also provide almost half of the nation’s fish, providing hundreds of thousands of fish vendors with livelihoods and families with nutritious, high-protein food. Climate change and ocean warming will endanger this vital sector.

In 10 years, waters from Manila Bay could be flowing into the University of Sto. Tomas. Property owners near the bay can expect greater floods in the future. The ocean cannot be stopped or held back, and the danger it poses continues to rise.

There are other consequences, like mass migration from South to North, which is happening now, and likely more wars and violence. Millions of poor and starving people will leave their homes for the world’s wealthier regions.

The nation’s elite must find a moral compass, repent for their greed and corruption, and develop a conscience and the courage to do justice for the people and the nation.

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