Less than four months after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his third State of the Nation Address where he reported more than 5,500 flood control projects constructed, the President now says the existing infrastructure is “not enough” to overcome the effects of unprecedented weather events.
This admission comes in the light of criticisms which stemmed from — surprise, surprise — the President’s own accomplishment report.
“Maraming nagsasabi, nababasa ko sa diyaryo, naririnig ko sa radyo, television, nasaan ang mga flood control?” Marcos told reporters in an interview on Monday, November 4, during his visit to the victims of Severe Tropical Storm Kristine in Laurel, Batangas. “Nandiyan ang mga flood control, na-overwhelm lang.”
(There were many who were saying, I read in the newspapers, I heard on radio, television, “Where are the flood control projects?” They were there, but they were overwhelmed.)
Marcos said the infrastructure before was designed after Ondoy (Ketsana), which caused flooding in parts of Metro Manila from knee to neck levels, up to rooftops top. The disaster killed at least 464 individuals.
“May flood control tayo, hindi kaya,“ Marcos admitted. “Hindi talaga kaya dahil sa buong kasaysayan ng Pilipinas wala pang ganito, ngayon lang natin haharapin ito.”
(We have flood control infrastructure, but they’re not enough. They’re not enough because in the whole history of the Philippines, we haven’t experienced anything like this. This is the first time we’re facing this.)
In his SONA last July 22, Marcos said there are many flood control projects currently being constructed in the country. Among these are a flood risk management project in Cagayan de Oro, which will supposedly protect 600 hectares of land and 60,000 individuals from flooding, as well as another project in Pampanga Bay that will alleviate inundation.
After the SONA though, parts of the Philippines — Metro Manila included — experienced massive flooding caused by the heavy rainfall brought by the southwest monsoon, enhanced by Typhoon Carina (Gaemi). Damage has been accumulating since Carina. And now Kristine, being the biggest calamity yet to hit the country, has caught the Marcos administration unprepared.
The irony was not lost on social media users who periodically raise this detail from the SONA whenever reports of massive flooding make the rounds online. “Nasaan ‘yung flood control na pinagmamalaki mo?” one user commented on the YouTube stream of the government’s first briefing on Kristine last October 23. (Where are the flood control projects you’re boasting of?)
In his speech on Monday, Marcos said he had directed the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and other agencies to revise flood control masterplans. He mentioned the need to make infrastructure ready not just for the 100-year flood.
That the climate crisis will trigger these calamities more frequently is something that the President knows. It’s also something almost everybody knows at this point. That there are many things that need to be done to be resilient is something already acknowledged in countless meetings, high-level conferences, and interviews. What is needed is more than lip service or acknowledgment of the problem.
Duterte, then Marcos
Marcos’ visit to Batangas came days after former president Rodrigo Duterte went to the wake of landslide victims in Talisay together with staff from the Office of the Vice President. The former president visited a day after he attended a hearing of the Senate subcommittee looking into illegal drugs.
According to the Presidential Communications Office, Marcos led the distribution of P60 million worth of government aid to six municipalities (Talisay, Laurel, Agoncillo, Cuenca, Lemery, and Balete) in the province. He evaded comments on Vice President Sara Duterte.
“I don’t want to talk about — I need to talk about what’s happened here,” Marcos told reporters. (READ: ‘I’d rather not’: Again, Marcos skips comment on VP Duterte’s tirades) – Rappler.com
