Since 2016, almost two trillion pesos has been poured int flood control projects. Yet each year, our people are left to drown—not merely in floodwaters, but in betrayal. Flooding is not only natural; it is the fruit of greed, negligence, and the corrosion of public service. Greed drowns Filipinos more than any storm.
The recent Congressional hearings have only exposed what many have long suspected: a network of corruption sustained by patronage politics and collusion between contractors and politicians. But how can truth flourish in a chamber where many are themselves implicated? We therefore look with urgency and high expectation to the newly formed Indepen- dent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI). Its members, whose integrity must be beyond reproach, must be allowed to work free from political pressure—so that they can uncover the truth, prosecute the guilty, and return the people’s money to serve the common good.
This scandal is not about projects alone. It is a symptom of systemic corruption that normalizes injustice, hardens consciences, and poisons hope. We demand an end to this flood of greed. Let those who steal be jailed, let what was stolen be returned, and let good governance rise. Only then can we begin to heal as a people and rebuild trust in our democracy.