Bongbong defends flood control projects

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. defended the government’s flood control projects, saying they were overwhelmed by the amount of rain brought by severe tropical storm “Kristine.”

“Many people say — I’ve seen it in the newspapers, heard it on the radio and television — where are the flood controls? The flood controls were there; they were just overwhelmed,” Marcos said in an interview with reporters.

According to the weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, “Kristine” dropped an amount of rain equivalent to two months’ worth — around 700 millimeters — in several areas of Luzon.

Marcos compared this with the rainfall from tropical storm “Ondoy” in 2009, which ranged from 300 to 400 millimeters, that submerged many parts of Luzon.

“The flood control measures we implemented were designed for floods like those caused by ‘Ondoy.’ This situation is new. Talk to the flood victims, go to the areas where the land collapsed; this has never happened in their lifetimes or in the entire history of those places because the water was so immense,” he said.

He also attributed the extreme weather to climate change.

“Flooding may have occurred here before, but not to this extent. Times have really changed. The climate change we are discussing… we are already witnessing its effects,” he said.

“We don’t need to read reports or studies by scientists anymore. We already know how severe the impacts of climate change will be,” he added.

In his State of the Nation Address last July, Marcos highlighted 5,500 completed flood control projects, which are now under scrutiny. Senators have called for a review of the budget allocated for the infrastructure projects.

On Sunday, Senate President Chiz Escudero said the upper chamber will focus on flood control projects in the proposed national budget.

For his part, Marcos said he had “no problems” with their scrutinizing the national budget, but urged the lawmakers to consider both sides of the issue.

“Yes, I have no problem. But they must also realize there are two sides to this,” the President pointed out.

“They say it’s flood control. Our flood control measures were indeed overwhelmed. We had the flood controls, but they were not enough. They did not handle the volume of water. In the entire history of the Philippines, there has never been anything like this. We are just dealing with it now,” he said.