Up to our necks

Metro Manila woke up last Saturday to fairly sunny skies. But then the dark clouds rolled in, the rain fell non-stop, and the streets flooded. Before long, everyone was once again wading through dirty water, cars were stranded like abandoned toys, and traffic jams stretched farther than anyone cared to measure. It was the kind of sudden flooding we’ve all seen too many times before. But this one came with a message written in capital letters: Eto na naman?!

Because here’s the thing. The past two months have been filled with news of billions supposedly poured into “flood control projects,” yet every time the clouds decide to cut loose, we see where those billions really went. Down the drain. Or more accurately, into the same old drain of graft and corruption. Nothing stokes public anger quite like having to slog home knee-deep in floodwater, or sit for hours in traffic that won’t budge, or worse, watch your own house slowly fill up like that palanggana you use to soak your dirty clothes.

And the anger has been steadily building. Just last week, social media was on fire with impromptu “exposés” on the children of contractors and officials who, according to the rumor mill, were living it up on the money meant to keep us dry. Whether all those posts were accurate is another question. Some of those pictured apparently weren’t even related to the officials being tagged.

But the larger point is hard to miss. Filipinos are so done financing the excesses of a few while millions sink, sometimes literally, under the weight of neglect.

Not since the Janet Napoles scandal has the public been this united in calling out corruption. And hopefully, this momentum will lead to something tangible — not simply handled until the noise dies down or pacified with the prosecution of a token small fry or two.

What we need is an honest-to-God cleanup of how we fund infrastructure, along with actual accountability for those who lined their pockets instead of building the systems we so desperately need.

Of course, the political class is already in high-performance mode: senators wagging their fingers, eager to look blameless, even when ghost projects were found in their own backyards; former Duterte officials clucking their tongues in righteous indignation, as if none of these shenanigans sprouted during their watch. It’s a festival of eye-rolls, and nobody outside their respective echo chambers is impressed.

At the end of the day, the outrage can only be assuaged by results. That means a credible investigation, findings the public can believe, and real consequences for those who treated public funds like their own ATM.

The President just handed a significant part of this job to former DoTr boss, Vince Dizon, now tasked as Public Works czar. To his credit, during his Transport stint, Dizon showed flashes of grit and decisiveness. He will certainly need all that and more to untangle this mess.

Because the public, who have long been drowning in both floodwater and frustration, are not in the mood for another runaround. We are up to our necks in both, literally and figuratively. And if all this ends in more speeches, shrugs, and empty promises, well, maybe next time it won’t just be the city that will be sinking.