Nature’s fury over man’s greed

Nature’s fury over man’s greed | Daily Tribune

The country is reeling from one calamity after another — floods, earthquakes, fires, volcanic tremors and impassable roads — leaving behind the wreckage of destroyed infrastructure, lost lives and livelihoods, and lost hope.

A clear message of a disheartened God over the insatiable greed of His creation.

The rains had barely stopped when the ground started shaking again, blackouts lingered for days, rice fields drowned before harvest and turned into lakes making us like a cursed South Asian country whose God allows farmers to plant but not to harvest.

Jeepney drivers are grounded, stores closed, and schools turned into shelters. When disasters leave something standing, inflation and joblessness sweep it away. Survival itself has become a daily occupation for countless families.

God may have been deeply disturbed and unleashed His fury to punish the guilty for the silent but just as ruinous calamity perpetrated by the conspirators in the halls of power. Revelations of scandalous budget insertions, ghost and substandard flood control projects, and brazen misgovernance have shaken the national psyche. As the country faces the wrath of nature it loudly protests the damage from the disastrous greed of those sworn to serve.

Every exposed “inserted” allocation and phantom project deepens the public’s exhaustion.

Billions meant to tame the floods vanished into private hands resulting in collapsing dikes that gave way, not to the river’s rage, but to the quiet rot of corruption and neglect for substandard or worse, in the words of Secretary Vince Dizon, “guni-guni” (ghost) projects.

These billions meant to keep rivers from overflowing ended up lining pockets as dikes and drainage works crumbled not from the force of water, but from structural weakness or phantom projects.

The Blue Ribbon Committee, CoA, Ombudsman, ICI, and other investigating agencies continue to probe the truth that nature has already revealed — that corruption leaves its fingerprints not only on documents, but on every collapsed bridge, failed floodway, and discredited institution.

What the combined investigative bodies are still trying to piece together has already been unmasked by nature as bridges, floodways, and even agencies themselves collapsed, exposing the weakness not only of structures but of integrity.

Still, amid the despair, the collective dream for a better Philippines lives on.

We are deeply touched as we see neighbors sharing food by candlelight, young volunteers cleaning debris, private groups bridging the gaps left by the bureaucracy. Our people remain better than the politics they endure but politicians should not mistakenly view our people’s patience and resilience for acceptance.

Having endured generations of natural and man-made disasters, the Philippines now faces calamity as a recurring reality, one that returns with unsettling frequency.

The demand for honest budgeting, transparent contracting, and accountability for every public peso spent is firm and non-negotiable. Resilience is a virtue but vigilance is a duty. The true measure of governance is not how quickly it issues condolences but how honestly it will prevent the avoidable.

Televised inquiries and online reports only heighten public indignation as the accused present themselves with poise and confidence like attending a corporate board meeting, unmoved by the gravity of the allegations against them.

Nature will test us again with certainty. But each calamity should find us wiser, stricter with our leaders, and firmer in our demand for integrity and accountability. These moments remind us that a nation’s real strength lies not in politics or policy but in its people who care enough to act.

From each disaster’s aftermath, we must begin to rebuild not only our homes, but our honor, self-respect, and dignity by reforming the institutions and processes that allowed the damage to happen. For only when integrity stands firm will the floods finally recede — and reveal a nation not only rebuilt but redeemed.