Pangasinan 2nd District Representative Mark Cojuangco has sparked a heated debate online after responding to social media posts showing the devastation left by typhoon “Tino,” asserting that residents who live in flood-prone areas “always have a choice.”

The exchange began when Cojuangco commented on a viral video depicting displaced families in a submerged community.

“Why would anyone build in a floodplain? It’s just asking for disaster,” he wrote in Filipino, implying that the disaster could have been avoided with better housing decisions.

His remarks drew immediate backlash from netizens who criticized him for being “out of touch” with the realities faced by poor Filipinos.

One commenter replied, “Not everyone can afford to live in elevated areas or subdivisions. They have no choice!”

The congressman, however, stood firm.

“There’s always a choice,” Cojuangco wrote. “You should be angry right now. Engineering and sound reasoning gave way to ‘compassion and kindness’ years ago. That’s exactly why it happened. Suck it up and learn, or repeat it all over again later. The choice is ours.”

Several users called the statement insensitive, pointing out that poverty often leaves families with no option but to settle in hazard-prone areas. One netizen wrote, “Choice is a luxury for most people... There isn’t always a choice. This may sound foreign to you because you have choices all your life, but not everyone’s like you.”