Flood scandal gets Brazil center stage

The country’s corruption scandal had reached the UN climate talks in the Brazilian Amazon, or the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 30).

Filipino groups on the COP 30 panel noted that the Philippines, the new chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is currently facing a major government corruption scandal.

“Across Southeast Asia, anti-corruption and pro-democracy protests are spreading like wildfire. In my own country, billions of pesos meant for flood control, money meant to save lives, are being siphoned off. Our governments cannot stand in these halls claiming to defend climate-vulnerable peoples and ecosystems while stealing from them at home,” said Avril de Torres, Deputy Executive Director of Philippines-based Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED).

5-minutes of fame

The revelations of ex-House Appropriations Committee chairman Zaldy Co became a topic during the climate conference.

The delegates were told about the involvement of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in congressional insertions of P100 billion to the national budget, of which the President allegedly received a P25 billion ‘cut’ delivered by Co and aides himself to the President and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

“Just before COP30, the Philippines experienced twin typhoons which claimed the lives of hundreds and wiped out entire communities. This was a stark and painful reminder that we need to ramp up climate action in the area of adaptation and resilience-building — but that very area instead became an opportunity for our officials to make money by plundering the national treasury, De Torres said.

According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, only 23 percent of over 5,300 flood-control projects implemented from 2021 to 2024 have effectively protected communities from flooding.

Geospatial analysis also revealed structures that only worsened flooding, merely diverted rather than eradicated flood risk, or simply did not function as intended.

“In the face of an intensifying climate crisis, the Philippines is operating in a business-as-usual approach characterized by corruption. It is also in this context that our country’s oligarchs are allowed to continue expanding our coal and fossil gas fleet as a lucrative way of accumulating wealth,” a Philippine delegate added.