Resilience? We deserve more
Having spent eight years in government, I know that public service is ultimately about responsibility. Positions in government are not privileges. They are a public trust.
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Having spent eight years in government, I know that public service is ultimately about responsibility. Positions in government are not privileges. They are a public trust.
The past few weeks have once again reminded me of something we Filipinos have unfortunately become too familiar with — the sight of our communities submerged in floodwaters whenever the monsoon rains become relentless or a typhoon makes its way across our islands.
I cannot help but feel a mixture of sadness, frustration and, frankly, anger.
I see the images of students who were dismissed early and workers whose offices closed in the middle of the day having to wade in floodwaters to get home. I think of those living in low-lying communities who have no choice but to leave their homes and seek refuge in evacuation centers.
And then there are the vendors, drivers, small entrepreneurs, and daily wage earners.
For them, a flooded street is not merely an inconvenience. It means losing a day’s income, sometimes several days’. A vendor cannot sell when the market is flooded. A jeepney and tricycle driver cannot earn when the roads are impassable. A small store owner can lose his merchandise in a matter of hours.
For families whose homes are inundated, the loss is even more painful. Furniture, appliances, clothes, school books, important documents and treasured possessions accumulated through years of hard work can disappear in the floodwaters.
Yet, after every disaster, we hear the same description of our people as resilient.
Yes, we are. I have always admired the Filipino spirit. We help one another in times of crisis. We share food with strangers, rescue neighbors, open our homes to those displaced, and somehow find the courage to start again after losing almost everything.
But lately I have been asking myself: is resilience something we should continue to celebrate when people are forced to be resilient because government systems have failed them?
Resilience should never be an excuse for neglect.
We live in a country regularly visited by typhoons and heavy monsoon rains. We cannot prevent every flood. But surely, after decades of the same disasters, we should have learned how to protect our people better by now.
What troubles me most is that billions of pesos have supposedly been allocated over the years for flood control projects.
So why are we still seeing the same communities submerged? Why are the same roads still flooding? Why are families repeatedly forced to evacuate? And most importantly, where did all the money go?
If there are substandard flood control projects and ghost projects that were paid for but were never built, those responsible should be investigated and prosecuted soonest because more than two years have passed since the phrase “mahiya naman kayo” was uttered by President Bongbong Marcos.
If projects were built using substandard materials, or were poorly designed or constructed simply to accommodate corruption, those responsible must be held accountable.
This should not be about politics. It should not matter who built the project, who approved it, or who benefited from it.
Every peso stolen or wasted is money taken from a Filipino family that could have been protected. It is a drainage system that could have been built, a river that could have been cleared, a floodway that could have been improved, and a community that could have been spared from another night in an evacuation center.
Having spent eight years in government, I know that public service is ultimately about responsibility. Positions in government are not privileges. They are a public trust. And when that trust is betrayed, there must be consequences.
I admire the resilience of the Filipinos. But I do not want to keep applauding our people for surviving disasters that better governance could have prevented or reduced.
Our people deserve more than evacuation centers. They deserve more than relief goods and ayuda after every flood. They deserve more than another promise that the next flood control project will solve the problem.
They deserve public officials who will do their jobs honestly, competently, and courageously.
So perhaps it is time to change the way we look at resilience.
Let us continue to admire the Filipino spirit but let us demand accountability from those who are supposed to protect it.
Because Filipinos should not have to be extraordinarily resilient simply because those entrusted with their welfare were extraordinarily irresponsible.
Resilience is a Filipino strength. But good governance should never require our people to resort to it year after year.
Filipinos deserve better. Much better.
