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| Even the roads in front of SM were flooded. |
And that wasn't even a storm.
Can you imagine what a storm like 2007's Milenyo would have done? I'll tell you what would have happened: thousands of shanties would have been obliterated, swept away by raging waters. Hundreds if not thousands of people would be dead right now.
What happened here? There was a time when Metro Manila rarely got flooded. I remember such a time, and that was certainly a cleaner time. Now, however, it seems that we Filipinos have been trapped by our greed.
Two weeks ago, I watched a very interesting take on this from journalist Ted Failon. There isn't a single entity to be blamed for the recent flooding, or for all the floods in the recent past for that matter. Rather, it seems that it's a confluence of actions that is causing billions in damage.
Real estate developers are certainly one of the groups that should be blamed here. Many buildings are built on what used to be esteros, which were great drainage systems. So I guess the price of expansion includes the lives of thousands of Filipinos. Many of these developers aren't interested in filling a need. They're interested in lining their pockets.
Squatters are another group that should be blamed. Many of these people live near or at drainage systems. Their waste and trash contributes a lot to clogging. Why can't the national government do something about them? They should be relocated to another place. And they should be taught that living on land that isn't theirs (and insisting on their so-called "rights" to that land) is really land theft, even though some namby-pamby politicians try to say otherwise.
Factories are also at fault. The tons of waste that are dumped into rivers are a surefire way of making those same rivers overflow. That waste should be disposed of in a responsible way, and dumping them into rivers and other bodies of water is grossly irresponsible and should be treated as a major crime. Perhaps if some big shot factory owner goes to jail for something like that, these factories would stop doing that cold turkey.
As much as I hate to say it, though, I'm afraid WE ALL are at fault. Yes, we the citizenry. WE fail to keep our eyes on the state of the environment. WE sometimes (or many times) throw our trash anywhere we please. WE allow real estate developers, squatters, and factories to do whatever they want to do. In other words, WE are our biggest problem.
Enough is enough.
Real estate developers are certainly one of the groups that should be blamed here. Many buildings are built on what used to be esteros, which were great drainage systems. So I guess the price of expansion includes the lives of thousands of Filipinos. Many of these developers aren't interested in filling a need. They're interested in lining their pockets.
Squatters are another group that should be blamed. Many of these people live near or at drainage systems. Their waste and trash contributes a lot to clogging. Why can't the national government do something about them? They should be relocated to another place. And they should be taught that living on land that isn't theirs (and insisting on their so-called "rights" to that land) is really land theft, even though some namby-pamby politicians try to say otherwise.
Factories are also at fault. The tons of waste that are dumped into rivers are a surefire way of making those same rivers overflow. That waste should be disposed of in a responsible way, and dumping them into rivers and other bodies of water is grossly irresponsible and should be treated as a major crime. Perhaps if some big shot factory owner goes to jail for something like that, these factories would stop doing that cold turkey.
As much as I hate to say it, though, I'm afraid WE ALL are at fault. Yes, we the citizenry. WE fail to keep our eyes on the state of the environment. WE sometimes (or many times) throw our trash anywhere we please. WE allow real estate developers, squatters, and factories to do whatever they want to do. In other words, WE are our biggest problem.
Enough is enough.
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