Accountability in the flooding

Natural disasters happen, and climate change has made extreme rainfall and deadly flash floods occur more frequently.

Yet in the light of revelations about large-scale corruption involving flood control and other infrastructure projects, authorities are not ruling out the possibility that official lapses and thievery could have contributed to the horrific flooding that hit Cebu, parts of the Negros provinces and other areas at the height of Typhoon Tino’s onslaught.

Attuned to the public pulse, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon vowed yesterday that if flood control projects in Cebu and Negros are found to be substandard or non-existent, those responsible will be identified and held accountable.

The Office of the Ombudsman has also expressed readiness to investigate and prosecute anyone whose corruption or negligence might have led to failed flood interventions that allowed Typhoon Tino to cause so much death and destruction.

As the floods gradually subsided, bodies were found and the death toll from Tino kept surging. As of yesterday afternoon, there were 188 confirmed deaths, 147 of them in Cebu, with 135 people still missing. Of the 147 fatalities in Cebu, 39 were recorded in the municipality of Liloan, where residents lamented that they had not seen such flooding in their lifetime.

Perhaps because flooding was unheard of in the communities, wind and rainfall warnings that the state weather bureau stressed were issued accurately and early enough went unheeded.

There were complaints about the lack of leadership in the typhoon response. Residents lamented that seven mayors of hard-hit northern Cebu plus a provincial board member must have been preoccupied with personal visits to Europe mostly London in the first week of November to worry about storm warnings.

The requests for travel authority and personal leave were granted before Tino struck. The requests, approved by the Cebu governor, were filed by Mayors Avis Ginoo-Monleon of Catmon, Alfredo Arquillano Jr. of San Francisco, Greman Solante of Tudela, Edgar Rama of Poro, Manuel Santiago of Pilar, Felijur Quiño of Compostela and Aljew Fernando Frasco of Liloan as well as provincial board member Andrei “Red” Duterte.

Liloan native and former mayor Christina Frasco, now the tourism secretary, also flew to London for a world travel mart as Tino approached, but said she returned to the Philippines a day after the typhoon struck.

The death and destruction have drawn the attention of probers, who are adding Cebu and Negros to Bulacan and Oriental Mindoro in the list of priority areas for investigation related to questionable flood control projects.

Perhaps holding people accountable for negligence or corruption can lead to reforms and help prevent a repeat of this tragedy.

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