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EDITORS DESK
If there’s anything the past few weeks have made painfully clear, it’s this: Climate change is no longer a looming threat. It’s already here and it’s drowning us.
Tropical storm Crising was the headline, but it was the habagat—the southwest monsoon it dragged in—that brought more damage to different sectors. Over ₱1.9 billion worth of agricultural damage, another ₱9.4 billion in infrastructure losses, and 31 lives lost, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. States of calamities were declared in nearly 200 cities and municipalities across the country.
These aren’t just numbers. These are homes washed out, harvests ruined, and families grieving.
PAGASA reported record rainfall in just a short span, overwhelming drainage systems and turning major cities, including Metro Manila, into inland seas. Work and school came to a halt. A total of 1,045 areas suspended classes, while 911 areas saw work stopped. These were not precautionary suspensions; they were reactive, an attempt to keep people safe from impassable roads and rising floodwaters.
The experience also hit close to home. A colleague of mine was stuck along NLEX for over seven hours with no nearby rest stops and food mart, just stranded in the bus while the rain poured nonstop. Another waded through knee-deep water along España Boulevard, hoping side streets would offer relief. They didn’t. Stories like these played out across the country as well.
Last week, PAGASA tracked three tropical storms—Crising, Dante, and Emong—in just a couple of days. If this becomes the new normal, we’re looking at a future of compounding disasters, one after the other, with barely time to recover in between.
According to PAGASA Administrator Dr. Nathaniel Servando, these are already the effects of climate change. He explained that average air temperatures in the Philippines have been rising consistently, in step with global warming. “When the temperature of our oceans is high, it produces more water vapor, which fuels tropical cyclones to become more intense. Of course, more water vapor means we will experience heavier rainfall when there is climate change or global warming,” he said in Filipino.
Dr. Servando also pointed to a new and worrying trend: tropical cyclones hitting places they never used to. “Even the southern portion of the country—Mindanao—has started to be affected by tropical cyclones. In the past, we never raised storm wind signals even in the Davao Region. This is one of the clear manifestations of the effects of climate change,” he added.
Were we prepared? How about those so-called flood control projects that were supposed to protect us?
President Marcos ordered an investigation into possible corruption in flood control projects during his fourth State of the Nation Address, which he says has failed Filipinos. “I clearly see that many flood control projects failed and collapsed,” the President said. “And others are just imaginary. Let’s not pretend, the public knows there are rackets in these projects, kickbacks and initiatives.”
“To those who are colluding to seize public funds and steal the future of Filipinos, have shame toward your fellow Filipinos. Have shame for our countrymen who were swept away or submerged with floods,” the President declared.
What this tells us is that the systems we’ve also relied on—our flood maps, our weather calendars, even our mental timelines of storm seasons—no longer apply. The rules have changed, and the climate is rewriting the script in real time.
We cannot afford to treat these weather events as isolated incidents or unfortunate accidents of nature. They are signals — urgent, destructive, and loud. Climate change isn’t something we’re waiting for. It’s the flood we’re already wading through.
(Rey Robes Ilagan is the editor of Manila Bulletin’s Lifestyle, Environment and Sustainability sections.)
