Quezon City — Last Saturday’s sudden deluge in Quezon City saw 141 millimeters of rain fall in just one hour—five days’ worth of rainfall compressed into 60 minutes. PAGASA confirmed that the peak one-hour downpour of 121 mm even exceeded Typhoon Ondoy’s record intensity. The resulting flash floods once again exposed how unprepared and vulnerable our communities remain in the face of escalating climate impacts.
Reacting to this, Greenpeace campaigner Jefferson Chua said:
“One-fourth worth of Ondoy’s rains in one hour is definitely not normal. But what makes this disaster even more enraging is that billions of pesos supposedly spent on flood-control projects have done nothing to protect communities. These projects have become nothing more than illicit revenue streams for corrupt politicians and billionaire contractors, while ordinary people pay the price in lost income, lost homes, and even lost lives. It is also beyond infuriating that these actors continue to escape accountability while the country faces escalating climate impacts, and now with the looming La Niña conditions, there’s little time left to repair or redo flood-control projects.
“The climate crisis is getting worse. Filipinos cannot keep suffering the double burden of corruption and corporate impunity. Apart from setting up independent commissions to investigate these scandalous anomalies, President Marcos should take a step further and pursue the obligations of states to protect citizens from human rights harms due to climate impacts, as stated in the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion (ICJAO). In doing so, the state may regulate, demand loss and damage payment, or seek reparations from climate polluters. The more the president doesn’t take these obligations seriously, the more taxpayers pay for climate damages. Aside from investigating anomalous contracts and ensuring corrupt officials and contractors are made to face legal consequences, the President must also pursue accountability from the biggest polluters.”
Greenpeace continues to call on President Marcos Jr. to:
- Hold corrupt officials and contractors accountable for mishandling flood control projects.
- Enable cities and communities to build climate resilience by:
- Updating infrastructure and establishing early warning systems.
- Decentralizing climate information for better local planning.
- Strengthening community-based disaster risk reduction and response, integrating nature-based solutions co-created with residents.
- Protect natural ecosystems and transition businesses away from extractivist and environmentally damaging business models, and towards systems that prioritize the balance of nature and the wellbeing of people and communities.
- Demand climate loss and damage payments from fossil fuel companies and wealthy nations, championing mechanisms like the Climate Damages Tax to ensure corporations pay for loss and damage.
- Call for an end to oil and gas expansion and a fossil fuel phase-out, transitioning away from extractivist models towards systems prioritizing nature and community well-being.
- Steer the country towards a just transition.
- Expedite the passage and enactment of the Climate Accountability Bill (CLIMA Bill).
- Initiate legal action against major oil and gas companies for climate impact damages to the Filipino people.
For requests for interviews and other information, please contact:
James Relativo, Communications Campaigner
Greenpeace Southeast Asia – Philippines
[email protected] | +63919 069 3424 (Viber & WhatsApp)