In the wake of two powerful typhoons and a devastating earthquake, the Philippines has once again found itself grappling with the dual crises of natural disaster and systemic governance challenges. Over the course of just one harrowing week in November 2025, the country was battered by Typhoon Tino (Kalmaegi) and the even fiercer Typhoon Uwan (Fung-wong), leaving destruction across the Visayas, Palawan, and Luzon islands. At the same time, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Bogo City in Cebu, compounding the suffering of thousands of families already reeling from storm damage.
According to Rappler, Typhoon Tino made landfall on November 4, 2025, resulting in at least 232 deaths and widespread devastation. Just five days later, Typhoon Uwan unleashed its fury on Luzon, exacerbating the already dire situation. The earthquake centered in Bogo City destroyed homes, injured residents, and forced many families to evacuate, seeking shelter along roadsides and in temporary accommodations. The Morente family, residents of Bogo City, saw their home reduced to rubble and one of their children injured. For them, as Jonas Morente shared, “Malaking tulong na ito sa aming pagkain, sa aming pang-araw-araw,” expressing profound gratitude for the relief assistance that helped them survive the immediate aftermath.
More than 9,000 Filipino families affected by these calamities have received critical support from One Meralco Foundation (OMF), the corporate social responsibility arm of the Manila Electric Company. The foundation, in partnership with the Philippine Navy, Alagang Kapatid Foundation, Passerelles Numeriques Philippines, Meralco PowerGen Corporation’s MThermal, and MIESCOR, distributed relief packs and solar lamps to hard-hit areas across Cebu, including Daanbantayan, Tabogon, Tuburan, Bantayan, San Remigio, Toledo, and the island barangay of Gibitngil in Medellin. The Philippine Navy’s BRP Dagupan City LS551 played a vital role in ferrying goods to remote communities, while OMF’s Light Up Pilipinas program provided solar lamps that enabled families to remain productive and students to continue their studies despite prolonged power outages.
The relief operations didn’t stop at Cebu. OMF’s efforts extended to Moises Padilla in Negros Occidental, which bore the brunt of Typhoon Tino, as well as to Naga City, Aurora, Tanudan in Kalinga, Gapan in Nueva Ecija, Baras in Rizal, and Calatagan in Batangas. In Naga City, relief packs for 500 families were delivered through Mayor Leni Robredo, while in Aurora, the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation helped distribute aid to families in Dipaculao and Dinalungan. Fisherfolk in Dingalan received solar lamps to ensure safer night fishing during power outages. In Tanudan, where Super Typhoon Uwan destroyed key bridges, residents formed a human bridge to ensure relief packs reached isolated communities. As OMF President Jeffrey O. Tarayao stated, “Our fellow Filipinos are not alone in this crisis. Through our shared efforts, we are not just delivering relief to help our kababayan, but also building on the incredible strength of communities rising together in the face of difficulty.”
Yet, while the outpouring of aid and community solidarity has been inspiring, the underlying issues that amplify the impact of such disasters remain deeply troubling. As Rappler and the ISEAS—Yusof Ishak Institute have reported, the Philippines’ vulnerability to typhoons and earthquakes is exacerbated by a history of corruption and mismanagement in public works, particularly in flood control projects. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., in his 2025 State of the Nation Address, revealed large-scale corruption in the construction of public infrastructure. Months-long investigations have since uncovered extensive collusion between lawmakers, public works officials, private contractors, and budget authorities.
From 2023 to 2025, so-called “unprogrammed funds” in the national budget ballooned to more than 2 trillion pesos, with pork barrel projects possibly constituting up to 20% of the national budget from 2022 to 2024. These funds, intended as stand-by allocations, have often been used to insert a variety of projects—including flood control initiatives—that are overdesigned, constructed with substandard materials, or, in some cases, do not exist at all. Investigations have found numerous “ghost” projects, particularly in Luzon, that are recorded as completed but are nowhere to be found on the ground.
This proliferation of corruption-ridden and substandard flood control projects has had a direct and devastating impact on the frequency and severity of flooding across the country. Despite the government’s arsenal of climate policies—including the National Climate Change Action Plan, the Sustainable Finance Framework, and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan—implementation has been hampered by both funding constraints and governance failures. In 2025, climate-related expenditures reached a record 1 trillion pesos, yet most of this spending has gone toward adaptation rather than mitigation. In 2023, a staggering 90% of climate-related funds were allocated to “water sufficiency” and “sustainable energy” projects, often including ill-conceived flood control efforts. Meanwhile, critical areas such as food security and ecological stability have been chronically underfunded.
Perhaps most alarmingly, the country still lacks a comprehensive master plan for flood control. A Flood Management Master Plan for Metro Manila was completed in 2013 with World Bank assistance, but the current administration claims it was never endorsed or implemented. This lack of continuity in policies and programs, a byproduct of six-year political cycles, has left the country vulnerable to recurring disasters. Experts warn that major infrastructure projects, such as the New Manila International Airport in Bulacan—built on low-lying, flood-prone land—may actually worsen flooding for surrounding communities. Environmental planners have called for a shift away from piecemeal “flood control” projects toward comprehensive flood management strategies that include nature-based solutions like mangrove protection, river channel revival, wetland restoration, and the relocation of communities living in high-risk areas.
On the international stage, the Philippines hosted the board meeting of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) in 2025, a global initiative aimed at pooling resources to assist countries most affected by severe climate events. Ironically, while the Philippines urges wealthier nations to contribute to the fund, its own domestic climate funds have been plagued by misuse and inefficiency.
As the nation continues to confront the immediate aftermath of disaster, the stories of resilience—like those of the Morente family and the communities that formed human bridges in Kalinga—shine a light on the Filipino spirit. But unless the government tackles the root causes of vulnerability, including corruption in public works and the lack of a unified, forward-looking disaster management strategy, the cycle of destruction and recovery will only repeat with each new storm or earthquake. The road ahead demands not just relief, but real reform.
