'WE can't keep doing the same things we did before. It doesn't work anymore. We have to think of new things to do. We need to be more attuned to understand the problem of climate change.' This is what President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in Filipino at the August 7 situation briefing on typhoon-affected areas in Pampanga. We witnessed on live television how the President was adamant about creating long-term and lasting solutions to our constant battle with flooding, erosion, and the impacts of severe storms and prolonged rains. He said seasonal dredging was 'temporary and exceedingly expensive.'

In an exchange with Pampanga Fourth District Rep. Anna York Bondoc, who opposed former public works secretary Rogelio Singson's proposal of constructing a 200-hectare water impounding area in the Candaba Swamp, the President laid down a strong and clear message: 'The weather is changing. We are not going back to the way it was before. This is climate change. I'm sorry this is bad news.' In the Philippines, we have a front row seat to climate change.