THE universe has a way of reckoning things, from claims made during last month's third State of the Nation Address and being the United States' proxy in our region — where our country is said to be eyed as the superpower's launching pad to protect Taiwan, maintain open sea lanes and face up to China (truly, "we are a friend to all and an enemy to none") — and a Senate president who finally came out and showed his true colors by saying there is no flood control program and blaming the six years of former president Rodrigo Duterte's administration as full of missed opportunities.
Thank you, Typhoon Carina. The storm proved so many things, from fact-checking the 17th president's claim of 5,500 completed flood-control projects under his watch to showing the true colors of the Americans, with the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) not felt at all in terms of relief and humanitarian assistance. It also showed a Senate president who has been in Congress for 23 years and apparently has not heard of the 2004 Comprehensive Flood Control Project Implementation Plan for principal rivers, Action Plan for Medium-Term (2005–2010) Projects and Activities for Long-Term (2011–2030), Asian Development Bank's Integrated Flood Risk Management Sector Project that will assist the government in reducing flood risks in six river basins (Apayao-Abulog and Abra in Luzon; Jalaur in Visayas; and Agus, Buayan-Malungon and Tagum-Libuganon in Mindanao) in 2018, Third Philippines-Japan Joint Committee Meeting on Infrastructure Development and Economic Cooperation in 2017, which included undertakings in the Parañaque Spillway Project, the Cavite Industrial Area Flood Management Project, and the Davao River Basin Flood Control Project? And so much more.
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