IT'S been raining almost non-stop on some days again and it makes us wonder why this is happening since we’re already approaching summer. In years past, there have been early summers beginning by around this month.
But this shearline that’s causing all these rains might just have another purpose. My son suggested that the phenomenon serves to check on whether our publicly-funded projects are being implemented correctly.
If his theory is right, then it would prove that Mother Nature is the greatest auditor of government projects.
After all, who else has the supreme ability to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of publicly-funded projects through natural processes like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, typhoons, landslides and floods?
In 1991, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in Central Luzon caused over P10 billion in damages. Government buildings, schools, roads and bridges were affected, some eventually becoming unusable. Even American military bases in Clark and Subic were closed down for good due to the eruption that left over 800 people dead.
In 2013, super typhoon Yolanda caused massive destruction in Eastern Visayas where 5,924 people perished. Infrastructure facilities were no match to the combined power of cyclone winds and storm surges; even a government evacuation center crashed down on many evacuees who took refuge in it. Overall damage was placed at P89.5 billion.
In 2021, super typhoon Odette struck Cebu, killing 405 people and inflicting P30 billion worth of infrastructure damages. School buildings and ports were widely affected, along with thousands of houses. Damage to agriculture was estimated at P17.8 billion.
And who can forget the earthquake that struck Northern Cebu in October 2025? The magnitude 6.9 tremor affected 700,000 individuals, causing widespread destruction to homes, public infrastructure and essential services amounting to around P16.23 billion.
Finally, there was typhoon Tino in Cebu in November 2025, killing more than 200 persons, destroying 6,730 homes and causing P2.5 billion worth of agricultural damages. Entire communities were flooded, some submerged by nearby rivers whose riprap walls were knocked down, releasing torrential water from the mountains and washing out homes and vehicles.
These and many other calamities revealed that many government-funded projects are questionable. Despite a budget of P26.7 billion on 414 flood control projects since 2019, for instance, Cebu was still inundated by floods last year, prompting Gov. Pamela Baricuatro to conclude that such projects have been “either ghost or substandard.”
In fairness however, Government has made several improvements in the wake of these calamities such as pre-positioning relief goods in calamity areas as well as in making infrastructure projects and urban planning more climate-resilient.
Other measures to address corruption issues that lead to non-existent or weak projects include Sen. Bam Aquino’s blockchain budgeting, transparent budget hearings by Congress and the Senate as well as a stronger and more consultative Bottom Up Budgeting procedures.
We do hope that these courses of action will help us cope with future natural calamities, the Philippines being in the Pacific Ring of Fire and the Western Pacific Typhoon Belt.
Where some state auditors may appear to have missed, we can only pray that the measures which are meant to correct government projects will enable us to pass the life-altering audit that Mother Nature will conduct the next time around.