All my life, I experienced flooding annually. I would blame my parents for choosing a bad place for a house. I got traumatized by the rain, flood, and wind brought by typhoons in the Philippines. Then, all this corruption in flood control in the news showed up. And, I realized, my parents were not the problem. They did what they thought was best.

It’s enraging, nakakagalit. It has shown me how brutally those people are using taxpayers’ money for their own benefit. You see, flooding not only kills people through flash floods or erosion, but also indirectly kills people through hunger or sickness.

For years, I was always worried our house would be destroyed by the flood on top of my sick father. I grew up anxious about the rain, and so did those who had the same experience. I remember lining up in a queue to get relief goods with the politician’s name or face, or getting to a crowded area only to beg for that little money that could barely afford a week’s worth of dialysis. I swear, getting some money for a dialysis session was like begging. And, we couldn’t even afford to protest for begging the taxpayers’ money.

But, the billions of pesos going to the pockets of these corrupt individuals are the cause of the death of many. I saw my father telling us not to bother spending money on him, and I know that when he got bedridden, he was considerate enough to think about our welfare that he thought he’d be a hassle to us when the flood entered the house again. This is just a lone example. How much more those families who are poorer than us? They think that these politicians giving us little from the taxpayers’ money are their heroes, not knowing that they’re the very cause of why we got into that situation. Those individuals who are fighting fair would endure the bare minimum in an evacuation center when the flood destroyed their homes and would rather choose to die instead of going to the hospitals. If this money were only used to brace the Philippines in every typhoon, my family and other average and poor families wouldn’t be so stressed out about where to get money if their basic needs are destroyed by a flood.

It’s a sad reality that takes time to understand. But, I hope this issue does not die down and the beginning of a better flood control project or a health care system.