​Floods of Greed, Failures of Duty: Part 3

By: Atty. Jose Manolo V. Garcia
Founding and Managing Partner (GERA LAW)

​Floods do not come from the heavens, they come from greed, neglect and the failure of duty. This 3-part series breaks down why we drown, who should be held responsible and why accountability is not optional.

Part 3 
​ No Escaping Responsibility. Accountability Is Not Optional

Enough excuses. Enough finger-pointing. Accountability is not charity, it is justice.
And when leaders fail, they must answer to the people they have abandoned.

We cannot keep treating floods as random misfortunes. They are the predictable result of greed & negligence. And accountability is not optional, it is the only way communities can heal, rebuild & prevent the same tragedies from happening again.
 
So what now?
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Are Filipinos forever condemned to mop up mud, junk their cars & shoulder repairs after every flood, while the real culprits sip wine on ill-gotten wealth? Ganun na lang ba palagi? A cycle of suffering for the people & a cycle of plunder for those in power?

Again, floods in this country are not acts of God. They are the CAUSE OF THE CAUSE OF THE CAUSE, corruption disguised as public service, ghost projects paraded as flood control, billions pocketed by contractors, tongressmen & their nepo heirs. The proximate cause is negligence, the ultimate cause is greed.

And the law is not blind to this. LGUs are suable. Contractors are suable. Public officials who conspire in plunder are suable. Under the Civil Code, negligence that causes damage is actionable. Under the Local Government Code, drainage & flood control are ministerial duties, not favors. And under every principle of justice, the government cannot shift the burden of its own failure to ordinary Filipinos already drowning in hardship.

Accountability is not optional, it is a legal imperative.

Why should the jeepney driver whose unit was submerged, the call center worker whose car loan now rusts in the garage, the sari-sari store owner whose goods floated away, pay the price of another’s theft? The government has funds, in fact, our funds. The people should not have to beg insurers or pawn belongings to repair what corruption destroyed.

It is time to test the law, not just lament the loss. 

A class suit for damages, in the strict sense, may stumble, because each victim’s car, home, or livelihood loss is individualized. But a taxpayers’ suit? That is where the law bites. Under long standing jurisprudence, when public funds are misused or wasted, any taxpayer has the standing to sue, in behalf of all, to demand accountability & to stop the hemorrhage of corruption. Flood control funds are public funds. Their misuse is not only a political crime, it is a legal wrong every Filipino taxpayer has the right to challenge.

Mga ordinary Pinoys should not be forever victims of engineered disasters.

Tama na.

Floodwaters may rise, but so will accountability. And when the people demand recompense in law, in court, in history, the defense of act of God will no longer save those whose acts of greed caused the deluge.
 
We cannot afford silence. We cannot afford excuses. Accountability is not optional,  it is the only way forward.