After being called out for allegedly worsening floods, San Miguel Corporation’s Ramon Ang didn’t lash out. He didn’t hide behind lawyers. He did something both admirable and damning: He volunteered to fix Metro Manila’s floods for free.
Free drainage construction. Free clearing operations. Free relocation of homes and schools sitting on waterways. No cost to the government. No cost to the people. Just give him the green light and he’ll get it done.
And that, dear friends and readers, should make you pause.
Why? Because this isn’t just a story about one man’s offer. It’s a mirror reflecting the rot in our governance. We have spent billions in taxpayer money on so-called “flood control projects.” Projects that, according to the President himself, may be marinated in corruption and have produced nothing but deeper floods and shallower excuses. Yet here we are, with a private businessman saying: “Move over, I’ll do it. It’s actually simple. Just clean the drains.” Nakakatawa hindi ba?
Let’s not romanticize this. Ang isn’t doing this out of pure sainthood, he runs massive infrastructure projects, and every flood is bad for business. Hindi po santo si RSA. But at least he has a clear, actionable plan and the resources to back it up. Compare that to our endless government feasibility studies, ribbon cuttings, and “master plans” that never master anything except eating up public funds and pocketing our future.
The more uncomfortable truth is this: If Ramon Ang delivers and makes good on his promise and Metro Manila’s floods recede, it will expose decades of government incompetence for everyone to see. It will prove that the floods weren’t inevitable. They weren’t some act of God. They were the result of a system that’s too busy cashing in on projects to actually finish the job.
So I’ll ask the question bluntly: Do we really need a Ramon Ang to save us from floods, or do we need a government that actually works? Because if the answer is the former, then what we’re drowning in isn’t just floodwater, it’s failure.
