A Corrupt Political Class Is Ransacking the Philippines
Filipinos have been protesting against the theft of public funds for flood defenses by corrupt politicians. The protesters face a political class whose leading figures, President Bongbong Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte, are now bitter enemies.
After storms Bualoi and Ragasa hit the Philippines, people took to the streets to give voice to their anger at government officials. (Daniel Ceng / Anadolu via Getty Images)
Sitting on the boundary of the Pacific’s Ring of Fire, the Philippines is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. Volcanic activity, earthquakes, and tsunamis are all real and present risks across the vast island chain.
Typhoons, on average, batter the country more than twenty times a year. Though they are comparatively easy to predict, the regularity and ferocity of these storms call for extensive planning and an understanding across Filipino society that when the typhoon hits, you batten down the hatches and stay inside.
In September came tropical storm Bualoi, followed almost immediately by super typhoon Ragasa, which killed more than a dozen people. Ragasa forced hundreds of thousands more to evacuate and destroyed critical infrastructure across enormous areas before moving northwest toward Taiwan, Hong Kong, and southern China.
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