Cebu responses to “PLUNDERSTORMS”

Continuing thunderstorms/floods in the Philippines have uncovered/exposed “PLUNDERSTORMS” – a term introduced by Catherine Ruiz of Kaabag sa Sugbo - to describe decades-long, deeply entrenched/widely spread systemic plunder of public funds for flood control/management, possibly, other government infrastructure projects as well.

Some of Cebu’s significant responses to corruption/plunderstorms:

“THIS IS NOT NORMAL” – from University of the Philippines Cebu Chancellor Leo Malagar delivered on September 10 for the 27th UP Visayas Regular University Council Meeting.

“I stand before you today not with pride, but with a heavy heart. I am deeply troubled/even shaken, by what we continue to see outside the University.

“I speak of the rot that eats away at our society — the graft/corruption that has become so normalized that people shrug their shoulders as though nothing is wrong.

“Look at the flood-control projects meant to safeguard lives/protect families—works that should bring order in the face of disaster.

“What do we see?

“Too often, nothing at all: ghost projects that exist on paper but not on the ground. And when something appears, roads are dug/left unfinished; embankments collapse after a single rain.

“Public funds are spent, yet floodwaters rise—higher/faster/deadlier.

“This is not just bad governance. This is theft.

“Theft not only of public funds, but of our people’s dignity/their trust/their future.

“Funds that could have built classrooms, strengthened medical benefits, improved facilities, offered just pay, secured housing for workers and teachers— all stolen, diverted/wasted.

“Instead of saving lives, these funds enrich pockets. Instead of empowering communities, they drown them in floodwaters.

“Instead of nurturing hope, they perpetuate despair.

“And yet, disturbingly, we begin to treat these things as ordinary. As if this is just how things are. As if corruption is a fact of life, like the rain or the tide.

“But no, this is not normal. This must never be normal. We should grieve to tears.

“We should ask ourselves, what kind of society are we preparing our students to inherit if even we—who claim to be the intellectual conscience of the country—begin to accept this as the way things are?

“Shall we, the faculty of the national university, remain silent while our people drown, both in floodwaters/in corruption?

“No. Silence is complicity. We must rise/must awaken.

“We must teach that integrity is not negotiable/that excellence without honor is empty/that corruption is violence — violence against the poor/the vulnerable/against the nation’s soul.

“History will ask of us: Where were you when corruption was killing your country?

“Our University must answer: We were there. We stood. We spoke. We fought. We taught. We refused to look away. Let us break this culture of silence. Let us call corruption by its real name: evil. And let us commit that here in UP Cebu, we will not look away/we will not shrug/we will not grow numb.

“Let us stand together as a University Council, let us awaken our students/awaken Cebu.

“For this is not normal. And we must never allow it to become normal.”

From PAYONG (Panaghiusa sa Yanong Sugbuanon Batok sa Korapsyon), a convergence of grassroots organizations/youth groups/religious sectors/professionals/business leaders/workers/farmers/fisherfolk, these press statement excerpts, this united call:

“CEBUANOS DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY: CORRUPTION IN FLOOD CONTROL PROJECT MUST END. STOP CORRUPTION NOW!

“PAYONG stands as the people’s umbrella—a shield against the storm of corruption/a force for transparency/justice/good governance.

“This is not just a protest; it is a movement.

“Join us. We invite all citizens who believe that public service must be clean/honest/truly in service of the people to stand with us/join us for an indignation rally September 14, 2025 at Plaza Independencia so that our collective outrage will be heard!

“The floodwaters may rise, but so will the people. Let this be a warning to the corrupt: Your time is up. The people are watching. The people are rising.”