Deadly floods that have swamped nearly all of the Philippine capital are less a natural disaster and more the result of poor planning, lax enforcement and political self-interest, experts say.
Damaged watersheds, massive squatter colonies living in danger zones and the neglect of drainage systems are some of the factors that have made the chaotic city of 15 million people much more vulnerable to enormous floods.
Urban planner Nathaniel Einseidel said the Philippines had enough technical know-how and could find the necessary financing to solve the problem, but there was no vision or political will.
“It’s a lack of appreciation for the benefits of long-term plans. It’s a vicious cycle when the planning, the policies and enforcement are not very well synchronized,” said Einseidel, who was Manila’s planning chief from 1979-89.
“I haven’t heard of a local government, a town or city that has a comprehensive drainage masterplan.”
Eighty percent of Manila was this week covered in waters that in some parts were nearly two meters (six feet and six inches) deep, after more than a normal August’s worth of rain was dumped on the city in 48 hours.
Twenty people have died and two million others have been affected, according to the government.
The deluge was similar to one in 2009, a disaster which claimed more than 460 lives and prompted pledges from government leaders to make the city more resistant to floods.
A government report released then called for 2.7 million people in shantytowns to be moved from “danger zones” alongside riverbanks, lakes and sewers. Squatters, attracted by economic opportunities in the city, often build shanties on river banks, storm drains and canals, dumping garbage and impeding the flow of waterways.
The plan would have affected one in five Manila residents and taken 10 years and 130 billion pesos (3.11 billion dollars) to implement.
But squatter communities in danger-zones have in fact grown since 2009.
“With the increasing number of people occupying danger zones, it is inevitable there are a lot people who are endangered when these things happen,” Einseidel said.
He blamed the phenomenon on poor enforcement of regulations banning building along creeks and floodways, with local politicians often wanting to keep squatters in their communities to secure their votes at election time.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Manila, vital forested areas have been destroyed to make way for housing developments catering to growing middle and upper classes, according to architect Paulo Alcazaren.
Alcazeren, who is also an urban planner, said the patchwork political structure of Manila had made things even harder.
The capital is actually made up of 16 cities and towns, each with its own government, and they often carry out infrastructure programs — such as man-made and natural drainage protection — without coordination.
“Individual cities can never solve the problem. They can only mitigate. If you want to govern properly, you must re-draw or overlay existing political boundaries,” he said.
Solutions to the flooding will require massive efforts such as re-planting in natural drainage basins, building low-cost housing for the squatters and clearing man-made drainage systems, the experts said.
“It will cost billions of pesos but we lose billions anyway every time it floods,” Alcazeren said.
Meanwhile, with Environment Secretary Ramon Paje warning that intense rains like those this week will become the “new normal” due to climate change, there have been concerns about the city’s ability to lure and keep foreign investors.
However American Chamber of Commerce president Rhicke Jennings said Manila remained an attractive destination.
“Companies will continue to invest in the Philippines for all its positive qualities,” he said, citing well-trained Filipino staff and pointing out there were key parts of the city with good infrastructure that did not badly flood.
Jennings highlighted the rise of the outsourcing sector in the Philippines as evidence that foreigners would not abandon the country because of floods.
Companies such as JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Accenture have all set up backroom operations in recent years, mostly in slick new parts of Manila where infrastructure is state-of-the art and which did not flood this week.
From virtually nothing a decade ago, 600,000 people are now employed in the outsourcing sector and the industy is expecting that number to more than double by 2016 as more foreign firms move in.
Experts say Philippine floods a man-made disaster
Experts say Philippine floods a man-made disaster
British parliamentarians demand sanctions on Israel in letter to PM
- Group of 96 expresses ‘grave concern over the relentless violence against Palestinians’
- They call for suspending UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement
LONDON: A group of 96 British parliamentarians have demanded sanctions on Israel in a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The letter calls for the imposition of targeted sanctions, a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements, and a suspension of the trade agreement between the two countries.
“We write to express our grave concern over the relentless violence against Palestinians throughout the Occupied Palestinian territory and urge the United Kingdom to respond to Israel’s widespread and systematic violations of international law,” it says.
Citing escalating Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, the letter warns that recent British decisions to sanction settler organizations linked to human rights abuses “fall short of what is needed.”
The UK also risks complicity in Israeli violations of international law due to “continued diplomatic and economic transactions, and ties with Israeli institutions and settler organizations,” it adds.
The signatories called on the government to “move beyond sanctioning individual settlers but sanction state officials, including ministers, and introduce sanctions in respect of the State of Israel.”
The UK must also implement a total ban on trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the letter says, adding that such a move is mandatory based on decisions by the International Court of Justice and the UN, of which the UK is a member state, with both organizations clearly defining settlement-building in the occupied territories as illegal.
London should also suspend the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement, the signatories said, citing the deal’s highlighting of respect for human rights as an “essential element.”
Israel’s breaching of that term means the UK has the “legal right to suspend or terminate its provisions, in whole or in part,” the letter says.
The Council for Arab-British Understanding’s head of parliamentary affairs, Joseph Willits, said: “This letter shows that there is increasing parliamentary support for the UK to take tougher action against Israel.
“As Palestinians face violent erasure, including Israeli imposed genocide, starvation and ethnic cleansing, the UK government simply is not doing enough, and an increasing number of parliamentarians are also coming to this realization.
“What will it take for UK government action to match up with the horrifying situation and systemic violence on the ground, and to act on what parliamentarians, the British public, and most importantly, Palestinians have long been saying?”
Israeli left-wing leader calls for immediate end to Gaza war
- Netanyahu’s government does not represent vast majority of people, Yair Golan says
JERUSALEM: Israeli left-wing opposition leader Yair Golan called on Monday for an immediate end to the Gaza war and said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government no longer represented most Israelis.
“Today the government of Israel does not represent the vast majority of Israelis,” said Golan, chairman of the Democrats party and a former deputy army chief, days before a planned parliament vote which the opposition hopes would trigger a general election.
He told journalists in a briefing that after more than 20 months of fighting, Israel “should end the war as soon as possible.”
Golan’s party, a conglomeration of left-wing factions, has only four seats in Israel’s 120-member legislature, making it one of its smallest political groups.
But in a country where coalition building is essential to achieving a political majority, even relatively small parties can wield considerable power.
FASTFACT
Yair Golan’s party, a conglomeration of left-wing factions, has only four seats in Israel’s 120-member legislature, making it one of its smallest political groups.
Golan, a former deputy minister in a short-lived administration that replaced Netanyahu in 2021-2022, said that the current government — one of the most right-wing in Israel’s history — was a threat to democracy.
The opposition leader said he represents those “who want to save Israeli democracy ... from a corrupted future” and the “messianic-like and nationalistic and extremist vision of a very small faction in the Israeli society.”
“The vast majority wants to keep Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people and at the same time a free, egalitarian and democratic state,” Golan said.
He said that the vast majority of Israelis wanted to see an immediate end to the war in Gaza, the return of all hostages held by Palestinian militants in a single exchange deal, and the establishment of a national commission of inquiry into Hamas’s unprecedented 2023 attack, arguing that the Netanyahu government was opposed to these objectives.
“I believe that we can reach a hostage deal in a matter of days,” Golan said.
“I believe that by ending the war and freeing the hostages, we will be able to build an alternative to Hamas inside the Gaza Strip.”
Criticizing the government’s Gaza war policies, the former army general has recently drawn condemnation in Israel for saying that “a sane country ... does not kill babies for a hobby.”
Golan on Monday also said that most Israelis support legislation that would require ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, who are currently largely exempt from military service, to enlist.
The issue has sparked tension between Netanyahu and ultra-Orthodox parties in his government, with lawmakers threatening to topple the prime minister if no agreement is reached this week.
Some opposition parties are seeking to place a bill to dissolve parliament on Wednesday’s plenary agenda, hoping to capitalize on the ultra-Orthodox revolt.
“The vast majority wants new elections as soon as possible,” Golan said.
What We Are Reading Today: Worlds of Unfreedom by Roquinaldo Ferreira
In “Worlds of Unfreedom,” Roquinaldo Ferreira recasts West Central Africa as a key battleground in the struggle to abolish the transatlantic slave trade between the 1830s and the 1860s.
Ferreira foregrounds the experiences and agency of enslaved Africans, challenging Eurocentric narratives that marginalize African participation in abolition efforts.
Drawing on archival research, he shows how enslaved people resisted the oppressive systems that sought to commodify their lives. He integrates microhistorical analysis with broader world history.
UAE-based comedian Shawn Chidiac brings Dubai ‘comedy gold’ to London audience
- Standup comic’s ‘Laughing in Translation’ will feature a range of accents, personas from the multicultural Gulf city
- ‘Comedy has been the most healing part of my life,’ Chidiac says ahead of 1st solo show of his career
LONDON: For those who want to experience the hustle and bustle of Dubai without actually booking a flight, Shawn Chidiac’s stand-up comedy show in London will offer an insight into the multicultural city that provides inspiration for his jokes and stage personas.
The UAE-based comedian will perform “Laughing in Translation” live at the Shaw Theatre in London on June 15. He told Arab News that storytelling and sharing experiences with the audience are at the heart of his stand-up comedy.
Chidiac began sharing his humorous content on Instagram with the handle “Laughing in Arabic,” aiming to introduce Western satire and wit to the Arab region, where it is often unfathomable. He later changed his username to the more personal @myparents_are_divorced, which has grown to more than 645,000 followers.
The comedian’s parents are, indeed, divorced, though some people question this when they meet him. He was born in Canada to a family originally from Lebanon, which he still visits a few times a year, and he appreciates the resilience it instilled in him, which saved him from ending up “in a ditch many times,” he said.
Chidiac grew up mainly in Dubai with his mother, who at times worked two jobs and started her own business to make ends meet. In this “City of Gold” on the Arabian Gulf, home to 3.65 million people representing over 200 nationalities and speaking 150 different languages, Chidiac sharpened his wit, picked up various accents, and drew inspiration from stories from all walks of life.
Comedy has been the most healing part of my life so far and will continue to heal me in many different ways
Shawn Chidiac
The stand-up comedian tells astonishing stories about life in Dubai. His comedy is inspired by his experiences interacting with people, while his goal is to connect with audiences through shared similarities, or to educate them about his family upbringing, culture, and history.
“The inspiration comes from the people I know and see, and the things I do, and my interaction with them. So, the more interaction I have, the better it is, which is hard because I’m a massive introvert,” he told Arab News in a video call from Dubai.
His upbringing was mainly Arab, but also blends various cultures, mainly from Southeast Asia, as well as European and African countries. He discovered his talent for adopting different personas and accents at a young age when his mother heard him speaking with an Indian-English accent and asked him to perform it for her friends.
The closest he lived to Europe was Sharjah, an emirate just 10 minutes from Dubai, he said. In addition to working in a software company in the UAE, Chidiac also worked for two months in Amsterdam. In 2023, he decided to quit his 9-5 job and become a full-time content creator and stand-up comedian.
Last summer, he performed for the first time in London at Cadogan Hall alongside a group of stand-up comedians, and he recently had two performances at Dubai Opera and in Bahrain.
In mid-June, he will visit London for the second time to perform his first solo show. The audience can expect to see and hear various Dubai characters and their distinct accents, such as an Egyptian salesman in a supermarket, a caring Indian father with his son, a Filipino flight attendant ensuring that seat belts are fastened, and possibly a Persian prince wearing a golden necklace secured by a golden lock.
“I’m connecting as many people as possible through (comedy stories about) my upbringing. Whoever has lived in the Gulf will have a similar story or narrative in their minds… The London audience will be experiencing it live, but in their own way and through their own lenses,” Chidiac said.
He said that UK audiences are spoiled for choice when it comes to stand-up comedy shows, and their “palate” is different from those in Dubai, where most of his audience are first-timers. Nevertheless, he said that it matters to him that they find his show “funny, whether they’re black, white, Asian, or Arab.”
I’m connecting as many people as possible through (comedy stories about) my upbringing. Whoever has lived in the Gulf will have a similar story or narrative in their minds
Shawn Chidiac
Dubai is a popular destination for British expats, with an estimated 240,000 living there and many more visiting the city or using it as a transfer hub. Chidiac is working on his British accents, including one similar to the documentary-maker David Attenborough’s and a thick Cockney version from London’s East End.
In Dubai, he operates “Comedy Kitchen,” a community project that hosts open-mic nights to support other stand-up comedians, and he plans to launch a school to train and teach media skills.
Chidiac said that being a full-time content creator and comedian during the past two years “had its ups and downs.” Still, this has provided him with a solid platform on which to thrive and give back to his family.
“It’s a very scary place to call home, but it has changed my life for the better for sure. I never, never look back with any regrets at all.
“Comedy has been the most healing part of my life so far and will continue to heal me in many different ways,” he said.
* Laughing in Translation by Shawn Chidiac at the Shaw Theatre, London; 8pm, Sunday 15 June 2025
Where We Are Going Today: Korean Palace Restaurant in Riyadh
- The cheese tteokbokki came bubbling in a hot stone bowl, spicy and rich, with gooey cheese melting into the sweet chili sauce
Tucked away on Al-Takhassusi Street, Korean Palace is one of Riyadh’s oldest spots for Korean cuisine, and a nostalgic throwback for those who value flavor over flash.
It’s visibly dated, with worn interiors and a lingering scent that suggests it could benefit from a deep renovation. Still, what it lacks in ambiance, it more than makes up for in taste.
We started with complimentary Korean sides, pickled radish, kimchi, and marinated greens, a generous and flavorful tradition that sets the tone. Then came a table full of classics, each arriving surprisingly fast.
The highlight of the evening? The transparent glass noodles, chewy, perfectly seasoned, and bursting with umami. This was hands down the best dish, and one I’d return for.
The cheese tteokbokki came bubbling in a hot stone bowl, spicy and rich, with gooey cheese melting into the sweet chili sauce.
We also ordered the bibimbap, served hot with colorful vegetables and beef, and the beef sizzling plate, which was tender and satisfying.
The dumplings, delicately wrapped in cabbage leaves, were comforting but mild. The only miss was the tofu soup, which fell flat in flavor and didn’t deliver the depth I expected.
Despite the outdated setting, the overall food quality was impressive. It’s a place that reminds you why people still queue up for spots like this, for food that feels home-cooked, unapologetically traditional, and generously portioned.
Don’t come expecting a trendy hangout. Come for hearty Korean food that gets the job done.
