Look at that river beside Baclaran Church. Not water. Garbage.

A sea of plastic, styrofoam and every kind of refuse imaginable—washed together by the rains from Manila Bay. We keep blaming the monsoon, climate change and “baradong kanal.” But rain didn’t create this garbage. People did. And government allowed the system to fail.

A modern metropolis can build railways, bridges and skyscrapers—but apparently cannot keep its waterways from becoming open garbage dumps. Then the flood comes. We spend millions cleaning up the mess. Take photographs. Issue statements. And wait for the next storm to do it all over again.

This isn’t just an environmental failure. It is a governance failure. The river is telling us exactly where our priorities are. And right now, we are literally drowning in them.

The rain may be natural. The garbage is man-made. And the failure to prevent it is institutional.