Ghosts we have to face: An introduction to the trilogy

THE PHILIPPINES is haunted not by spirits, but by the ghosts of warnings ignored and promises broken.

- By Lucky Wilmar L. Cimatu

For decades, scientists and global institutions sounded the alarm: climate change would bring stronger storms, rising seas, and catastrophic floods. The United Nations (UN) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urged nations to act, emphasizing that developing countries like the Philippines must prioritize adaptation.

Yet here we are, facing the same devastation year after year. Why? Because adaptation the shield that could have saved lives remains weak, underfunded, and often lost in the maze of bureaucracy and corruption.

"Ghosts We Have to Face" is a trilogy about these failures. It is about the signs we saw, the commitments we made, and the reality we now endure. It is about ghost projects flood control systems that exist only on paper and the haunting truth that the government has failed to protect its people.

This series unfolds in three acts:

1. The Warning of Climate Change How decades-old alarms from the UN and IPCC foretold the crisis we now face.

2. The Ghosts We Live With - A haunting look at recent typhoons like Uwan and Tino, and the phantom flood control projects that never came to life.

3. The Help; The Demand The urgent call for accountability, climate justice, and a shift from reactive recovery to proactive resilience ending the political tug-of-war, the civil war of priorities, and the drama that only benefits those in power.

PART 1: WARNING OF CLIMATE CHANGE

"There will be floods, one after another. Be prepared."

For decades, the world warned us. Scientists, the United Nations, and the IPCC sounded the alarm: climate change would bring stronger storms, rising seas, and catastrophic floods. The message was clear prepare now, or pay later. Yet here we are, still drowning in the same cycle of devastation.