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A Tale of Two Decades: Typhoons and Floods, Manila and the Provinces, and the Marcos Years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

James F. Warren
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In the second half of the twentieth century, typhoon-triggered floods affected all sectors of society in the Philippines, but none more so than the urban poor, particularly the esteros-dwellers or shanty-town inhabitants, residing in the low-lying locales of Manila and a number of other cities on Luzon and the Visayas. The growing number of post-war urban poor in Manila, Cebu City and elsewhere, was largely due to the policy repercussions of rapid economic growth and impoverishment under the military-led Marcos regime. At this time in the early 1970s, rural poverty and environmental devastation increased rapidly, and on a hitherto unknown scale in the Philippines. Widespread corruption, crony capitalism and deforesting the archipelago caused large-scale forced migration, homelessness and a radically skewed distribution of income and assets that continued to favour elite interests.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 11 , Issue 43 , October 2013 , e3
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2013

References

Notes

1 See James K. Boyce, The Political Economy of Growth and Impoverishment in the Marcos Years (Loyola Heights: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1993); Robin Broad with John Cavanagh, Plundering Paradise The Struggle for the Environment in the Philippines (Berkeley: University of Californian Press, 1993).

2 David M. Kummer, Deforestation in the Postwar Philippines (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1992); Marites Danguilan Vitug, Power from the Forest: the Politics of Logging (Manila: Center for Investigative Journalism, 1993); Michael Williams, Deforesting the Earth: From Prehistory to Global Crisis (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006); David Wurfel, Filipino Politics: Development and Decay (Loyala Heights: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1988).

3 See Micheal H. Glantz, Currents of Change: El Nino's Impact on Climate and Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Ross Couper-Johnston, El Niño: The Weather Phenomenon that Changed the World (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2000); Richard J. Murnane and Kam-Biu Liu (eds), Hurricanes and Typhoons: Past, Present, and Future (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004).

4 Habibul Haque Khondker, ‘Politics, disaster and refugees: the Bangladesh case,’ in Crossing Borders: Transmigration in Asia Pacific, ed. Ong Jin Hui, Chan Kwok Bun and Chew Soon Beng (New York: Prentice Hall, 1995), 173-84; 173.

5 See, Wurfel, Filipino Politics, 114-53.

6 Wurfel, Filipino Politics, 114-53; Area Handbook for the Philippines (Washington: Foreign Area Studies (FAS) American University, 1976), 210-11.

7 Another term for clientalism is patron-client relationships. Cheng-Tian Kuo, Global Competitiveness and Industrial Growth in Taiwan and the Philippines (Pittsburg and London: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995), 79.

8 Stephan Haggard, ‘The political economy of the Philippine debt crisis,’ in Economic Crisis and Policy Choice: The Politics of Adjustment in the Third World, ed. Joan. M. Nelson (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990); cited in Kuo, Global Competitiveness and Industrial Growth in Taiwan and the Philippines, 79.

9 Kuo, Global Competitiveness and Industrial Growth in Taiwan and the Philippines, 79.

10 David G. Timbermann, A Changeless Land: Continuity and Change in Philippine Politics (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), 1991, 91-92.

11 Amelia P. Varela, ‘Different faces of Filipino administrative culture,’ in Public Administration by the Year 2000: Looking Back into the Future, ed. Proserpine Domingo Tapales, Nestor N. Pilar and Leonora D. Romblon (Quezon City: College of Public Administration, University if the Philippines, 1995), 161-77; 174. See also Jon S. T. Quah, Curbing Corruption in Asian Countries: An Impossible Dream? Bingley: Emerald Group publishing Ltd., 2011, 119.

12 David Chaikin and J. Shaman, ‘The Marcos kleptocracy,’ Corruption and Money Laundering: A Symbiotic Relationship, Palgrave, Macmillan, 2009, 153-86.

13 Area Handbook for the Philippines, 66-67. See Daniel F. Doeppers and Peter Xenos, ‘A demographic frame for Philippine History,’ in Population and History: the Demographic Origin of the Modern Philippines, ed. Daniel F. Doeppers and Peter Xenos (Madison: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 1998), 1-16.

14 F. Landa Jocano, Slum as a Way of Life (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1975).

15 Khondker, ‘Politics, disaster and refugees: the Bangladesh case,’ 173. Hurricane Katrina and the fate of the presidency of George Bush is a classic example of how the political environment and a natural disaster interact with one another with unforeseen consequences for all parties concerned.

16 Abby Tan, ‘Typhoons, volcanos add pressure to Marcos,’ The Washington Post, 18 September 1984.

17 ‘Typhoons kills 473 in Philippines,’ The Washington Post, 5 September 1984.

18 Jean Pope ‘Let's talk about the weather,’ Sunday Times Magazine, 26 July 1964, 44.

19 See ‘A brief history of the Philippine Meteorological Service,’ Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services and Administration (PAGASA), online, http://www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/history.shtml, accessed 18 December 2012.

20 Charlotte Benson, The Economic Impact of Natural Disasters in the Philippines (London: Overseas Development Institute, 1997), 94-102.

21 Area Handbook for the Philippines, 120-21.

22 Val Abelgas, ‘Workers start clearing clogged drainage,’ Philippines Daily Express, 25 May 1976. See, Abhas K Jha, Robin Bloch and Jessica Lamond, Cities and Flooding: A Guide to Integrated Urban Flood Risk Management for the 21st Century (Washington D.C.: The World Bank, 2011).

23 ‘Metro Manilans will have to get used to more floods,’ Philippines Sunday Express, 23 May 1976.

24 Greg Bankoff and Dorothea Hilhorst, ‘The politics of risk in the Philippines: comparing state and NGO perceptions of disaster management,’ in Disasters, vol. 33, no. 4 (2009): 686-704.

25 Greg Bankoff,’ A history of poverty: the politics of natural disasters in the Philippines, 1985-1995,’ The Pacific Review, vol. 12, no. 3 (1999): 381-420; 405-11.

26 Anthony Oliver Smith, ‘Anthropological research on hazards and disasters,’ Annual Review of Anthropology, vol. 25 (1996): 303-28; 311-12.

27 E.F. Formento, Jr., ‘Calamity and typhoon Meding. Or what happens when the rains come in torrents,’ The Weekly Nation, 14 September 1970.

28 ‘Lopez to flood areas today,’ The Manila Times, 8 September 1970; Jose V. Barrameda, Jr., ‘The 13th of October, Black Tuesday,’ Graphic, 4 November 1970.

29 Barrameda, ‘The 13th of October, Black Tuesday.’

30 Jose V. Barrameda, Jr., ‘Typhoon Yoling, a cold grey November day,’ Graphic, 9 December 1970.

31 H.D. Suyko, ‘When disaster struck,’ The Weekly Nation, 30 November-7 December 1970.

32 ‘The loneliness of a long distance relief worker,’ The Manila Times, 25 July 1972.

33 ‘After week long ordeal Pangasinan rises,’ no date, no source, Typhoon News Clipping File (TNC), 1970-1975, PAGASA.

34 El Tor is the name given to a particular strain of the bacterium vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera.

35 ‘El Tor threatens flooded towns!’ The Manila Times, 24 July 1972.

36 ‘Says RP must raise P1.8 B,’ no date, The Manila Times, Typhoon News Clipping File (TNC), 1970-1975, PAGASA.

37 Vicente M. Tanedo and Cecilio T. Arillo, ‘Marcos proclaims calamity,’ The Times Journal, 21 May 1976.

38 ‘FL asks for aid to victims,’ The Times Journal, 20 May 1976, Typhoon News Clipping File (TNC), 1976-1978, PAGASA.

39 ‘Information on disaster risk reduction of the member countries,’ Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), 2008, online: http://www.adrc.asia/nationinformation.php?NationCode=608&Lang=en&Mode=country, accessed 18 December 2012.

40 ‘Typhoon kills 473 in the Philippines.’

41 ‘Death toll goes up to 19,’ Times Journal, 18 August 1974; ‘Epidemic outbreak,’ The Manila Times, 25 July 1972, Typhoon News Clipping File (TNC), 1970-1975, PAGASA.

42 ‘FL asks for aid to victims.’

43 ‘FL asks for aid to victims.’

44 M. Casayuran, ‘Storm rakes Central Luzon; exiting today,’ Bulletin Today, 10 October 1978, Typhoon News Clipping File (TNC), 1976-1978, PAGASA.

45 Carl Lande, Leaders, Factions and Parties: The Structure of Philippine Politics (New Haven: Yale University Southeast Asia Monograph Series Number 6, 1966).

46 Area Handbook for the Philippines, 213.

47 Abby Tan, ‘Typhoons, volcanos add pressure to Marcos.’

48 ‘FL asks for aid to victims’; ‘Mrs Marcos surveys damage, airs appeal,’ Philippine Daily Express, 21 May 1976.

49 ‘FL asks for aid to victims.’

50 Manuel A. Caoili, The Origins of Metropolitan Manila: A Political and Social Analysis (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1988), 157-59.

51 David Goldblatt, Social Theory and the Environment (London: Polity Press, 1996), 195.

52 George Caffentzis, ‘On the notion of a crisis of social reproduction: a theoretical review,’ The Commoner, no. 5 (Autumn 2002): 1-22; 2.

53 Kenneth Hewitt, Interpretations of Calamity (Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1983), 123-25.

54 Robert Dirks, ‘Social responses during severe food shortages and famine,’ Current Anthropology, vol. 21, no. 1 (February 1980): 21-44; 27.

55 ‘28 dead in floods and landslide as heavy rains lash Philippines,’ The Seattle Times, 28 June 1985.

56 Benson, The Economic Impact of Natural Disasters in the Philippines, 103-04.