Civic groups and survivors of Typhoon Tino in Cebu have issued an open letter to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, urging him to order a full investigation into alleged negligence and substandard projects they blame for the deadly flooding.
The letter says the signatories are writing “not as critics and not as opponents, but as survivors,” and appeals for compassion for families who lost homes and loved ones in the storm.
“We, the victims of Typhoon Tino in Cebu, are pleading to be seen, to be heard, and to matter,” the groups said, calling on the president to look at the province “with compassion and genuine concern.”
The letter accuses unnamed officials and developers of turning protected watersheds into “disposable land” and building substandard infrastructure in areas where safety should have been guaranteed. Their “decisions and neglect became the flood that swept away families, dreams, and futures,” it says.
Tino, known internationally as Typhoon Kalmaegi, tore through the central Philippines in early November, triggering flash floods and landslides that left Cebu among the hardest-hit provinces and forced mass evacuations, according to disaster officials and international agencies.
The signatories urge Marcos not to prioritize areas “driven by personal or political interests” over Cebu, stressing that the province’s “suffering has no color” and that their pain “carries no party.”
“We are not asking for favors,” the letter says. “We are asking for justice. For truth. For the dignity of those who did not survive.”
The appeal, ending with the line “Justice for Cebu,” is backed by a range of organizations whose logos appear on the letter, including media, medical and political groups such as the Cebu Press Club, 3-11 Movement, Doctors for Reform and Kilusang Pagbabago Pilipinas.
Cebu Business News
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