The deluge that struck Cebu Metropolis throughout Storm Tino was biblical in proportion. Streets became raging rivers, homes collapsed like matchboxes, vehicles floated like useless fish, and full neighborhoods disappeared below brown, offended waters. Tons of died, hundreds misplaced their properties, and, for a number of horrifying hours, the proud and bustling metropolis of Cebu resembled a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
However right here’s the bitter fact: Storm Tino was not even the strongest storm to hit the Philippines in 2025. The destruction was not purely the doing of nature. It was not the rain alone that killed the individuals of Cebu. The true storm had been brewing for years — in air-conditioned workplaces, within the corridors of metropolis halls, within the boardrooms of actual property builders, and at the hours of darkness corners of political offers. (READ: Storm Tino took all the pieces from her)
The catastrophe that drowned Cebu was the end result of years of white-collar crimes dedicated by those that put on fits as a substitute of masks, wield signatures as a substitute of weapons, and destroy communities not with bullets, however with permits and pens.
Earlier than the flood, Cebu’s skyline was altering. Its mountains and hills — as soon as lush, respiration ecosystems — have been carved and flattened to make approach for unique villages, high-end condominiums, and leisure estates. The hills that after absorbed rainwater have been now paved with concrete. The forests that after guarded town from flash floods have been changed by decorative gates and swimming swimming pools. The builders who dreamed up these initiatives knew precisely whom to speak to in metropolis corridor. They knew whose palms to grease, whose campaigns to finance, and whose silence to purchase.
And so, one after the other, the permits have been authorised. Environmental Affect Assessments, which ought to have raised purple flags, have been signed with indecent haste. Technical committees seemed the opposite approach. Authorities workplaces gave their clearance. The zoning board gave its consent. The native authorities smiled and minimize the ribbon. And, when the rain got here, it washed away not simply properties, however the phantasm of progress.
This — that is the anatomy of white-collar crime.
These are usually not your typical criminals. They’re individuals of schooling and standing, already wealthy and comfy of their lives. They sit on the high flooring of skyscrapers, not within the shadows of darkish alleys. They attend ribbon cuttings, not arraignments. They sponsor scholarships and charity balls, all whereas their backdoor offers strip town of its soul. For them, bribery is enterprise as typical. They wine and dine bureaucrats in five-star lodges. They pitch their initiatives as “progress” and “modernization.” They discuss of “eco-living” and “sustainable growth” at the same time as they bury nature below tons of concrete.
Those that oppose them are both purchased or bullied. Everybody, in spite of everything, has a worth. And for individuals who can’t be purchased, intimidation will do. They use their highly effective allies to silence dissent. It’s the identical script performed out from Manila to Davao: corruption disguised as growth, crime disguised as progress.
On the opposite aspect of this conspiracy sit the federal government officers — the bureaucrats, engineers, environmental officers, and native executives who maintain the keys to public belief. They’re alleged to be gatekeepers. They’re supposed to guard the individuals from greed. They’re supposed to make sure that security requirements are met, that the setting is preserved, that progress is truthful. However, in Cebu, as in so many components of the Philippines, they’ve grow to be companions in plunder.
They settle for bribes. They take pleasure in free journeys and lavish items. They signal paperwork they know will endanger lives. They bend guidelines for “buddies” in enterprise. They justify all of it within the title of financial development. They grow to be, within the truest sense, white-collar criminals — individuals who betray their public duties for personal acquire.
That is what Edwin Sutherland warned about when he first coined the time period white-collar crime: offenses dedicated by individuals of excessive standing in the midst of their occupation. Not like road crimes, which contain violence or theft seen to the bare eye, white-collar crimes are silent and invisible. They function behind closed doorways. They’re crimes of privilege — clear, calculated, and camouflaged by legality. And but, as research have proven, they trigger far larger social hurt.
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In 2024, the Affiliation of Licensed Fraud Examiners estimated that 5% of the world’s annual income is misplaced to occupational fraud — trillions of {dollars} siphoned off by means of deception. Criminologists like Sally Simpson argue that white-collar crimes erode not solely economies but additionally public belief — that invisible material holding society collectively. As soon as belief collapses, the individuals flip cynical. They cease believing in authorities, in regulation, in equity. The injury is non secular as a lot as it’s monetary.
That’s precisely what we see in Cebu. The enterprise developer will say, “We had all of the permits.” Town official will say, “We adopted procedures.” The bureaucrats will say, “We didn’t anticipate the rain to be this robust.” On paper, everyone seems to be harmless. In actuality, everyone seems to be responsible.
White-collar criminals depart behind no fingerprints, however their crimes are written on the panorama — on the flattened hills, the clogged rivers, the drowned barangays. Their handiwork is the mud that now covers Cebu’s streets. Their weapon is paperwork. Their victims are the anonymous, unvoiced poor who dwell within the lowlands — those that by no means attended the hearings, who by no means noticed the permits, who by no means benefited from the initiatives that killed them.
And, nonetheless, nobody will go to jail. Not a single one.
As a result of our justice system loves the poor and fears the highly effective. The road felony who snatches a cellphone will rot in jail. The jeepney driver who blocks visitors will likely be fined on the spot. The sidewalk vendor may have his items confiscated. However the developer who constructed on a watershed? The official who signed the unlawful allow? The contractor who siphoned the drainage funds? They may proceed to dwell in gated communities, untouched, unbothered, and even honored at public occasions.
It’s the identical story I’ve written about earlier than — the selective justice that defines our political tradition. We persecute the powerless and pardon the privileged. We shout about crime, however solely the crimes dedicated in slums, not in workplaces. We despise corruption, however solely when it wears slippers, not fits.
And so, Cebu drowns — not simply in water, however in hypocrisy.
White-collar crimes are tougher to prosecute as a result of they’re typically hidden below layers of legality. Fraudulent contracts are dressed as “public-private partnerships.” Kickbacks are labeled as “consultancy charges.” Even environmental crimes cover behind technicalities — “no direct causal hyperlink between challenge and flood.” And since these crimes contain individuals of affect, investigators tread frivolously, prosecutors hesitate, and judges are “persuaded.”
But, analysis has lengthy proven what we refuse to acknowledge: that white-collar crimes trigger much more financial and human loss than road crimes ever might. Research in america by Karpoff, Lee, and Martin discovered that company fraud can wipe out 10 occasions extra worth in reputational loss than in authorized penalties. And Weisburd and Waring’s work on convicted white-collar offenders confirmed that they typically reoffend as a result of their crimes are seen as “non-serious” — a mere breach of belief, not an ethical crime.
However inform that to the households of Cebu. Inform that to the mom who misplaced her baby within the flood. Inform that to the small vendor whose retailer was washed away. Inform that to the employees now digging mud from their ruined properties.
The price of white-collar crime is measured not in pesos, however in lives.
And, but, the perpetrators stay free. As a result of our system — from its police, to its prosecutors, to its politicians — was constructed by the identical individuals who profit from corruption. It’s a cycle of impunity bolstered by silence, cash, and selective outrage.
We are able to solely hope that the flood awakens us. That the Cebuanos, and the remainder of us Filipinos, lastly see the sample. That we perceive that corruption is not only an ethical challenge — it’s a survival challenge. Each bribe, each shortcut, each signed allow exchanged for favors, brings us nearer to the subsequent catastrophe.
We blame nature when it rains too laborious. However perhaps it’s not the heavens which are offended — it’s the land, poisoned by our personal greed.
When the waters recede, the poor will rebuild their properties. The wealthy will rebuild their towers. The officers will rebuild their reputations. And the cycle will proceed — except we lastly study that the true calamity shouldn’t be the storm, however the corruption that got here lengthy earlier than it.
As a result of, on this nation, the floodwaters might finally dry.
However the crimes of the highly effective — these stay unpunished.
– Rappler.com
Raymund E. Narag, PhD, is an affiliate professor in criminology and felony justice on the Faculty of Justice and Public Security, Southern Illinois College, Carbondale.
