A powerful shift is taking place in how journalists cover disasters in the Philippines, particularly in Cebu. Following a devastating series of natural calamities in late 2025, a method known as resilience reporting is gaining crucial importance. This approach moves beyond traditional narratives of survival and community spirit to ask harder questions about prevention and responsibility.
What is Resilience Reporting?
Resilience reporting represents a fundamental change in disaster coverage. Instead of focusing solely on how communities 'bounce back' or the inspiring 'bayanihan' spirit, it digs into the root causes of devastation. Organizations like the Solutions Journalism Network define it as reporting that examines responses to social problems and critically assesses their effectiveness.
When applied to disasters, this means journalists look not just at how people cope in the aftermath, but at whether governments, institutions, and private entities fulfilled their duties before the catastrophe hit. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, through its Sendai Framework, defines true resilience as the capacity to prevent, mitigate, and prepare for risks. By this standard, the widespread damage seen in Cebu indicates a failure of resilience, not its presence.
The Cebu Context: Earthquakes, Typhoons, and Unanswered Questions
The urgent need for this type of journalism is starkly clear in Cebu. The final quarter of 2025 brought a massive earthquake with numerous aftershocks, followed by a typhoon that triggered deadly flash floods across the province and metro Cebu. The familiar, heartbreaking scenes of residents cleaning mud from their homes and thousands being displaced became a grim routine.
However, resilience reporting insists these are not just stories of human endurance. They are evidence of systemic failure. The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma warns that constantly praising victims for their coping can unintentionally 'normalize' suffering and let those in power off the hook—a practice critically termed 'resilience washing.'
Following the Money: The Critical Role of Local Media
In Cebu, resilience washing is not an option because crucial information on accountability is already emerging. Investigative reports, notably from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), have documented how Cebu's members of the House of Representatives received enormous allocations for infrastructure projects in recent national budgets. These funds were meant for projects like flood control and drainage systems.
When flash floods from Typhoon Tino on November 4, 2025, still overwhelmed communities, resilience reporting demands follow-through. Key questions must be answered:
- Where did the massive allocations for flood control actually go?
- Were the funded projects appropriate for the known risks?
- Who were the contractors, and was the work completed properly?
Local newsrooms in Cebu have a vital role. They are best positioned to localize these findings, track the answers, and keep the issue in the public eye. Investing reporting resources into the causes of disasters ultimately does more to protect the public than any number of inspirational human-interest stories published after the damage is done.
