Kuala Lampur, Sept. 26 -- Not all things are always quiet on the Asean front. This despite a successful Asean Economic Ministers Meeting (AEM).

On September 21, tens of thousands of Filipinos braved the sun and rain to gather in Manila's Luneta Park and later along the EDSA thoroughfare.

Their protest - the "Trillion Peso March" - was not only a cry against systemic graft but also a howl of anguish at nature's unforgiving fury.

In the Philippines, one of the most climate-exposed countries on earth, the twin burdens of corruption and climate change now feed off each other in a vicious cycle.

The immediate trigger for this outrage was the failure of flood infrastructure during the monsoon season, when three storms wreaked havoc in July....