Manila (ENI). Philippine church leaders have blamed “man’s sins” as the cause of massive floods following a tropical storm that claimed more than 240 lives and adversely affected almost two million people.

The floods submerged most of metropolitan Manila and neighboring provinces following the nine-hour storm “Ketsana” on 26 September, locally known as “Ondoy”. The damage was “primarily caused by man’s sins of social irresponsibility, neglect, opportunism, laziness and lack of vision,” Bishop Benjamin Justo of the United Methodist Church told Ecumenical News International on 30 September.