Yes you are right...Filipinos are bright, positive and optimistic......but all these improvements have not been done since years...due to government money not invested properly or corrupted politicians... from the very high level to the barangay captain.
Having a house in Philippines since 12 years, how many times i have seen infrastructure works taking years...government money disappearing when it was supposed to reach the barangay for local infractures (local road, school, bridge...)..., mayors or governors preferring to ask to destroy perfectly fine roads and pour concrete again just before reelection to show that they have done something to their electors instead of to launch a new and useful infrastructure project. Unfortunately, these disasters and the misery will happen again and again.
I just think Filipinos deserve so much better than the corrupt and inefficient government that they got. To be fair, the Philippines is no longer regarded as the "Sick man of Asia" as its economy has picked up steam in the last decade. Still, it lags behind quite a few Southeast Asian countries in living standard criteria, like access to education, healthcare and so forth. The local economy also hasn't generated enough jobs with adequate income, otherwise Filipinos would not need to travel overseas for work in such numbers. Its a shame, since I find Filipinos are one of the hardest working folks I know of. They deserve a lot better from their government.
In Manila there is an area next to the river which was deliberately set aside to be flooded during typhoons when they build up the sides of the banks going through the city (so the city was not flooded in heavy rain). It did not rain much for a few years, so people used this "spare land" to build shanties. And were then washed away in a major typhoon a few years back. It was bizarre. A mix of authorities not moving people from dangerous areas and people not using common sense in where they build their shacks. Lack of money for typhoon proof housing. Drains filled with rubbish (lack of rubbish collection facilities). Many causes.
On top of that, regulations that are intended to "prevent corruption" actually also prevent "anything" happening. Our power station is given the ash to the local authorities for road building (ash is really good for roads). But we cannot get anything to happen until all the various layers of regulation have been approved, which is taking months or years. Meanwhile, the communities have dirt roads which wash away in floods.
There are loads of man made own goals but it should be remembered that few countries would survive the onslaught of super typhoons, volcanoes, earthquakes, floods..... Japan would be one of the few exceptions.
The severe damage this time is related to it immediately following a super typhoon.