When floodwater rises and winds turn feral, the only communication that matters is the kind your neighbor understands as he secures his roof and braces for impact. I have argued for years that two simple ideas—hyperlocalization and pedestrianization—save lives. A life-threatening typhoon makes the case plainly: we need pedestrian logic, we must speak the barangay language, and people need directions they can follow with soaked feet in the dark.
Yesterday, in my pre-typhoon roadshow with Radyo Pilipinas Iloilo, RMN Iloilo, Bombo Radyo Iloilo, and Bombo Radyo Roxas, I campaigned for a shift we should have made long ago: translate science into the language of action. Those conversations surfaced what our communities have long intuited but rarely named. First, many scientists and meteorologists are not trained to speak beyond technical jargon; precision is their craft, but clarity for laypeople is a different discipline. Second, LGUs and their disaster teams are seldom equipped to turn that precision into local, actionable instructions. Third, our communication mediators—radio, TV, and social—are unevenly prepared for science communication. And fourth, the academe, which should bridge expertise and the public, too often sits in a silo far from the storm.
We live on a restless archipelago—more than twenty typhoons a year, with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions woven into our seasons. Communication cannot be an afterthought. It is the circulatory system of mitigation: it carries intent from the top to the beat and lived realities of neighborhoods at the bottom, and it returns ground truth to policy so plans evolve. Where language is shared, coordination is fast; where language fractures, response stumbles.
A Local Coalition for Plain-Language Warnings
Here in Iloilo, I’m offering to help convene the people who can fix this: PAGASA voices and university researchers; LGU disaster risk-reduction teams; radio anchors and newsroom editors; school principals and church leaders; transport, health, and barangay captains. Give us one table and a clear mandate. I’ll facilitate the conversation pro bono if a government office is willing to take the lead.
This conversation should not be limited to the same faces. Bring in stakeholders from the barangays, public markets, farms, uplands, and islands. Let’s have real, grounded, and honest exchanges.
Design Thinking + Systems Thinking
We will use Design Thinking to listen first and prototype plain-language warnings rooted in local idiom and geography. We will use Systems Thinking to map the whole communication chain—who needs to know, in what order, through which channels, with what feedback loop—and design it so no message dies in a silo. Then we test in one municipality, iterate after each weather bulletin, and only then scale. Hyperlocal first, portable second.
Innovation here is not an app; it is a discipline—human-centric, iterative, agile, and integrative. We will build on what already works, with cultural sensitivity. We will draw from indigenous Ilonggo wisdom, improve what is effective, and scale it so people in urban centers benefit as much as those in the mountains, along the shores, and on the islands.
A Call to the Universities
In my conversation with Radyo Pilipinas Iloilo, I strongly urged universities with mass communication programs to take science, disaster, and crisis communication seriously. We call on West Visayas State University, Central Philippine University, the University of the Philippines Visayas, and other universities in the province to heed this call. We need more communicators who can help us adapt to a VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) world. As climate change brings more extreme events, we must save lives through better communication.
Instead of producing graduates solely for commercial media and advertising, let us mentor more who will serve as future government and community communicators. Rather than training them to be entertainment content creators, let’s train them to be the bridge between science and communities.
The Invitation
If you are an LGU or agency ready to host this work in Iloilo, let’s discuss. Let’s build a communication system that walks at the pace of our people, speaks in their tongue, and arrives before the water does.
Ken Lerona is a business and innovation leader with over 20 years of experience. He conducts talks and workshops for private and government organizations and advises on innovation and reputational risk management. Connect with him on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/kenlerona.
