Arthur Fuentes

Residents go about their daily activities amid knee-to-waist-deep floodwaters in Barangay Tagumpay, Bay, Laguna, on September 1, 2025. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

FLOOD CONTROL - BAY- LAGUNA

Raphael Bosano

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17576834661081757683462820.jpeg" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Residents go about their daily activities amid knee-to-waist-deep floodwaters in Barangay Tagumpay, Bay, Laguna, on September 1, 2025. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Residents go about their daily activities amid knee-to-waist-deep floodwaters in Barangay Tagumpay, Bay, Laguna, on September 1, 2025. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>In July 2025, large parts of the Philippines were once again submerged in floods. It’s an eerily familiar story for many Filipinos.</p><p>Torrential rains and back-to-back storms left Metro Manila and several other provinces flooded, forcing families to flee their homes. This was despite billions of pesos poured regularly into flood control projects for many years. </p><p>Flood control projects are meant to protect both properties and communities, to save lives and spare families from the agony of prolonged flooding. But this was not the case for the residents of Barangay Tagumpay in the Municipality of Bay, Laguna. They are trapped in a cycle of evacuation and return – their lives upended by a problem that government infrastructure has failed to solve. </p><div><strong>Living in flood</strong></div><p>Driving to Barangay Tagumpay, one is greeted by a large arch proclaiming the area as the country’s “garden capital.” Ornamental garden plants and fixtures are sold on the side of the main road.</p><p>But as you drive on, these sights disappear and are replaced by water. It seeps into homes, lingers on streets, and shapes the rhythm of daily life.</p><p>For long-time Barangay Tagumpay resident Melinda Relledo, home is a fragile concept. After weeks of enduring knee-deep water inside her house, she welcomed the chance to clean her floors when the flood momentarily subsided.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175768296712620250901-flooding-brgy-tagumpay-bay-laguna-JC4319.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Residents go about their daily activities amid knee- to waist-deep floodwaters in Barangay Tagumpay, Bay, Laguna, on September 1, 2025. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>It was exhausting work. But it also made her hope that maybe, just maybe, her family could finally return to their home after living for more than a month in a flimsy tent at the local evacuation center. She remembers past floods vividly: six months of displacement, past Christmases spent in a tent.</p><p>“Pagod na, pagod na talaga. Sobra,” she said.</p><p>Relledo and her family share one toilet with at least 20 other families. When nature calls, they can do nothing but wait until the others ahead in the queue are finished.</p><p>“Talagang wala po kami magagawa. Sa hirap po talaga. Pumapatak na lang po ang aming luha dahil nasa evacuation kami. Wala kami sa sariling tahanan.”</p><p>Her neighbor, Issa Balais, is in a worse situation. With their home swamped in a foot of filthy and sometimes foul-smelling floodwater, their family had to build makeshift wooden bridges just to be move around without their feet getting wet.</p><p>But what makes their situation even more heartbreaking is that the perennial flooding has stolen even the simplest joys, especially for her toddler.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175768301588820250901-flooding-brgy-tagumpay-bay-laguna-JC0881.jpg" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Residents go about their daily activities amid knee- to waist-deep floodwaters in Barangay Tagumpay, Bay, Laguna, on September 1, 2025. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>“Pangarap ko po, hindi ito maranasan ng anak ko,” Issa said. “Marami pong pangarap sa anak ko, wala lang akong magawa,” Balais said.</p><p>For Relledo and Balais, floods are not an event but a condition. Each downpour triggers the same fear: Will the water rise again, forcing them back into a crowded temporary shelter? Will their children grow up believing this is normal?</p><p>They are just two of the some five thousand residents in Barangay Tagumpay who live surrounded by unfinished and inadequate flood control projects. Some walls are too short to hold back the lake, while others remain unfinished despite being declared accomplished.</p><p>By late afternoon, dark clouds gather yet again over the town. Fear has never really left families, especially that of Melinda.</p><p>A clap of thunder sends her heart racing.</p><p>“Dasal na lang po kami ng dasal,” she whispered.</p><div><em>This story is part of an ABS-CBN News special documentary on Philippine flood control projects.</em></div><div><br/></div><div><em><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CTz8aDj5HNQ??si=Rd_tTiIVFSwkRYLI&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></em><br/></div>

<p>A resident of Bay, Laguna remembers past Christmases spent in a tent in an evacuation center due to failed flood control projects.</p>

A resident of Bay, Laguna remembers past Christmases spent in a tent in an evacuation center due to failed flood control projects.

Living in water: The families left behind by flood control failures (Part 1)

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Living in water: The families left behind by flood control failures (Part 1)

Raphael Bosano,

ABS-CBN News

Published September 12, 2025 09:29 PM PHT

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Updated September 12, 2025 11:18 PM PHT

Read More:

flood control

Laguna

evacuee

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