Dwelling close to rivers and creeks, Caloocan Metropolis residents are left with few decisions each time heavy rain falls: defend as many valuables as attainable, keep on a better flooring, or evacuate. And to them, this isn’t new — it has been the drill for many years.
Marieta Horbino, 61, had the precise expertise when the southwest monsoon or habagat confirmed its wrath in late July, bringing waist-deep floods to their space.
“Hinaharangan lang namin sa could hagdan [sa pinto]. Aantabayanan namin kasi aakyat din kami rito sa kapatid kong could second flooring, kaso ‘yung ibang gamit, hindi [naitaas agad],” she shared.
(We simply blocked the steps in entrance of the door. We have been monitoring as a result of we have been purported to go as much as the second flooring of my sibling’s home, however a few of our belongings weren’t moved to increased floor on time.)
Horbino lives in a subdivision bordered by a creek in Barangay 167, which drains to the Meycauayan River in Bulacan. A drainage system can also be proper in entrance of their house.
The entire subdivision, she recalled, acquired flooded, with waters neck-deep on the nook main out of their avenue.
Caloocan’s historical past with floods dates again to at the least half a century in the past, when most of its lands have been nonetheless fishponds. Because the inhabitants elevated quickly, the ponds have been reclaimed to erect new homes. Quickly, this follow disrupted the pure movement of water, diverting it into residential areas.
Having naturally smooth soil, some barangays within the metropolis are actually close to or beneath sea degree. Rivers and creeks numbering within the 20s additionally movement by means of town.
In Barangay 165, Jennifer San Antonio, 34, has been accustomed to the open creek in entrance of their home overflowing throughout heavy rain.
“Dito kami pinanganak,” San Antonio mentioned. “Gano’n talaga dati pa. Umasa ka na ‘pag umulan, babaha talaga, kasi noong maliit pa ko, bumabaha na talaga rito.”
(We have been born right here. It’s all the time been like this. We count on that when it rains, our space will actually get flooded, as a result of it’s all the time been flood-prone since I used to be a toddler.)
Mahar Lagmay, govt director of the College of the Philippines Resilience Institute, mentioned land subsidence, or the gradual sinking of land as a consequence of underground water extraction, additionally performs a key function in persistent flooding.
“Within the early 2000s, [the ground sank at] about 4.5 centimeters per yr in Caloocan. Now, I feel it’s about 1 cm per yr,” he advised Rappler.
In 1990, a Philippine authorities feasibility examine completed with help from the Japan Worldwide Cooperation Company tagged the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela) subregion as a “excessive precedence space” for flood management tasks, prompting pressing mitigation methods.
Nonetheless, after many years of pricey infrastructure and unrealized plans, Caloocan residents proceed to undergo.
Excessive hopes, increased waters
The Division of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) began planning for a Camanava-wide flood management venture in 1997, which aimed to mitigate flooding from 90% to fifteen%.
With a P3.097-billion finances, the venture led to the development of floodgates and dikes alongside rivers and creeks as boundaries, pumping stations for redirecting water, and drainage techniques to facilitate smoother water movement. River partitions and bridges have been additionally raised.
On paper, it was designed for excessive climate circumstances. Nevertheless it was capped at dealing with floods with a 30-year return interval, or a few 1-in-30 probability of occurring in any given yr, falling quick of its promise.
In 2009, Tropical Storm Ondoy (Ketsana) introduced excessive tide that exceeded a navigational gate’s design tide degree of 12.1 meters. Three years later, in 2012, the southwest monsoon triggered a 100-year flood, or an occasion with solely a 1% probability of occurring in any given yr, surpassing the venture’s design parameters.
These two incidents prompted the Fee on Audit (COA) to launch a residents’ participatory audit in 2013, which revealed that the venture “had not utterly mitigated the flooding” due to structural and design deficiencies.
In response to Jerry Fano, venture supervisor of the DPWH Flood Management Administration Cluster, the general public works division ensured that the venture met native and worldwide requirements on the time. He additionally mentioned the constructions have been improved based mostly on COA suggestions.
However after operation and upkeep duties have been transferred to the Metropolitan Manila Growth Authority (MMDA) in 2007, Fano mentioned the venture deteriorated.
“Apparently, this venture has not been functioning in line with its supposed goal. In actual fact, I acquired a report saying that since 2018 upwards, a lot of the pumps haven’t been operating,” he mentioned.
The navigational gate, situated in Navotas Metropolis, has been damaged a number of instances. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. inspected the construction for a second time in July 2025, ordering the DPWH to hurry up repairs. However there have been delays within the venture, which was awarded to a three way partnership of St. Timothy Development — owned by the Discaya couple — and Anore Development.
MMDA Flood Management and Sewerage Administration Workplace Director Mark Edmon Navarro mentioned all pumping stations in Camanava are operational, however the damaged navigational gate contributed to issues.
“There’s no problem with the operation. Nevertheless, as a result of the navigational gate continues to be underneath building, we’re having some challenges since we can’t management the water coming from the Malabon River,” Navarro mentioned.
Lagmay famous that constructions for managing small floods are insufficient for excessive climate, and principally lead to vital monetary losses. “We lose billions of pesos from misplaced alternatives, waste of plans, and different sources,” he added.
Local weather change has additionally triggered 100-year floods to happen extra regularly, which can result in flood management measures not having the ability to sustain with realities on the bottom.
Unsustainable nationwide, native efforts
Since 2022, Caloocan has had over 91 flood management tasks, principally flood partitions, amounting to nearly P4 billion in complete.
The map beneath reveals the placement and particulars of the constructions round areas vulnerable to various levels of flooding.
The tasks encompass main waterways whereas leaving out smaller creeks, which trigger mild to reasonable floods.
“Mababa lang ‘yung creek diyan sa labas namin,” Caloocan resident Horbino mentioned. “Sabi ni kapitan, tataasan nila ‘yung tulay, pero naisip kong wala pa ring [epekto ‘yon] kasi ‘yung daluyan ng tubig, ang liit lang.”
(The creek exterior our subdivision is simply low. Our barangay captain mentioned they’ll increase the bridge, however I feel it received’t have that a lot of an impact for the reason that waterway is slim.)
She added that the subdivision’s lately elevated predominant highway didn’t stand an opportunity in opposition to the overflowing creek.
Regardless of P100 million being spent in 4 years for flood partitions surrounding the Barangay 167 creek, it stays one of the crucial flood-prone areas continuously monitored by catastrophe response authorities.
In Barangay 171, a flood wall — which witnesses say was rapidly constructed someday in August — has already proven indicators of injury.
The bottom portion of the wall underneath the Deparo-Bagumbong Bridge has seen cracks and mould. The cemented wall sits on layers of metallic sheets stretching on each side of the bridge.
The venture, which prices P89.8 million, was awarded to Wawao Builders — one of many prime DPWH contractors underneath hearth for alleged substandard or ghost tasks. Wawao has dealt with 5 tasks in Caloocan since 2022, amounting to P206 million.
In one other subdivision close to Horbino’s, a fringe wall separating it from one other village in Barangay 166 collapsed as a consequence of water stress within the slim creek dividing them. The overflow unfold particles and trash to neighboring areas.
Residents reported that some flood partitions have been renovated in 2024, financed by the Caloocan native authorities unit (LGU).
In 2017, town had a P7.4-million finances for “flood management techniques,” which was discontinued the next yr.
From 2023 to the primary quarter of 2025, the Caloocan Metropolis Catastrophe Threat Discount and Administration Division spent its mitigation fund totally on securing gear and provides, amounting to P947 million. Town division spent P87.4 million on coaching workers.
Rappler has reached out to the Caloocan LGU greater than 30 instances by way of personal messaging, e-mail, and telephone calls since July for his or her remark.
Visiting the Metropolis Public Data Workplace in August additionally yielded no outcomes, with the contact individual changing into unreachable, and different workers refusing to deal with the request. Rappler has but to obtain a reply as of posting. We’ll replace this story as soon as we get a response.
Rubbish woes
Extreme waste worsens the flood in Caloocan.
“Walang disiplina ang mga tao sa basura. Isa talaga ‘yan [sa dahilan ng baha] kasi tapon dito, tapon doon ang mga tao,” Horbino mentioned. (Folks don’t have any self-discipline with their rubbish. That’s actually one of many predominant causes for flooding as a result of they throw trash left and proper.)
In response to the MMDA, Caloocan’s estimated waste technology from 2021 to 2024 ranged from 400,000 to 600,000 cubic meters, or 78,000 to 300,000 tonnes of rubbish. (A tonne is about 1,000 kilograms.)
Not too long ago, the company collected 24 dump vehicles’ value of trash in only one out of 19 creeks within the metropolis.
The participatory audit for the Camanava flood management venture confirmed that the LGUs signed a memorandum of settlement promising correct strong waste administration. Now, waste is seen floating alongside rivers.
“I simply don’t know whether it is nonetheless being acknowledged. [But] as it’s, with the aim of the venture, it needs to be a steady exercise between the LGU and stakeholders, and between the LGU and the DPWH,” Fano mentioned.
“It’s a name to motion, it’s the self-discipline that we now have to instill in our residents,” Navarro additionally mentioned, after recalling that the MMDA as soon as collected a fridge from a drainage space.
The Caloocan LGU implements cleanup drives spearheaded by its environmental administration division, which has one of many highest annual budgets at about P100 million.
Past concrete constructions
As big budgets are poured into insufficient or unsustainable measures, Lagmay urged authorities to assume past developing million-peso partitions and elevating roads or bridges. Essentially the most fundamental, he mentioned, is correct city planning.
Lagmay burdened that just a few hundred meters of land round rivers and creeks, referred to as flood plains, ought to be freed from settlements.
“If there’s appropriate city planning, then settlements ought to solely be in secure areas. If settlements are in secure areas, creeks would simply change into swollen during times of rain and wouldn’t flood properties,” he mentioned in a mixture of Filipino and English.
He added that future highway plans ought to keep away from waterways. And, apart from the standard declogging operations to take away waste, they need to additionally stay unconstricted for higher movement.
Urbanized areas could construct retention basins to quickly lure water. Households, for instance, can do that by means of rainwater harvesting.
Lagmay defined that lessening the quantity of water that enters waterways enhances structural boundaries, pumping stations, and drainage techniques. Greener options like tree planting and selling grassland absorption are preferable to masking roads with cement.
“Possibly we must always put a few of the cash — tons of of billions for these dikes which might be concrete constructions — into all of those different options and make applications that may reduce the water flowing concurrently into the creeks, streams, and rivers,” he mentioned.
Horbino appealed to the federal government to “discover a method” to cease the flooding of their space. Till then, she and different Caloocan residents should courageous the waters.
“Kahit binabaha, smile lang. Kasi gano’n naman ang buhay, hindi naman tayo puwede magpakalunod. Hindi, bangon pa rin,” she mentioned. (Even when we get flooded, we simply smile. As a result of that’s how life is, we are able to’t simply drown. No, we’ll nonetheless rise.) – Rappler.com
Eirene Manatlao is a BA Journalism graduate of the Polytechnic College of the Philippines. An Aries Rufo Journalism Fellow of Rappler for 2025, she was additionally the affiliate characteristic editor of The Catalyst.
