Dwelling close to rivers and creeks, Caloocan Metropolis residents are left with few decisions every time heavy rain falls: defend as many valuables as attainable, keep on the next 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 imagined to go as much as the second flooring of my sibling’s home, however a few of our belongings weren’t moved to greater 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 residence.
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 a minimum of 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 observe disrupted the pure move of water, diverting it into residential areas.
Having naturally mushy soil, some barangays within the metropolis are actually close to or beneath sea degree. Rivers and creeks numbering within the 20s additionally move by means of the 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 anticipate 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 baby.)
Mahar Lagmay, government director of the College of the Philippines Resilience Institute, mentioned land subsidence, or the gradual sinking of land on account of underground water extraction, additionally performs a key position in persistent flooding.
“Within the early 2000s, [the ground sank at] about 4.5 centimeters per 12 months in Caloocan. Now, I feel it’s about 1 cm per 12 months,” he advised Rappler.
In 1990, a Philippine authorities feasibility research achieved 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 a long time of pricey infrastructure and unrealized plans, Caloocan residents proceed to undergo.
Excessive hopes, greater waters
The Division of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) began planning for a Camanava-wide flood management mission in 1997, which aimed to mitigate flooding from 90% to fifteen%.
With a P3.097-billion price range, the mission led to the development of floodgates and dikes alongside rivers and creeks as obstacles, pumping stations for redirecting water, and drainage methods to facilitate smoother water move. River partitions and bridges have been additionally raised.
On paper, it was designed for excessive climate situations. But it surely was capped at dealing with floods with a 30-year return interval, or a couple of 1-in-30 probability of occurring in any given 12 months, falling brief 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 taking place in any given 12 months, surpassing the mission’s design parameters.
These two incidents prompted the Fee on Audit (COA) to launch a residents’ participatory audit in 2013, which revealed that the mission “had not utterly mitigated the flooding” due to structural and design deficiencies.
In keeping with Jerry Fano, mission supervisor of the DPWH Flood Management Administration Cluster, the general public works division ensured that the mission met native and worldwide requirements on the time. He additionally mentioned the buildings have been improved based mostly on COA suggestions.
However after operation and upkeep duties have been transferred to the Metropolitan Manila Improvement Authority (MMDA) in 2007, Fano mentioned the mission deteriorated.
“Apparently, this mission has not been functioning based on its meant goal. Actually, I acquired a report saying that since 2018 upwards, a lot of the pumps haven’t been working,” he mentioned.
The navigational gate, positioned in Navotas Metropolis, has been damaged a number of occasions. 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 mission, 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 subject with the operation. Nonetheless, as a result of the navigational gate continues to be below development, we’re having some challenges since we can not management the water coming from the Malabon River,” Navarro mentioned.
Lagmay famous that buildings for managing small floods are insufficient for excessive climate, and largely lead to vital monetary losses. “We lose billions of pesos from misplaced alternatives, waste of plans, and different assets,” he added.
Local weather change has additionally triggered 100-year floods to happen extra incessantly, which can result in flood management measures not with the ability to sustain with realities on the bottom.
Unsustainable nationwide, native efforts
Since 2022, Caloocan has had over 91 flood management tasks, largely flood partitions, amounting to nearly P4 billion in whole.
The map beneath reveals the situation and particulars of the buildings round areas liable to various levels of flooding.
The tasks encompass main waterways whereas leaving out smaller creeks, which trigger mild to average 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 gained’t have that a lot of an impact for the reason that waterway is slender.)
She added that the subdivision’s just lately elevated foremost street 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 probably the most flood-prone areas always monitored by catastrophe response authorities.
In Barangay 171, a flood wall — which witnesses say was swiftly constructed someday in August — has already proven indicators of injury.
The bottom portion of the wall below the Deparo-Bagumbong Bridge has seen cracks and mildew. The cemented wall sits on layers of metallic sheets stretching on either side of the bridge.
The mission, which prices P89.8 million, was awarded to Wawao Builders — one of many prime DPWH contractors below fireplace 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 on account of water stress within the slender 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, the town had a P7.4-million price range for “flood management methods,” which was discontinued the next 12 months.
From 2023 to the primary quarter of 2025, the Caloocan Metropolis Catastrophe Danger Discount and Administration Division spent its mitigation fund totally on securing gear and provides, amounting to P947 million. The town division spent P87.4 million on coaching workers.
Rappler has reached out to the Caloocan LGU greater than 30 occasions through non-public messaging, e mail, and telephone calls since July for his or her remark.
Visiting the Metropolis Public Info 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 foremost causes for flooding as a result of they throw trash left and proper.)
In keeping with the MMDA, Caloocan’s estimated waste era 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.)
Just lately, the company collected 24 dump vans’ price of trash in only one out of 19 creeks within the metropolis.
The participatory audit for the Camanava flood management mission confirmed that the LGUs signed a memorandum of settlement promising correct stable 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 mission, it must 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’ve 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 buildings
As large budgets are poured into insufficient or unsustainable measures, Lagmay urged authorities to suppose past establishing million-peso partitions and elevating roads or bridges. Essentially the most fundamental, he mentioned, is correct city planning.
Lagmay confused that a couple of hundred meters of land round rivers and creeks, referred to as flood plains, must be freed from settlements.
“If there’s appropriate city planning, then settlements ought to solely be in protected areas. If settlements are in protected 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 street plans ought to keep away from waterways. And, apart from the same old declogging operations to take away waste, they need to additionally stay unconstricted for higher move.
Urbanized areas could construct retention basins to briefly 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 obstacles, pumping stations, and drainage methods. Greener options like tree planting and selling grassland absorption are preferable to protecting roads with cement.
“Possibly we should always put a few of the cash — tons of of billions for these dikes which might be concrete buildings — into all of those different options and make applications that can reduce the water flowing concurrently into the creeks, streams, and rivers,” he mentioned.
Horbino appealed to the federal government to “discover a means” 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 function editor of The Catalyst.
