MALOLOS CITY, Bulacan — After weeks of relentless rain, rising floodwaters and repeated evacuations, the entire province of Bulacan has officially been placed under a state of calamity, giving local authorities greater flexibility to mobilize resources as communities struggle with the effects of the Southwest Monsoon or Habagat.
The Bulacan Sangguniang Panlalawigan approved Resolution No. 708-T’2026 during its regular session on Thursday, August 20, formalizing the province-wide declaration. GMA News reported that the move is intended to speed up the delivery of relief assistance, food and non-food supplies, medical services and rehabilitation support to affected communities.
But the declaration also highlights a much bigger problem: for many communities in Bulacan, flooding is no longer an occasional disaster. It has become a recurring and increasingly costly crisis.
Nearly 1 Million Residents Reported Affected
According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, citing the Bulacan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, 960,821 residents belonging to around 275,000 families had been directly affected by flooding.
Floodwaters hit 23 cities and municipalities, while the mountainous municipality of Doña Remedios Trinidad recorded landslides after nearly two weeks of continuous rainfall. Together, the reports indicate that communities across Bulacan’s 24 local government units have felt the effects of the prolonged bad weather in one form or another.
Damage to agriculture—including rice and vegetable crops, fisheries, livestock and poultry—had already exceeded ₱130 million, according to the same provincial disaster assessment.
Some of the province’s most flood-prone communities were hit particularly hard.
Calumpit, Hagonoy and Bulakan had already declared their own states of calamity after floodwaters reportedly reached as high as six feet in certain areas. All 29 barangays in Calumpit were affected.
Why Bulacan Keeps Flooding
Officials have pointed to several overlapping causes rather than a single source.
The flooding has been linked to prolonged Habagat rains, unusually high tides from Manila Bay, water flowing back from Pampanga, flash floods coming from higher areas of Bulacan and Rizal, and releases from dams including Ipo and Bustos.
This combination leaves low-lying communities particularly vulnerable when several weather and water conditions occur at the same time.
PAGASA continued to report the Southwest Monsoon affecting Luzon on August 20, while the Pampanga River Basin remained under a flood watch. The weather bureau has also warned that Habagat can continue bringing strong winds and rainfall to large sections of Luzon even as individual tropical cyclones move farther away.
A ₱100-Million-a-Year Burden
The financial cost of Bulacan’s recurring floods goes beyond damaged farms and homes.
The provincial government spends as much as ₱100 million annually on relief assistance for residents affected by floods and other disasters, according to PDRRMO chief Manuel Lukban Jr.
Around ₱50 million of that amount is allocated for food packs, while the province also maintains up to ₱20 million worth of rice and grocery items as standby supplies.
Governor Daniel Fernando had warned even before the province-wide declaration that existing resources could be insufficient if widespread flooding persisted.
The state of calamity gives the provincial government more room to mobilize disaster funds and accelerate emergency response and rehabilitation.
It also has an important consequence for consumers.
Under the Price Act, the declaration of a state of calamity automatically places basic necessities under price control at their prevailing prices, generally for up to 60 days unless lifted earlier, helping protect disaster-hit communities from unjustified price increases.
Flood-Control Controversy Returns to the Spotlight
Bulacan’s latest flooding also carries an uncomfortable backdrop: the province has been at the center of controversy over defective, substandard and so-called “ghost” flood-control projects.
In 2025, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. personally inspected a river protection structure in Barangay Bulusan, Calumpit, where government records indicated that the project had been completed. An on-site inspection, however, found that more than 200 meters of the structure had allegedly not been installed and other sections were damaged.
A separate inspection in Barangay Frances found alleged substandard materials and incomplete dredging despite documents indicating that work had been completed.
The controversy later reached Congress, where a former DPWH district engineer admitted issuing completion certificates for projects without personally inspecting the work.
By May 2026, authorities had begun demolishing deteriorated flood-control structures along the Bagbag River in Calumpit as part of reconstruction efforts intended to provide stronger protection against flooding.
That history makes the latest disaster more than a weather story.
For residents who repeatedly watch their streets, farms and homes disappear beneath floodwater, the question is increasingly whether emergency food packs and calamity funds can ever substitute for infrastructure that actually prevents communities from flooding in the first place.
What Happens Next
Bulacan authorities say the state-of-calamity declaration will accelerate relief distribution, medical assistance and rehabilitation efforts.
But even when the rains weaken, recovery could take much longer.
Hundreds of thousands of residents have been affected, agricultural livelihoods have suffered millions of pesos in losses, and some communities remain vulnerable to tidal flooding, river overflow and water arriving from neighboring provinces.
PAGASA has indicated that monsoon rains could continue, although GMA reported they were expected to become less intense compared with the severe rainfall experienced in recent days.
For Bulacan, the immediate challenge is getting families through the current disaster.
The bigger test will come after the floodwaters finally recede: whether billions spent on flood protection, rehabilitation and infrastructure can stop the province from facing the same emergency again.
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