The Inundation of Central Luzon

During and after every typhoon in the Philippines that hits Central Luzon, which we call the rice granary of the country, a province called Pampanga usually become a “swamp” like Florida’s Everglades. The water inundation of Pampanga’s farmlands had become a perennial problem of the Kapampangans (people of Pampanga).

This is what a farmland in Pampanga looks like during dry season...

Considering that typhoons nowadays are getting stronger and stronger pouring heavier rains than before, the flat plains of Central Luzon, where most of our rice farms are located, are the places where floods occur. It gets a lot more worse if the flood gates of the dams near the region are opened due to overflowing. On the average, millions of pesos worth of crops are destroyed almost every time a typhoon hits the region. This is one of the reasons why the Philippines is importing rice and yet, the International Rice Research Institute is located in the country!

This is what it looks like everytime a typhoon hits the region...

Sadly, the Philippine government is not doing anything to minimize the effect of floods in the region. It is kind of ironic that during the dry season, the farmers are having problems in irrigating their farms, though millions of pesos were allotted by the government to improve farm irrigation. I guess these funds are diverted in a fashion I don’t want to elaborate in this post.

I think Central Luzon will soon be known as the “Inundation Capital of the Philippines”!