It is really terrifying when it rains down heavily and continuously, and flood water starts to rise to the point where it already reaches the floor level of your house. Suddenly, you’ll find your vicinity submerged under water. For an unprepared mind, the impulse to panic first before doing anything is a natural reaction; after all, many possibilities, that will put you and your entire family in danger, may occur.

For the residents of Lambak, in Barangay Concepcion in Lumban, Laguna, facing occasional flood is like an annual routine for them. However, the recent calamities that struck their place, like typhoons Ondoy, Peping and Maring, and the habagat (southwest monsoon), left memories of despair, and properties destroyed. Even if the floods are a usual thing, the residents have employed ways to mitigate, if not to totally avoid, the destruction of belongings.

Many residents in the area have already packed clothes and food that they just need to grab when waters start to rise. “Lahat kami nakaprepara na ang mga gamit, para pag dumating na ang oras na dumating na naman ang tubig, madali nang dalahin kung saan [kami] dadalhin. Lagi kami ditong naka-ready sa mga panahon ng tag-ulan,” (Our things are already prepared, so that if the flood comes, it will be easy to carry it wherever we will be taken. Here, we are always ready during the rainy season,) said Jocelyn Moraleja, a sari-sari –store owner in a community in the middle of rice plains at Wawa. Some households build second floors/mezzanines made of wood where families can seek refuge and belongings can be safely stored.

On the part of the barangay, it admits that since the sitting members were newly-elected, the entire plans for disaster risk reduction (DRR) are not yet very concrete. The preceding barangay council when habagat arrived only sent out tanods to call out to people that they need to evacuate, and the barangay service for transport. Felix Aniciete, 49, the barangay captain of the barangay and a kagawad (barangay councilor) from the said previous council, said of the current barangay council’s efforts, “Meron na kaming mga plano… Mga plano namin, katulad ng ginagawa ng nakikita din namin sa ibang barangay… kailangan ng lubid, tsaka yung mga [life] jacket para sa rescuers…. tapos yung [gusto namin sana na] bangka.”(We have plans… Our plans are like what we see in other barangays… we need rope, and those [life] jackets for rescuers. And [we also would like to have] a boat.) He said that the barangay has a boat, but some residents are skeptical if this is true.

Disaster risk reduction funds are a must for every local government unit (LGU). The barangay has a DRR fund amounting to Php 90,000.00 for the current year. Albeit that it seems sufficient, the barangay captain admitted that it really is not, and that they get budget from the barangay’s coffers when it is not readily enough. The said amount is only used when the calamity actually strikes. If not used, they have to be rechanneled elsewhere. When asked about how to use the unused DRR fund, the captain said, “tulad ng pagdating ng pasko, bibili ng limang kabang bigas, sampung kabang bigas, at ipamigay.” (Around Christmas, we will buy five or ten sacks of rice, and then distribute it.) Although it is a good idea to do such a thing, it seems that the purpose of the DRR fund was defeated. Needed materials could have been purchased using that amount, like boats or ropes, or the drainage system in some parts could have been improved, which lacks in the Lambak area.

The Municipality of Lumban sees Lambak as a hazard-prone area. As it is a catch basin of the waters from adjacent areas, the place is deemed unsafe to be inhabited. However, although the LGU has a plan for relocating the residents, the money allocated for that is not enough. When disaster comes, the only things done are to announce that a storm is approaching and to assist in evacuation. The residents are only poor, and they cannot move out of Lambak because they cannot afford to rent a house in a safer place. They only have two choices: either to remain in the vicinity and pray that heavy rains and flood will spare them from further damage, or to organize themselves and find the solution on their own.

Gene Lloyd Torres graduated with a Political Science degree from University of the Philippines – Diliman. He is exposed to qualitative and quantitative approaches to research, and has employed such for his papers on the Sangguniang Kabataan, day care services and ASEAN. Given his background in research, his personal interest in Korean popular culture comes not as a surprise.