LOCAL KNOWLEDGE, SOCIAL MEMORY AND PUBLIC POLICIES:

Recovering Disaster Memory of Riverfront Dwellers and their Implications for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Policy in Basin and Watershed Region,

A Thesis by BENIGNO C. BALGOS, ID NUMBER 11193816 Student Master of Arts in Development Policy

DR. FRANCISCO MAGNO Adviser

JULY 2014 POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT DE LA SALLE UNIVERISTY

i

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the thesis is my original work and it has been written by me in its entirety. I have duly acknowledged all the sources of information, which have been used in the thesis.

This thesis has also not been submitted for any degree in any university previously.

______Benigno C. BALGOS July 22, 2014

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I wish to extend my deepest gratitude to my adviser Dr. Francisco Magno for his guidance in writing this research. Also, there are not words sufficient enough that could aptly convey my appreciation to the members of my thesis panel who have taken time to review and provide interesting and insightful comments toward the completion of this work. They are: Dr. Divina Gracia Rolda (Panel Chair), Dr. Eric Vincent Batalla (Panel Member), and Dr. Sherwin Ona (Panel Member).

This work would be completed without if not for my Papang, Nanay and Mark Andrew Elepano who served as the inspiration in carrying out this work.

In doing this research, a number of people have shared their valuable time and insights. Allow me to enumerate them:

My colleagues from the University of the Philippines – Diliman: Dr. Manuel Sapitula (Sociology Department), Professor Kerby Alvarez (History Department), Professor, Edwin Valientes (Anthropology Department), and Professor Louward Zubiri (Department of Linguistics), Ping Pangilinan, John Edison Ubaldo, and John Ariel Rojas.

My mentor and colleagues from the Ateneo de University: Dr. Hiroko Nagai (Japanese Studies Program) and Jaja Barriga (History Department).

My colleagues from the De La Salle University: Mean Tesoro, Amie Tucay Villareal, Isabel Lanada, Ysa Mendoza, Mei Guanzon, Louie Betinol, Alfonso Hermoso, Edz Barcilla, Gerard Razo, and Bembie Girado.

My colleagues from the Center for Disaster Preparedness: Lorna Victoria, Loreine dela Cruz, Fe Andaya, Fatima Gay Molina, Jesusa Grace Molina, Mayfourth Luneta,

iii Jelyne Gealone, Michael Mercado, Nikki de Vera, Lui Morada, Love Jimeno, Cis Doctolero, Baden Escalente, Celia Brioner, and Sister Lilet.

Similarly, I would like to mention Res Tyan Dito (our Pastor in the Yogyakarta International Congregation), my cousin Shirley, my auntie Gamay and my siblings, Nerwin, Princess Anna Marie, Peter Janmes, Raymart and Reymond for serving as my prayer warriors as I carry out this research. I also thank my pamangkins for always making me joyful most especially in moments when I am stressed: Bea, Raven, Carresse, and Abby Jade.

I am also indebted to the officers of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office of and Hagonoy, who facilitated and ensured that my fieldwork will ran safely and smoothly.

Of course, this research would not have been possible without the academic guidance of Dr. Nora Angeles and the fund support from the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Last but most importantly, I thank the Lord for allowing me to accomplish this gargantuan task to the best of my abilities

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ACROMYMS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES AND MAPS LIST OF PLATES

PART ONE

THE RESEARCH FRAMEWORK: HISTORY, THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

Chapter 1: STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 Statement of the Problem 5 1.3 Research Objectives 9 1.4 Scope of the Study 10 1.5 Significance of the Study 12 1.6 Limitations of the Study 13

Chapter 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Introduction 15 2.2 Disasters: Conceptual Definition 16 2.3 Social Memory: From Autobiographical Memory to Social Memory 19 2.4 Local Knowledge 22 2.4.1 Local Knowledge in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management: Illustrations from 29 2.5 Local Knowledge and Social Memory: The Current Stand in Public Policy 31 2.6 Local Knowledge and Social Memory: Its Significance in Public Policy 36 2.6.1 Integration of Local Knowledge and Social Memory in DRRM Plans: The Case of Dagupan City 39 2.6.2 Integration of Local Knowledge and Social Memory in DRRM Plans: The Case of Banaba, San Mateo, Rizal 43

v Chapter 3: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

3.1 Introduction 46 3.2 A Conceptual Framework toward a Local Knowledge Social Memory-Driven Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Policy 46

Chapter 4: METHODOLOGY

4.1 Introduction 51 4.2 Research Methods 52 4.3 Procedures in the Conduct of the Research 53 4.3.1 Site Selection 54 4.3.2 Social Preparation 60 4.3.3 In-Depth Data Gathering 61 4.3.4 Data Processing 64

PART TWO

VULNERABILITIES AND LOCAL CAPACITIES: THE CASE OF CALUMPIT AND HAGONOY, BULACAN

Chapter 5: VULNERABILITIES TO FLOODING: THE CONTEXT OF FLOODING IN THE PROVINCE OF BULACAN

5.1 Introduction 67 5.2 Flooding in Bulacan 67 5.3 Angat Watershed and River Basin Region: The River of Life and Aggravating the Flooding Phenomena in Calumpit and Hagonoy 81

Chapter 6: “SANAY NA SA BAHA ANG MGA TAO”: NARRATIVES ON THE SOCIAL MEMORY ON DISASTERS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL KNOWLEDGE IN DRRM

6.1 Introduction 84 6.2 Social Memory of Disasters: Narratives on Significant Disaster Events 86 6.2.1 The Great Flood of 1972: Typhoon Edeng 91 6.2.1.1 Social Memory on Typhoon Edeng: Narratives from Riverfront Dwellers 91 6.2.1.2 Social Memory on Typhoon Edeng: Narratives

vi from the Community Leaders 95 6.2.2 Flooding Events from 2009 Onwards: Typhoon Ondoy, Typhoon Pedring, and Habagat 100 6.2.2.1 Social Memory on Typhoon Edeng: Narratives from Riverfront Dwellers 100 6.2.2.2 Social Memory on Typhoon Edeng: Narratives from the Community Leaders 112 6.3 Learning from Calamities: Local Knowledge on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management 119 6.3.1 Anticipate: Local Knowledge on People’s Identification and Monitoring of Environmental Indicators 124 6.3.2 Adjust: Local Knowledge on People’s Coping and Adaptation Practices 127 6.3.3 Communication: Local Knowledge on People’s Ability to Transfer Knowledge among themselves and between Generation 134

Chapter 7: HOW ARE LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIAL MEMORY ON DISASTERS INTEGRATED IN LOCAL LEVEL POLICY AND PLANS ON FLOODING? THE CASE OF CALUMPIT AND HAGONOY

7.1 Introduction 139 7.2 Disaster Risk Reduction and Management/Contingency Planning Process in the Philippines 140 7.3 Integrating Local Knowledge and Social Memory on Disasters in Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management/Contingency Plans 143 7.3.1 Key Features of Calumpit and Hagonoy Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plans 146 7.3.2 Local Knowledge in the Existing in the Barangay DRRM Plans: Anticipating, Adjusting, and Communicating 156

vii

PART THREE

CONCLUDING CHAPTERS

Chapter 8: WHERE ARE WE IN THE PLANS?: TOWARD A LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIAL MEMORY-DRIVEN DRRM PLANS

8.1 Introduction 163 8.2 Culture of DRRM in the Philippines and the Space of Local Knowledge and Social Memory DRRM Plans 164 8.3 How the Recovered Local Knowledge and Social Memory Improved the DRRM Plans? 168 8.4 Bringing Local Knowledge and Social Memory in the Plans: Toward a Local Knowledge and Social Memory-Driven DRRM Plans 172

Chapter 9: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

9.1 Conclusions 178 9.2 Recommendations 184

Bibliography 186 Appendix 1 List of the Respondents in the Study 195 2 Community Risk Assessment Tools 200

viii ABSTRACT

Communities perennially hit by disasters have a wealth of social memory about the calamities they had experienced in the past. The social memory imprinted by the sheer impact of disaster events on life, property, and livelihood has enabled the high-risk communities to learn from these calamities. In turn, the integration of such learning into a community’s way of coping gives rise to what is known as local knowledge.

The research examines how the recovery of social memory and local knowledge on disasters can improve local-level disaster risk reduction and management policy, specifically in the context of the Angat watershed and river basin region. The research draws from fieldwork interviews with the riverfront dwellers of communities in the municipalities of Calumpit and Hagonoy in Bulacan.

It is argued in this study that the integration of social memory and local knowledge has improved the local level disaster risk reduction and management plan, particularly in three ways: First, the recovery of local knowledge and social memory brought to the fore the inherent capacities of the communities at the heart of local-level public policy. Second, the recovery of local knowledge and social memory and its integration to disaster risk reduction and management policy gave the community a sense of ownership of the policy giving it more clout. Finally, the recovery of local knowledge and social memory made the policy context-specific, which better suited the needs, situation, vulnerability, and strengths of the community.

ix ACRONYMS

ADB Asian Development Bank ADPC Asian Disaster Preparedness Center BDRRMP Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan BFP Bureau of Fire Protection BSU CBDRRM Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction and Management CC Climate Change CCA Climate Change Adaptation CDCC City Disaster Coordinating Council CDP Center for Disaster Preparedness CDRC Citizens Disaster Response Center COP Conference of Parties CRA Community Risk Assessment CRED Center for Research for the Epidemiology of Disasters DENR Department of Environment and Natural Resources DepEd Department of Education DLSU De La Salle University DOST Department of Science and Technology DRR Disaster Risk Reduction DRRM Disaster Risk Reduction and Management DRRM CEP Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Capacity Enhancement Program DRRNet Phils. Disaster Risk Reduction Network Philippines EO Executive Order EWS Early Warning System FGD Focus Group Discussion KII Key Informant Interviews HFA Hyogo Framework for Action ICIMOD International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency LDRRMO Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office LDRRMP Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan LGU Local Government Unit MDRRMC Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council MDRRMC Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office MGD Mines and Geosciences Bureau MHO Municipal Health Office MPDO Municipal Planning and Development Office MSWD Municipal Social Welfare Department MWSS Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System NAPOCOR National Power Corporation NCCAP National Climate Change Action Plan NDP National Development Plan NDRRMC National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council

x NDRRMP National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan NEDA National Economic and Development Authority NGO Non Government Organization NIPAS National Integrated Protected Areas System NSCB National Statistical and Census Board OCD Office of Civil Defense PAGASA Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration PD Presidential Decree PHIVOLCS Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology PNP Philippine National Police PPDO Provincial Planning and Development Office PROMISE Program for Hydro Meteorological Disaster Mitigation in Secondary Cities in Asia RA Republic Act TWG Technical Working Group UBC University of British Columbia UN United Nations UN IDNDR United Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction UN ISDR United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction UN OCHA United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs USAID Agency for International Development WB World Bank WCDR World Conference on Disaster Reduction

xi LIST OF TABLES

Table No Title

Table 1 Typology of local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management

Table 2 Coding for the local knowledge in DRRM

Table 3 Matrix of significant disaster occurrence

Table 4 Coding for the social memory on disasters

Table 5 Types and causes of floods

Table 6 Areas in Bulacan most prone to flooding

Table 7 Parameter of the DENR-MGB Geohazard Assessment

Table 8 Communities in Bulacan susceptible to flooding

Table 9 Adjust: Local Knowledge on People’s Coping and Adaptation Practices

Table 10 Barangay San Miguel, Hagonoy DRRM Council Task Force

xii LIST OF FIGURES AND MAPS

Figure No. Title

Figure 1 Conceptual framework of the study

Figure 2 Schematic diagram of the research methodology

Figure 3 Flood hazard map of Calumpit, Bulacan (Open Source Map)

Figure 4 Flood hazard map of Hagonoy, Bulacan (Open Source Map)

Figure 5 Summary of Social Memory on Disaster and Local Knowledge on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management by Riverfront Dwellers of Calumpit and Hagonoy

Figure 6 Contingency Planning Process

Figure 7 The reconstructed version of the Barangay DRRM structures of San Miguel in Hagonoy

Figure 8 The reconstructed version of the Barangay DRRM Structure of Sta. Monica, Hagonoy

Figure 9 Summary of the Integration of Social Memory on Disaster and Local Knowledge on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management of Riverfront Dwellers of Calumpit and Hagonoy in Barangay DRRM Plans

Figure 10 Local Knowledge and Social Memory Integration to Barangay DRRM Plan Model

xiii LIST OF PLATES

Plate No. Title

Plate 1 House near the waterways in Sapang Bayan, Calumpit

Plate 2 Researcher with the Municipal Administrator and the DRRM Officer of Calumpit, Bulacan

Plate 3 Researcher with Municipal DRRM Officers of Hagonoy, Bulacan

Plate 4 House in Hagonoy, Bulacan submerged to water due to high tide

Plate 5 Structural mitigation in Barangay Caniogan, Calumpit

Plate 6 Calumpit Bridge

Plate 7 Shot of Calumpit Bridge taken from Sapang Bayan Bridge

Plate 8 Road water

Plate 9 Tampok water

Plate 10 News clipping on the 1972 Great Flood of published in the Philippine Free Press

Plate 11 Comparative picture of 1970s and 2011 flooding in Hagonoy, Bulacan

Plate 12 Rooftop

Plate 13 News clipping and picture of 2011 flooding in Bulacan

Plate 14 The mark of this house in Barangay Captain Medina's compound in Sta. Monica, Hagonoy shows how deep the flood was brought by Pedring in 2011

Plate 15 Flood marker

Plate 16 The entrance

Plate 17 Barangay Hall near the river

Plate 18 Road improvements in Hagonoy Bulacan

Plate 19 Modern ruler

xiv

PART ONE

THE RESEARCH FRAMEWORK: HISTORY, THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

Chapter 1: Statement of the Problem

Chapter 2: Review of Literature

Chapter 3: Conceptual Framework

Chapter 4: Methodology

1 Chapter 1

STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

1.1 Introduction

When the United Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster

Reduction (IDNDR) ended in 2000, the Philippines was put on top of the list of countries with the most number of reported disasters in the past century. This fact highlights just how the Philippines is highly exposed to natural hazards. Recently, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) 2012 Global

Focus Model ranked the Philippines as the most hazard-prone region in the world.

The most common hazards in the Philippine include typhoons, storm surges, flooding, drought (El Nino), volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and landslides.

Amongst the hazards, Jose (2012: 6) notes that typhoons are both the most frequent and most damaging hazard in the country. It is estimated that 88 per cent of total damages of the disaster as well as 79 per cent of total lives claimed are due to typhoons (Jose, 2012: 6). The Philippines’ exposure to disaster is mainly a consequence of its being located in the Circum-Pacific seismic belt and the West

Pacific Basin (CDRC 1992: 127 as cited in Heijmans & Victoria 2001: 2). In the same way, it is estimated that 60 per cent of the land area of the Philippines is exposed to a variety of geological and hydro meteorological hazards, putting 75 per cent of the population at risk (Jose, 2012: 6). According to the Philippine

Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the country’s weather bureau, around 20 tropical cyclones pass through the

2 Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) annually, a quarter of which are considered to be strong typhoons. Similarly, according to the Philippine Institute of

Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) more than 20 earthquakes occur in the country on any given day. Given its high frequency of exposure to various kinds of hazards, the Philippines was even dubbed the “convenience store of disasters”

(Ubac, 2010). True enough, a study of history shows that disasters in the country have occurred perennially.

As a result of the Philippines’ exposure and vulnerability to disasters, countless of landmark policies have been formulated in the name of risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Among them, the ones that are widely known are

Republic Act 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

Law of 2010 and Republic Act 9729 or the Climate Change Act of 2009.

Policies are essential because they are statements of what the government intends to do regarding a certain matter that the country faces (Birkland, 2011: 9;

Anderson 2011: 6; Kraft et al., 2007: 5- 6; Colebatch 2002: 10). They are ubiquitous and may take the form of texts, practices, symbols and discourses (Schneider and

Ingram: as cited in Birkland, 2011: 9). They have significant consequences in people’s well-being and happiness, may either be advantageous or disadvantageous, and cause pleasure, irritation, or pain (Anderson, 2011:1).

Birkland argues that disasters instantly carry out what years of interest groups, policy entrepreneurship, researchers, and lobby groups may not be able to do: elevating an issue on the agenda where one or more policy domains will take it seriously (2010: 6). He further argues that catastrophes could lead to policy change

3 (2010: 4) and the larger the damage (i.e. loss, lives claimed, property), the larger the potential for policy change (2010: 5). This is true in the case of Republic Acts 10121 and 9729, which were signed and ratified after Tyhpoon Ketsana (local name:

Ondoy) inundated .

However, as scholars such as Gaillard argue that Philippine policies on disaster risk reduction and management are based on a hazard paradigm or disasters are seen as results of extreme events rather than socio-economic and political vulnerabilities (2011: 62). Another scapegoat of the Philippine government is the reasoning that disasters happen because people are unmindful of the risks they face

(Gaillard, 2011: 62). Furthermore, the government’s response to disasters is often characterized as being very technocratic – a manifestation of the Filipino allegiance to the technology and knowledge superimposed by the developed world to development societies (Gaillard, 2011: 33-34). Concurrently, Denkens (2007a) argues that the integration of people’s age-old knowledge, experience, and adaptation practice in local level policies on disaster risk reduction and management has been very slow.

Almost ten (10) years ago, on 26 December 2004, the dwellers of a small island community in Simeulue, Indonesia were saved and spared from the devastating impact of the 9.2 magnitude earthquake that triggered an injurious chain of tsunamis because of the reliance on community memory on disasters. Due to the islanders’ prior historic knowledge on the behavior of the sea and the sounds created by buffaloes, which passed onto them through folklore, the island dwellers were able to evacuate to the nearby hill before the actual tsunami (McAdoo et al., 2006;

4 Victoria, 2007: Gaillard et al., 2008; Donovan, 2010). As a result, only eight (8) people died on the island compared to the 167,000 people killed in the other affected areas. By contrast, when Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda) hit Tacloban in

November 2013, thousands died because people did not have a memory nor a sense of history of previous disasters in their locality. This comes particularly perplexing given that the city experienced a similar disaster in 1898 and 1912. Further compounding the problem, typhoon survivors have reported that many locals did not know certain technical terms (e.g. storm surge) used by the government to warn them of the impending calamity. Also, many residents underestimated the early warning given by the national and local governments. Based on these accounts, it seems that the memory, impacts, and lessons from the said disasters were not effectively passed down from previous generations unlike in the case of the

Simeuleans of Indonesia.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The overarching research question is: how can the recovery of local knowledge and social memory on disasters improve local-level disaster risk reduction and management policy, specifically in the context of the Angat watershed and river basin region?

Over the years, there has been a growing interest in the human dimension of the apocalyptic destruction brought about by disasters, particularly in poor communities (Shaw 2014, Gaillard 2011, Donovan 2010, Lavigne et al., 2008). This can be considered a significant milestone in disaster research, which is often

5 considered to be a highly scientific and technical domain. Likewise, this has shifted public thinking about disasters from merely a function of external events or the hazard paradigm to a focus on socio-economic vulnerabilities and very low adaptive capacities that exacerbate disaster impacts. In reducing, understanding and appreciating disaster risk, a holistic approach and comprehensive knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management is imperative. This entails a thoughtful consideration of the phases of disasters: prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery/rehabilitation. Interest groups have widely and strongly criticized the very technocratic and science-centric disaster management approach.

This means that states need to shift their approach from a very reactive or emergency-oriented mode to a proactive one. More lives, properties, and resources would be saved if the funds for response and rehabilitation were invested in prevention, mitigation, and preparedness activities.

It is only recently that vulnerability and low capacity are given utmost attention. Since the 1990s when the so-called post-Washington consensus highlighted the micro-foundations of macro-economic development and other macro-trends such as disasters there is a strong challenge to increase the capacities of high-risk communities; thus, the focus on local capacity building became paramount.

In the face of natural hazards, communities have local capacities that can be utilized to withstand the stresses and shocks brought about by disasters. Wisner,

Gaillard, and Kelman (2012) developed the Circle of Capacities to underscore the capacities communities have that enable them to cope and prepare for disasters. One

6 of the capacities identified by Wisner et al., is the people’s strength, knowledge and skills to face hazards. One of the examples of this form of local capacity is local knowledge. The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

(UNISDR) refers to local knowledge as the “sets of methods and practices developed by a group of people from an advance understanding of the local environment, which has formed over numerous generations of habitation” (2009).

Concurrently, Baumwoll (2008) describes local knowledge as something that originates within the community, has been maintained through non-formal means of dissemination, collectively owned, developed over several generations and subject to adaptation, and embedded in a community’s way of life as a means of survival. In the same vein, Shaw and Sharman (2009a) held that local knowledge, besides coming from within communities, is also based on local needs and presents a clear foundational understanding of communities’ adaptation strategies. That said, local knowledge is considered a critical facet of disaster risk reduction and management.

Nonetheless, even though local knowledge has been existent since time immemorial, its appreciation in development and disaster management policies has been very slow (Dekens, 2007a).

There are different types of local knowledge. However, in the literature, technology-based local knowledge has been predominantly identified with disaster risk reduction and management, due to its visibility (Dekens, 2007a) and usability.

According to Dei (1993), cultural traditions, values, beliefs, and local peoples’ worldviews are also considered as local knowledge.

7 Concurrently, social memory of catastrophic events is likewise considered a form of local knowledge. Cronin et al., (2004a) highlight that local oral histories and memory of disasters not only facilitate the reconstruction of previous disasters, but also provides culturally acceptable and effective mitigation techniques toward risk reduction. In fact, traditional culture (such as oral histories) has the ability to reduce vulnerability by strengthening community resilience as seen in the case of Simuleu

Island in Aceh in the wake of the 2004 tsunami (Gaillard, et al., 2008; McAdoo et al., 2006; Donovan, 2010)

Birkland (2010), in his book entitled, Lessons of disaster: policy change after catastrophic events, argues that disasters, depending on the scale and magnitude, create the propensity for policy change. Taking the aftermath of the 2004 Indian

Ocean tsunami as a case in point, in January 2005, the World Conference on

Disaster Reduction was held in Kobe, Japan. The 168 participating countries of the said event adopted a non-binding policy document known as the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). This is the current global strategy in building national capacities in risk reduction and disaster resiliency being employed by the parties to the convention. In the same way, filling in the gaps of the earlier United Nations framework on disaster management became the priority actions of HFA, namely: (1) ensure that DRR is a national and a local priority with a strong institutional basis for implementation; (2) identify, assess, and monitor disaster risks and enhance early warning; (3) use knowledge, innovation, and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels; (4) reduce the underlying risk factors; and (5) strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels (UNISDR, 2005). The case

8 in point and the memory of the Simulueans in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami became instrumental in the formulation of HFA, particularly in priority area three

(3).

Capitalising on the usefulness of memory in disaster resiliency and in building the adaptive capacities of communities in disasters, the research argues that if the occurrence of disasters can facilitate policy change, then the retrieval of the memory of disasters are both substantial inputs and crucial in bringing about this change.

1.3 Research Objectives

The study seeks to answer the overarching question of how can the recovery of local knowledge and social memory on disasters improve local-level disaster risk reduction and management policy, specifically in the context of the Angat watershed and river basin region. Corollary to this, there are three (3) objectives of the study, namely:

1. to document the local knowledge and social memory on disasters of the

riverfront dweller of Angat watershed and river basin region;

2. to examine the local level plans and community practices on disaster risk

reduction and management in the Angat watershed and river basin region;

and,

3. to determine how local knowledge and social memory on disasters are

integrated in the local level plans and community practices on disaster risk

reduction and management in the Angat watershed and river basin region.

9 1.4 Scope of the Study

This section defines the scope of the research. There are four variables that will be examined in the research: local knowledge, social memory, disaster risk reduction and management policy, and disasters. The concepts are rather general.

That said, the study needs to qualify what forms of local knowledge, what kind of social memory, what disaster risk reduction and management policy, and what specific type of hazard will it examine.

As to social memory, the study will be take into consideration the narratives from the residents near the river, community officials, and the municipal government officials on the following themes:

. impacts of the disaster events to people, household and community

structures, community facilities and services, livelihood and economic

activities, and environment;

. responses of the community, non-government organizations, the local

government and private institutions to the disasters; and,

. programs and initiatives undertaken by different stakeholders in the

aftermath of the disasters.

The local knowledge that will be taken into consideration in the research are how the riverfront dwellers learned from the disaster events as embodied in the development of concrete individual, family level, and community level ways of coping and adapting to the flood hazard. More specifically, the following typology on local knowledge and disaster risk reduction and management will be underscored:

10 . anticipate or people’s identification and monitoring of environmental

indicators;

. adjust or people’s access to assets; and,

. communication or people’s ability to transfer knowledge among

themselves and between generation.

The following comprise local knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management related to anticipate: signals (i.e. interpretational knowledge of changes in animal behavior, knowledge of local weather forecasts using celestial bodies observation). The local knowledge associated in adjust include physical assets (i.e. infrastructural safety arrangements such as boats, housing, embankments) developed to cope and adapt to the risk that people face. Finally, the local knowledge associated with communication are early warning systems (i.e. use of visual signals such as markers, fire or audio signals like drums; having dreams of natural hazards in advance) to share information on disaster.

In relation to the disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) policy, the study will look into the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and

Management Plan as mandated by the Republic Act 10121. In its absence, the

Municipality’s Contingency Plan will be considered. In the same way, the Barangay

Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plans will be examined. DRRM plan and

Contingency plans are different. The DRRM Plan is the mother plan of a local government unit, while the other is hazard-specific plan. This entails that a contingency plan is a component of DRRM plan.

11 Finally, the study will examine only the disasters that are water and climate- related. This includes coastal flooding, tropical storms, flash floods, and flooding brought about by dam release. The primary reason for this is riverfront-dwellers are more prone to those types of hazards given their residential locations.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The researcher deems that there are six (6) reasons why the study is timely and relevant. First, the study will help elucidate and determine what informs and influences local level policies and programs on disaster risk reduction and management in the context of watershed and river basin region.

Second, the study will help us understand and see how local capacities and communities’ memory on previous disasters are portrayed and reflected in local level plans and practices on disaster risk reduction and management in the context of watershed and river basin region.

Third, the study will allow for the documentation of local knowledge and social memory on disasters that would feed into disaster risk reduction and management in the context of watershed and river basin region. One of the key arguments by policymakers as to why the integration of local knowledge and social memory in policies are slow is due to the lack of substantial and comprehensive documentation of such local level practices. It is further argued that how can such knowledge be advanced to policies if there is a dearth of information and documentation. That being said, the recovery of memory is so critical to local knowledge documentation and utilization particularly at the policy level.

12 Fourth, the study will help us examine whether local knowledge and social memory on disasters can facilitate policy change at the same time improve local level plans and community practices on disaster risk reduction and management in the watershed and river basin region;

Fifth, through the study, concrete policy recommendations can be distilled in relation to mainstreaming and integrating local knowledge and social memory in disaster risk reduction and management in the watershed and river basin region.

Last, the research will generate topics for future research in the field of local knowledge, social memory, and public policies on disaster risk reduction in the context of watershed and river basin region.

1.6 Limitations of the Study

Although the study intends to provide an in-depth description of the Angat riverfront dwellers’ local knowledge and social memory, the proposed research has three (3) limitations.

First, the research will only cover the water and climate-related hazards such as coastal flooding, tropical storms, flash floods, and flooding brought about by dam release. This means that experiences on volcanic eruptions and earthquakes will be given little to no importance in the study;

Second, the study would only highlight the communities within the 5-meter easement of the selected communities in along the river. This is due to fact that those near the river are high risk to disasters;

Lastly, the concept of local knowledge and social memory cut across

13 disciplines such as sociology, philosophy and psychology among others. The study deals only on the policy aspect of local knowledge and social memory on disasters.

14 Chapter 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the extant literature that lays the foundation for the theoretical framework of the study. Four themes will be focused on in this chapter.

First, the chapter looks into the conept of disaster. The section highlights that disaster is predominantly viewed as a result of an external event (i.e. typhoon, earthquake, tsunami), but the section underscores that it also important to examine why people are perrenially hit by disasters. Moreover, the section undescores that in facing calamities, people have inherent capacities to overcome disasters. The capacities include social memory and local knowledge that people have developed overtime in relation to the risk they are facing.

Second, the research looks into the concept of social memory. This will be done by providing the discourse on social memory in the literature. Third, the researcher examines the concept of local knowledge. This will be accomplished by addressing two general tasks: (1) exploring the definition and typology of local knowledge; and, (2) providing illustrations of local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management in selected Asian countries. Finally, the researcher analyses where local knowledge and social memory stand in the current discourse in public policy. Likewise, it examines the significance of local knowledge and social memory in public policy, specifically in the context disaster risk reduction and management. This will be approached in two ways: (1) presenting the arguments

15 against local knowledge and social memory; and, (2) providing the arguments for integrating local knowledge and social memory on disasters in public policies by highlighting the experiences of Dagupan City and Barangay Banaba in San Mateo,

Rizal. Both are highly susceptible to flooding being a catchment basin of two river systems - the Basin and the Marikina Watershed, respectively.

2.2. Disasters: Conceptual Definition Over the years, the world has witnessed large and small scale disasters that tremendously impact people (their lives and health), household and community structures, community facilities and services (houses, access roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, water, electric, communication facilities), livelihood and economic activities (jobs, crops, livestock, equipment), and the environment. Given this, disasters are becoming the new normal and one of the key defining development issues of our time.

The definition and understanding on disaster have evolved over the decades.

The dominant approach is the view of disaster as a function of hazard. Wisner et al.,

(2003: 10) note that the physicalist approach view disaster as “the violent forces of nature” or “nature on the rampage”. However, the most dominant mindset in relation to the cause of disaster is the stress on the role of a “trigger” resulting from the natural activities related to geophysical, climatological or biological (notable examples cited by Wisner et al., 2003: 10 are the works of Bryant 1991, Alexander

1993, Tobin and Montz 1997, and K. Smith 2001). However, over the last thirty years, social scientists and scholars proposed an alternative paradigm in relation to understanding disasters and why they happen (Wisner et al., 2003: 10). From hazard

16 paradigm, O’Keefe, Westgate, and Wisner (1976) proposed to take “naturalness” out of “natural disasters”. They argue that disasters are not “natural” because they happen due to political and socioeconomic factors (O’Keefe et al., 1976).

Subsequently, in 1970s and early 1980s, approaching disasters from vulnerability perspective began (Wisner et al., 2003: 10). Wisner et al., (2003: 10) argue only until the emergence of the concept of vulnerability that the social conditions of people are brought to the fore. Prior to that, the hazard paradigm was the dominant framework that significantly influences and informs policies and programs on disaster management.

The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) defines disaster as, “the serious disruption of the functioning of society causing widespread human, material or environmental losses, which exceed the ability of the affected communities to cope with using their own resources. Disasters occur when the negative effects of the hazards are not well managed” (UNISDR, 2009). The

Asian Development Bank defines it as a natural or man-made event that can be sudden or progressive (ADB, 1991: 3). Concurrently, even before the current universally accepted definition given by UNISDR, Stephenson (1991: 4) highlighted that disasters has the potential to, “ disrupts the basic fabric a community.

In the current definition of disaster, three elements are greatly emphasized: presence and exposure to hazards, vulnerability of the community, and the low capacity to withstand the impacts of a hazard event. Hazards can be categorised into natural, human-induced, and the combination of the two. Natural hazards include tropical storm, earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, storm surge, and coastal

17 storms among others. While human-induced hazards include fire, pollution, oil spill, industrial accidents (such as leakage of toxic waste). Moreover, socio-natural hazards are flooding and drought due to deforestation (DRRNet Philippines, 2014).

On the other hand, Blaikie and Brookfield (1978 as cited in Wisner et al.,

2012: 22) defines vulnerability as “… denoting the degree to which one’s social status (e.g. culturally and socially constructed in terms of roles, responsibilities, rights, duties, and expectations concerning behavior) influences differential impact by natural hazards and the social processes, which is there and maintain that status…” Aysan (1993 as cited in Wisner 2009: 126) describes vulnerability in the following terms: lack of access to resources (material/economic vulnerability), disintegration and social patterns (social vulnerability), degradation of the environment and inability to protect it (ecological vulnerability), lack of strong national and local institutions (organisational vulnerability), lack of public awareness (attitudinal and motivational vulnerability), certain beliefs and customs

(cultural vulnerability), and weak buildings or weak individuals (physical vulnerability). Cuny (1983: 14) argues that the primary causes of poverty are the prevalent reasons for people’s vulnerability to disasters. Cuny (1983: 39) notes that disasters can be classified into two, namely: rapid on-set cataclysmic and long-term or continuing. Cataclysmic include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, cyclonic storms, and floods. Contrariwise, long-term or continuing disasters are droughts, crop failures, and prolonged civil strife. Carter (1991: 10) enumerates the typical effects of disasters. These include: loss of life, injury, damage to and destruction of property, damage to and destruction of subsistence and cash crops, disruption of

18 production, loss of livelihood, disruption to essential services, damage to national infrastructure and disruption to governmental systems, national economic loss, and sociological and psychological after-effects.

In the same way, a community’s capacity needs have to be considered in understanding why disasters happen. Capacity is the, “combination of all the strengths, attributes and resources available within a community, society or organization that can be used to achieve agreed goals” (Republic Act 10121). To be able to fully understand what makes people and communities resilient and vulnerable to disasters, Bankoff (2012: 37) argues that there is a need to examine what makes them act that way over a long period of time. In doing so, the social memory of people on previous disaster events and the local knowledge they have developed over the years should be looked into as a forma of capacities in disaster risk reduction and management. But what are social memory and local knowledge?

Why are they important in risk reduction? What is their current stand in public policy on disaster risk reduction and management? The following section will address the said questions.

2.3 Social Memory: From Autobiographical Memory to Social Memory

Olick & Robbins (1998: 106) the study of social memory is a non- paradigmatic, transdisciplinary, and centerless enterprise. However, social memory studies has often been viewed as a subdiscipline of sociology (Swidler & Arditi,

1994: as cited in Olick & Robbins, 1998: 105), and generally conceived as the

19 “connective structure of societies” (Assmann 1992: as cited in Olick & Robbins,

1998: 105).

The works of Hofmannsthal in 1902 (Schieder 1978), Halbwachs’ Social

Framework of Memory in 1925, Marc Bloch’s interrogation of the feudal society from the lens of collective memory in 1925 (Bloch, 1925, 1974), and the investation of art historian, Aby Warburg, in looking at art pieces as reservoir of human history are considered as the hallmarks in the social memory studies (Olick & Robbins,

1998: 106). Given this, Olick & Robbins (1998) argue that it is only around the 19th to earlier part of the 20th century that memory became a “distinctively social perspective.”

In Memory as a Cultural System: Abraham Lincoln in World War II,

Schwartz (1996), argues that the memory has generational roots. Using “memory as a social frame” he posited three significant reasons in relation to the interest in reconstructing what had happened in the past. First, Schwartz (1996) argues that in the attempt to establish a dominant historical narrative, there are memories that are being repressed. Second, Schwartz (1996) contends that there is a strong connection between the concepts of power, history, and memory. He maintains that history has very selected memory. History then is a tool for power, and the dominant power can construct social reality. Third, in connection to the second argument, Schwartz

(1996) holds that memory making is not free from politics. There are contestations in memory making and the popular memory serves politics as instrumentalization of the past. In hindsight, we can find strands of Foucault in Schwartz conception of memory, history, and power.

20 Halbwachs (1992: as cited in Olick & Robbins, 1998) made a disctinction of different types of memory: autobriographical memory (memory events we experienced ourselves), historical memory (memory that can be found in the official records/documents), history (remembered past, but is longer an important part of our lives), and collective memory (active past that forms our identities). Halbwachs

(1925: as cited in Fentress & Wickham 1992) argues that in memory, it is primarily the individual who obtained it, so what is social about it? Fentress and Wickham

(1992: ix) note that much of individual memory is attached to his/her membership to a particular social group. That said, a memory is socially constructed. That being said, an autobiographical memory becomes a social memory because a person’s memory happened in a particular context and in a given period of time. Halbwach argues that all social memory is, “structured by group identities: that one remember one’s childhood as part of a family, one’s neighborhood as part of a local community, one’s working life as part of a factory or office community and/or political party or trade union, and so on – that these memories are essentially group memories, and that the memory of the individual exists only in so far as she or he is the probably unique product of a particular intersection of groups” (Halbwachs,

1925: cited in Fentress and Wickham, 1992).

Foer (2011) in his influential book entitled, Moonwalking with Einstein: The

Arts and Science of Remembering Everything, asks: how many worthwhile ideas have gone unthought and connections unmade because of memory shortcomings?

Utilizing this question in the context of disaster risk reduction and management, one would ask if people really learn from their memory of disasters events?

21 Bankoff (2012: 37) suggests that to be able to fully understand what makes people and communities resilient and vulnerable to disasters it is imperative to examine what makes them act that way over a long period of time.

2.4 Local Knowledge

Local knowledge, local wisdom, traditional knowledge, and indigenous knowledge are often used terms to connote community-based knowledge developed by a particular group of people to withstand disaster threats in their localities. For the purpose of the research, the term local knowledge has been used to avoid confusion. Across the disaster management literature, there has been no unified definition for local knowledge. This implies an ongoing discourse. Nonetheless, over the years, there were attempts to define and come up with its descriptions, characteristics, and its contours. This endeavor is vital as various groups advocate for its recognition in disaster risk reduction and management policies.

Rationalizing the significance of local knowledge, Velasquez (2008) argues that various communities in the world have prepared, operated, acted, and responded to disasters utilizing their own indigenous systems, even before modern societies were able to come up with their scientific-based early warning systems (EWS). In disaster risk reduction and management, local knowledge has four (4) pillars namely: (1) observe; (2) anticipate; (3) adjust; and, (4) communicate. Each of the four pillars has its specific elements. Table 1 provides the definition and the components of the each pillar.

Although scholars and development practitioners define local knowledge

22 differently, a common fiber binds their understanding, according to the document entitled, Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster risk reduction and management in

South Asia –“…it has to be understood from the communities’ viewpoint of the physical environment where they exist, the natural resources they are richly blessed with and the ways in which these capitals can be most advantageous for them to withstand with the challenges of the natural world within the perspective of their social and cultural milieu.

“There is compelling evidence for the Asia-Pacific region to recognize and strengthen its wealth of [local knowledge] for providing local solutions to global problems of increasing disasters and climate change impacts” – this is the main message of the Policy Document on Local Knowledge and Disaster Risk Reduction and Management produced during the International Workshop on “Indigenous

Knowledge and Disaster risk reduction and management: From Practice to Policy.”

The said event was held at the Kyoto University on July 2008 and was attended by

61 individual participants representing 15 countries (Shaw et al., 2009b).

The purpose of the said meeting was to discuss the following: (1) the transferability issue of local knowledge and disaster risk reduction and management;

(2) the policy implication of local knowledge, particularly linking practice to policy as well as to further the incorporation of local knowledge in decision-making processes; and, (3) the next steps and future directions of local knowledge in terms of research and implementation. The aforementioned event was deemed as the initial step that created a core group of disaster risk reduction and management practitioner

23 and researchers whereby their works are focused on local knowledge and disaster risk reduction and management (Shaw et al., 2008).

In hindsight, there are two (2) major reasons for the increasing interest in local knowledge and its consideration as a potent local capacity. First, amidst the huge investment of several governments in state-of-the-art technologies to understand and assess natural hazards, frequently these modern technologies failed to provide sufficient early warning information. As a consequence, the number of people affected by disaster events is increasing, and worst, disaster events just get repeated. In addition, as earlier mentioned, governments were always surprised by the enormous impact of disaster occurrences. This is a consequence of investing immensely in relief efforts (which are a post-disaster activity) when in fact they should be capitalizing on the existing capacities of local people for disaster preparation and resilience. Second, the experiences of several communities who had survived terrible disaster events through age-old local practices gained attention worldwide. Specifically, the Simeuleans in Aceh, Indonesia (UNISDR, 2007) and the Mokens in the Surin Islands on the coast of Thailand and Myanmar who survived the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami using the orally passed down community disaster stories (Narumon, 2006) provided practitioners and policy makers new perspectives on the significance of local knowledge in disaster preparedness and risk reduction framework.

Victoria (2007) writes that local knowledge and other disaster-related practices of various communities are essential in disaster preparedness, mitigation, and prevention. Velasquez (2008), on the other hand, deemed that local knowledge

24 had to be understood, acknowledge, and respected as a formidable information source and can contribute to reducing disaster risk in many parts of the world.

Baumwoll (2008) holds that there are several justifications on the usefulness of local knowledge in mitigating and adapting to disaster events. Four (4) themes have been extracted from her original list namely: First, it can advance and improve disaster risk reduction and management policies. As DRR policies aim to address the vulnerability of communities, incorporating and/or integrating local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management means recognizing it as an important capacity. Additionally, acknowledging these local faculties signify the appreciation of people’s culture and values. This further shows that people and their traditions are being put at the core of the policy and not at the periphery. Moreover, Baumwoll

(2008) claims that local knowledge could be incorporated in socializing disaster (i.e., disaster education) to local people, as well as in building a strong early warning system at the community level.

Second, it is independent from modern technologies. Since local knowledge does not require very sophisticated and highly technical machineries, communities can operate and/or perform it without any difficulties. In fact, recent technological innovations in disaster assessments or predictions need to be melted with the local

25 Table 1: Typology of local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management

(1) Observe (2) Anticipate (3) Adjust (4) Communication

People’s experience of the local People’s identification and People’s access to assets People’s ability to transfer surrounding monitoring of environmental knowledge among themselves indicators and between generation History of natural hazards Early warning signals Human assets Oral & written Examples: knowledge on the Examples: interpretational Examples: specific skills such as communication location, time, duration, frequency, knowledge of changes in traditional carpenters and Examples: local songs, poems, intensity, predictability of previous animal behaviour, vegetation masons proverbs which help the hazards patterns; knowledge of local younger generation and weather forecasts outsiders to learn about previous hazards; stories of previous hazards encoded in the names of specific places

Nature of natural hazards Time thresholds Sociocultural assets Early warning systems Examples: knowledge on the onset, Examples: knowledge of when Examples: knowledge of Examples: use of visual signals origin, and velocity of water flow; it is time to buy and store food different social groups such as mirrors, fire or audio knowledge of different types of rain in advance, leave the house, depending on occupational, signals like drums; having move the cattle, and remove physical ability, ethnicity, dreams of natural hazards in important belongings gender, caste, class, and age advance characteristics

Evolution of social and physical Escape routes and safe places Institutional assets Other practices vulnerabilities to natural hazards for humans and cattle Examples: knowledge generated Examples: taboos which Example: life stories explaining the Examples: knowledge of the by local institutions and cross- prevent people from going to impoverishment processes of safest and fastest routes scale linkages certain hazard prone areas; households following recurrent ceremonies, local art which natural hazards and other stresses helps the community to understand and remember past

26 natural Key actors and skills Financial assets hazards, and relieve the Examples: knowledge of who Examples: micro-finance anxiety related to the threat of knows what, who does what arrangements future hazards and when, who stays behind, such as credits and savings who goes first Natural assets Examples: natural resource management strategies such as intercropping and agroforestry that conserve biodiversity and protect soil erosion and can contribute to reducing the impacts of natural hazards

Physical assets Examples: infrastructural safety arrangements such as boats, housing, embankments

Source: Reconstructed and adapted from Denkens (2007b)

27 context where it is going to be used. As Baumwoll (2008) wrote, even though scientists and other experts ignore local knowledge, which they associate with the

“backward” and “less-educated”, numerous communities have proven and tested its usefulness even without the aid of state-of-the-art technologies.

Third, disaster risk reduction and management project implementation can be improved by local knowledge. Giving value to local knowledge provides a venue for people to participate in the project implementation process. Moreover, it also enables the community to have a sense of ownership and self-confidence in the initiative (Baumwoll, 2008). On the other hand, Dekens (2007a) held that local knowledge promotes mutual trust, acceptability, common understanding.

Finally, it provides a model for disaster risk reduction and management education. Having passed the local knowledge from one generation to another through oral or non-formal ways, this offers us a perspective that transferring technology (knowledge) to vulnerable communities need not to be prescribed in a strict manner.

Synthesizing the imperative use of local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management, Wisner, an authority in disaster studies, stressed in the Side

Meeting on Local Knowledge and Disaster risk reduction and management during the Global Platform for Disaster Reduction held at Geneva in 2009: “…local knowledge is important in disaster risk reduction and management because it is the lens through which people perceive and understand the world and work on the world. People are constantly coping with threats. They share knowledge with neighbors, may draw knowledge in from far away, boil it down and work out ways to

28 apply it locally. Local communities are workshops of knowledge production, not just museums of tradition…”

2.4.1 Local Knowledge in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management: Illustrations from Asia

In the 15-month period (2006-2007) project entitled, “Living with Risk:

Sharing Knowledge on Disaster Preparedness in the Himalayan Region”, the implementer – International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

(ICIMOD) - has produced eight (8) significant publications. One of which is the

Local Knowledge for Disaster Preparedness: A Literature Review, published in

2008. One of the key features of the aforesaid document was the section on the classification of different types of local knowledge in disaster preparedness namely:

(1) technical knowledge; (2) environmental and agricultural knowledge; (3) knowledge about development project; and, (4) socio-cultural and historical knowledge (Denkens, 2007a). Denkens (2007a) argues that among these types of local knowledge in disaster preparedness, the document reveals that only technology-based knowledge has been often associated and emphasized in disaster risk reduction and management literatures. While the environmental and agricultural knowledge have been rigorously studied and has been linked with several disciplines.

In 2009, the Policy Note on Indigenous Knowledge in Disaster Risk

Reduction and the book entitled, Indigenous Knowledge in Disaster Risk Reduction:

From Practice to Policy was published. Both were products of the 2008 Kyoto

University’s International Workshop on “Indigenous Knowledge and Disaster risk

29 reduction and management.” These materials capitalize as well in technology-based local knowledge.

The abovementioned book highlights 19 case studies from countries in the

Asia Pacific Region that uses local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management. The book was an attempt to systematically study the link of local knowledge in reducing disaster risk emphasizing on its applicability in the modern world. The said book was intended for researchers and policymakers. For instance, in terms of the use of local knowledge in flood preparedness and flood risk management, illustrations from Eastern Terai of Nepal, Bangladesh, Japan, and An

Giang Province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam were discussed. On the other hand, on natural resource, coastal, and water management, among the cases that were highlighted in the report were the experiences of The Philippines, Maldives, China,

Sri Lanka, and Gujo-Hachiman, Japan. For the incorporation of local knowledge in traditional housing, the book cites the experiences of India and West Sumatra and

Southern west Java, Indonesia. Furthermore, the practices in: UC Hilcot, Mansehra;

Pakistan; Ivatans in Batanes Islands, Philippines; Pacific Islands; tsunami early warning in Simeulue, Indonesia; Tuvalu; and, the adaptability experiences and rural tele-centers in India, were also cited in the book (UNISDR, 2008).

On the same vein, a year prior to the release of the abovementioned book, the publication entitled, Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction: Good

Practices and Lessons Learned from Experiences in the Asia-Pacific Regions, was released by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction

(UNISDR, 2008). The said document highlighted as well the merging of local

30 technology and modern disaster assessments as key to disaster risk reduction and management. It also calibrated a set of criteria for a certain community practice to be recognized as local knowledge as relevant in disaster risk reduction and management, namely: (1) origin of knowledge; (2) relative level of adaptation over time; (3) relationship to local skills and materials; (4) success in surviving or coping with disaster over time; and, (5) applicability to other societies facing familiar situations.

The 2008 UNISDR publication is composed of technology-based local knowledge practices from 13 countries in the Asia Pacific Region that include:

China, India, Indonesia, Japan, , Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, The

Philippines, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In hindsight, aside from capitalizing on technical local knowledge, if one compares the list provided by both publications, it can be observed that some of the experiences documented by one had been documented by the other as well. In the final analysis, the recognition given to local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management is indeed encouraging. The importance accorded by international organizations to local knowledge as a formidable local capacity is an indication that these pools of knowledge will soon be reflected in disaster risk reduction and management policies and plans.

2.5 Local Knowledge and Social Memory: The Current Stand on Public Policy

Since many communities in the region views local knowledge as imperative in disaster risk reduction and management, why does Denkens argues that its

31 integration in disaster risk reduction and management policies is slow-moving?

Addressing this question, Denkens (2007a) argues that one of the factors that lead to the marginalization of local knowledge is power relation. She explained this in three

(3) ways: (1) since local knowledge is a political issue, giving utmost importance to it will change power relations; (2) institutional change is inevitable if local knowledge will be incorporated in policy frameworks; and, (3) since knowledge is power, then the one who holds the knowledge has direct command over the resources as well as the discourse.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a very technical perspective in studying natural hazards proliferated; subsequently, this has become the dominant approach. Given this, non-technical approaches in studying and understanding natural hazards have been put aside. Among the spheres that will be affected once local knowledge will be recognized are the conflicts of interest between natural sciences and social sciences, core and periphery, and north and south. The interest and political structures, particularly of the authoritarian regimes, will be endangered by the growing support in local knowledge and participatory approaches, Denkens claimed.

Finally, she underscored that the use of local knowledge reflects community-based power.

In the same way, there are those who question reliability of local knowledge and social memory in public policy. The publication entitled, Indigenous Knowledge for Disaster Risk Management in South Asia, points out two (2) main concerns on local knowledge. First, having originated from a single community, its being culture-specific and difficult to be transferred to other context have been doubted.

32 Second, as local knowledge capitalizes on the knowledge that has been transferred or passed down by previous generations, its documentation has been also questioned.

Proper documentation and the amount of existing records on this can provide a perspective of its veracity, which can influence policies in favor of local knowledge.

To address these points, a publication entitled, Indigenous Knowledge and

Disaster risk Management: Policy Note (2009) reveals that possible tools to advance local knowledge in policies would be through research and documentation. The aforesaid publication writes that through research and documentation, the undocumented practices will be documented and eventually be made into applicable knowledge. The Policy Note proposed four (4) steps namely: (1) understand and establish the value of local knowledge in present context, and build a foundation for its integration with other knowledge and operational systems; (2) systematically document the local knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management in traditional communities; (3) test the value of local knowledge and identify appropriate practices for replication and scaling in the context of current science; and, (4) demonstrate through national and regional pilot programs the applicability of local knowledge with appropriate adaptation, as an input to awareness and advocacy work.

It has been argued that local knowledge (particularly the socio-cultural and historical local knowledge) is intangible and cannot be usually seen by outsiders for the reason that it is embedded in a communities’ culture. To address this, Denkens

(2007a; 2007b) also recommends that thorough documentation is immensely needed.

Moreover, she writes that songs, stories, proverbs, dance, myths, cultural values,

33 beliefs, rituals, community laws, local language, agricultural practices, and institutions of the people need to be explored and studied.

On the other hand, Douglas et al., (1982) and Lavigne, et al., (2008) claim that social and cultural values determine how a particular community view natural hazards. As an illustration, Lavigne et al., (2008) conducted a study on the perceptions of dwellers living in the slope of several active volcanoes in Indonesia –

Sumbing, Sindoro, Dien, and Merapi. Particularly, their study looked at three factors, namely: risk perception, cultural beliefs, and socio-economic constraints.

The study underscored that the communities have a very low risk perception and repeatedly disregard scientific assessments as a consequence of strong attachment to their cultural beliefs. Six (6) years prior to the conduct of the aforementioned research, a study conducted by De Coster (2002) found out as well that the people of

Mt. Merapi have low risk perception. It was also attributed to the people’s belief system. The study of De Coster revealed that eight (8) years after the 1994 Mt

Merapi’s eruption, the people of Turgo Village (the hardest hit during the eruption) still believe that they would not be affected by potential volcanic eruptions.

Schlehe (2007) observes that the cultural dimensions of natural hazards are immensely neglected. While Donovan (2010) and Swanson (2008) argue that local traditions and belief systems can be extremely influential in volcanic regions particularly it motivates people’s reactions during and prior to disaster crisis.

In a different study, Cronin et al., (2004a) highlight that local oral histories and memory of disasters not only facilitates the reconstruction past eruptions, but also provides culturally acceptable and effective mitigation techniques. In fact,

34 traditional culture (such as oral histories) has the ability to reduce vulnerability by strengthening their resilience as seen in the case of Simuleu Island in Aceh in the wake of the 2004 tsunami (Gaillard, et.al, 2008; McAdoo, et al., 2006; Donovan,

2010).

The study on Mt. Merapi conducted by Lavigne et al., (2008), concludes with the observation that the Indonesian government overlooked culture and communities’ belief systems in favor of hazard-related factors. Chester (2005) held that culture and society should be given priority or included in the study of volcanic risk management, and that the experience of Mt. Merapi should motivate or propel the government to include local knowledge in disaster management policies.

Additionally, having rigorously studied the cultural dimensions of risk in Mt Merapi,

Michael Dove, an anthropologist said that (Dove 2008): “… there is a perceptual, cognitive dimension of the concept of risk in Mt Merapi. However, the attention to this subject has often disregarded in political ecological studies. Policymakers need to be more attentive to the role of perturbations and change in the social life of the communities, how this affects risk perception and management, and how state views of risk are themselves socially constructed and thus contingent in value and efficacy.”

The Hyogo Framework for Action emphasizes the “use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels” as one of its Priority Actions in building community resiliency to disasters. However, as can be observed, both in the practice and policy advocacies on the use of local knowledge in disaster risk reduction, there is an overwhelming emphasis on

35 technology-based types and the exclusion of socio-cultural and historical category.

But the case of Mt. Merapi and several other societies prove that the later form of local knowledge merits recognition in policies as well.

Denkens (2007b) states that local belief systems are mixtures of people’s beliefs (e.g., socio-cultural, religious belief systems), worldviews (i.e., ways of perceiving the world), values/moral principles (e.g., respect, reciprocity, sharing, humility), and ethics.

Various scholars who studied Mt Merapi, for example, found that unquestionably what the dwellers believe in shapes and influences their knowledge, perceptions, and response to volcanic eruptions. Although most view this as fatalism, Denkens (2007a; 2007b), Dove (2006) and Hutton and Haque (2003) argue that strong cultural attachment is a sign of humility and people’s search for peace and harmony with nature.

2.6 Local Knowledge and Social Memory: Its Significance in Public Policy

Traditionally, development approach has always been top-down rather than

bottom-up. This remained evident in how communities are perceived to only rely

on development initiatives and predominantly seen as passive actors in the

development process rather than active agents of societal change. Communities,

particularly those which are poor and vulnerable, most of the time, do not have the

political clout and financial capacity to engage in the decision-making process. For

quite a long time, the poor are merely spectators in the process rather than active

participants in the development discourse and practice. Citizen participation is

36 imperative in development practice as it is the building block of contemporary

democratic society and sustainable communities (Cuthill and Fien, 2006).

Furthermore, Bloomfield et al. (1998) suggested that: “… there is a need to include

a wider range of knowledge in decision making and provide a context for calls for

a more participatory democracy where citizens are active and engaged in the

issues of the day rather than passive and withdrawn”

Freire (1970) maintained that the first step in facilitating citizen participation

in the development practice is through the process of conscientization or the

building of the critical consciousness of the individuals. He further explained that a

‘person who gains this consciousness better understands how their political,

religious, gender, ethnic or education perspectives are influenced by the dominant

culture.’ Arnstein (1969) also argued that, ‘the participation of the governed’ is the

cornerstone of democracy and that capacity building and citizen engagement are

means to facilitate citizen participation.

The Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP), a nongovernment organization

(NGO) based in the Philippines has been helping communities, local and abroad, to prepare for disasters as well as develop a people-centered and community-grounded disaster risk reduction and management plans. Community-based Disaster Risk

Reduction and Management (CBDRRM) is the approach being utilized and capitalized on by the organization in its DRRM efforts. Among the communities that

CDP was able to help using the CBDRRM approach are eight barangays in

Dagupan City, which are prone to flooding, and Barangay Banaba in San Mateo,

Rizal. The said communities were able to significant reduce their flooding

37 vulnerability as well as increase the capacities of the local government and barangay officials and the residents, collectively as a community, in disaster preparedness.

Cuthill and Fien (2006) developed the Model for Collaborative Action. The model begins by establishing a shared vision by the community and the local government. For Cuthill and Fien (2006), the success of participatory process is a result of early identification and articulation of an agreed vision and goals. They deem that visioning offers stakeholders to come together and build understanding of what a sustainable local community might look like. The shared vision of outcome is a precondition for good planning practice (SCDC 2000), which is the second phase in the framework. After the vision setting and planning come the evaluation. The evident results for collaborative local action - process outcomes and project outputs

– are evaluated based on the framework. Cuthill and Fien (2006) mention that evaluation of process outcomes provides an opportunity for participant reflection and that reflective learning is key in developing learning communities. Also, they argue that through participatory evaluation, the diverse range of perspectives, knowledge, skills, values, needs, are acknowledged and provide direction for evaluation. In this framework, Cuthill and Fien (2006) argue that, ‘citizen participation in local governance operalizationalised through capacity building acts as a catalyst, in a self reinforcing process that strengthens democratic governance, helps rebuild social capital and provides a foundation for citizen and local governance to work collaboratively towards a sustainable community.’

Unmindful of the Model for Collaborative Action, the Center for Disaster

Preparedness has been utilizing the core message of the model in its disaster risk

38 reduction and management work. Also. In its initiaitves, the CDP has been utilizing remembering and uncovering of local knowledge and social memory of disasters and feed those in the disaster risk reduction and management plans. The cases of

Dagupan City and Barangay Banaba are presented below:

2.6.1 Integration of Local Knowledge and Social Memory in DRRM Plans: The Case of Dagupan City

Dagupan City is found in the province of Pangasinan located in the Northern portion of the Philippines. Aside from being known as the Bangus (Milkfish)

Capital of the Philippines, the city has attracted people from nearby provinces due to the increased in number of infrastructures built in area such as education institutions, shopping malls and other business establishments. However, the city faces the challenge of how to balance its urbanization vis-à-vis the safety of its citizens. The city is prone to flooding for two reasons, namely: (1) it serves as a catch basin to a number of river systems that surrounds the city; thus, whenever there are heavy rainfalls the water overflows and goes to the city; and, (2) the poor drainage system as well as the conversion of fish ponds into commercial and residential areas contributed to the vulnerability of the city to flooding (Iglesias

2007).

As a result of the social memory of previous disasters such as the flooding of 1935, 1972, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 (Molina,

2014), the residents of Dagupan City have habituated themselves in the perennial flooding in the area. Also, over the years, high-risk communities have developed coping mechanisms and adaptation strategies in relation to the risk they are facing.

39 For instance, residents of high-risk areas have elevated their houses. Moreover, the communities have developed a community-based early warning system using indigenous materials. More concretely, in Manguin, one of the high-risk communities, people uses kanongkong, an indigenous early warning system to signal the water level in the nearby river (Luneta & Molina, 2008).

In 2006, the project PROMISE (Program for Hydro-Meteorological

Disaster Mitigation in Secondary Cities in Asia) was introduced and implemented in the city through the Center for Disaster Preparedness. The project was under the auspices of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), which is based in

Bangkok, and funded by the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) of the

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (Luneta & Molina,

2008). Project PROMISE was also implemented in five other ‘secondary cities1’ in

Asia, namely: Chittagong (Bangladesh), Hyderabad (Pakistan), Salutary (Sri

Lanka), Da Nang (Vietnam), Jakarta (Indonesia).

Dagupan City was chosen to be its project site in the Philippines due to the commitment of the local government units. Thirty one (31) barangays were considered as the project sites. However, due to fund limitations, eight barangays were chosen as the pilot areas, these are: Bacayao Norte, Bacayao Sur, Lasip Chico,

Lasip Grande, Mangin, Pogo Grande, Salisay and Tebeng. According to Luneta, the selection of the aforementioned pilot areas was based from their vulnerability to hydro-meteorological hazards. This means that these areas were the high-risk areas of flooding in the City of Dagupan.

1 Cities experiencing rapid urbanization, which consequently endangers the inhabitants as well as the environment

40 The very first step undertaken in the implementation of the project was the formulation of the Technical Working Group (TWG). The TWG was comprised of

Dagupan City Government Officials and Luneta from the Center for Disaster

Preparedness and who served as the Project Coordinator.

The primary goal of the project is to increase the capacity of the

communities and the local government in risk reduction. Among the activities of

the project is the community participatory assessment of risk where the social

memory on previous disasters events and the lessons learned from it were

capitalized. From these, disaster management plans were produced based on the

needs, contexts, and vulnerabilities of the communities. Moreover, early warning

system in strategic areas in the communities was installed such as flood markers

and kanongkong. A small-scale mitigation project was also put up based on the

needs and resources of the high-risk communities. There were community members

that chose to sell agricultural and poultry products. The income generated was then

used as seed money to procure construction materials to build a safer evacuation

centers to be used in times of disasters. On the other hand, other communities opted

to use the seed fund provided to them by the project to rehabilitate and elevate their

barangay halls that serves as evacuation centers. Series of capacity building for

vulnerable communities and the city government officials were conducted.

Accoording to Conrado Moyalde, the then Chairman of Barangay Salisay, said that people’s participation in the project was the most important factor. His constituents participated in the project because it is beneficial for them. By engaging them in the project, the citizens knew what to do before, during and after

41 the disaster, Moyalde added. On the other hand, Carbonell, one of the city officials, said that if the City Government will not engage the people in the project and will just be a mere recipients of it, the people will have no ownership of the project. He added that since the approach of Project PROMISE was community-based and it put premium on local capacities and the living experiences of the community, the people participated. As a result of people’s participation, they were able to identify their own problems in their respective communities, and not defined for them by officials from the city. Moreover, by engaging citizens, they were able to identify the feasible solutions to their own problems. With this, Carbonell said that in the city’s future projects they would be using the community-based approach because they have proven that it truly works.

During the assessment workshop with the communities involved in the project, it surfaced that, without a tinge of doubt, Project PROMISE was able to improve the lives of people living under the high-risk areas. The project not just provided equipment for emergency, but it enabled citizens to be prepared during the times of disasters. In the same way, through the participatory approach employed in the project in which social memory and local knowledge on disaster were given importance, the people became active in the disaster risk reduction and management initiatives in their respective communities. Also, the disaster risk reduction and management plan became effective because people have ownership on the plan and they follow what is written on the plan.

42 2.6.2 Integration of Local Knowledge and Social Memory in DRRM Plans: The Case of Barangay Banaba, San Mateo, Rizal

The San Mateo is of the municipalities in the Province of Rizal. The municipality is one of the high-risk areas for flooding in the country. As a matter of fact, the area is always affected by flooding whenever there is a strong tropical storm that would hit Rizal and Metro Manila. The most recent flooding that tremendously affected San Mateo and its residents are Typhoon Ondoy in 2009 and typhoon Gener and unnamed Habagat in 2012. Garbage is considered as the pressing environmental problem of the municipality. Likewise, many residents of San Mateo are dwelling in high-risk areas such as the . One of the vulnerable areas in San Mateo is Barangay Banaba, which is situated between Nangka and Marikina Rivers.

Barangay Banaba is susceptible to flooding as well as riverbank erosion. Aside from flooding, the area is located 1 kilometer from the Marikina West Valley Fault Line and 5 -7 kilometers East of Marikina Valley Fault Line, which makes it at-risk to earthquake too (CDP, 2014).

San Mateo is rapidly urbanizing. As a result of growing population in the municipality, commercial establishments such as fast food chains and supermarkets were built. In Barangay Banaba alone, approximately, there are 3,000 households in which majority earns less that Php 1,000.00 per month or Php 50.00 a day (CDP,

2014). Aside from being prone to flooding and earthquake, the area is vulnerable to soil erosion, fire, and communicable diseases such as skin disease, leptospirosis, and dengue. When typhoons Ondoy and Gener as well as the Habagat hit the country,

Barangay Banaba is one of the areas badly hit. As a matter of fact, many people in the area died and residents were left homeless and helpless. As a result of this, the

43 Banaba Disaster Risk Reduction Project was implemented in 2010. It was spearheaded by a peoples’ organization in the area called Buklod Tao. The organization reinforces the capacity of community people to respond to disasters and undertake environmental enhancements. It is involved in disaster preparedness, mitigation and sustainable livelihood projects (CDP, 2014). The said project was implemented in partnership with the Center for Disaster for Disaster Preparedness, a nongovernment organization. Concurrently, the fund support for the project came from Christian Aid. The goal of the project is to address the need for safety as well as the need to build the resiliency of the community, capability building towards preparedness, mitigation and empowerment, livelihood towards reducing economic vulnerability, and, advocacy towards short-term and long-term disaster risk reduction (CDP 2014).

The project capitalized on the community participation. As a matter of fact, the community engagement model employed in the experience of Dagupan City served as a model in this project. Among the project activities in which the communities vulnerable to flooding became involved were: producing a participatory three-dimensional map of the areas high-risk to flooding. In this method, using social memory of significant disaster events they were asked to plot in the map the high-risk areas, families frequently flooded, and evacuation sites in the community. Also, participatory risk assessment and planning involving the children were undertaken. Based on the social memory on previous disaster events, flood markers and early warning devices to monitor the water levels in the Marikina

River were also installed. Public awareness early warning and evacuation

44 mechanism using the language the can easily be understood by the members of the community were also posted in several parts of the barangay . Finally, learning from the previous causes of flooding in the community, which is garbage, the community adapted the recycling of tetra packs and turning them into bags and alternative to pots. In the same way, urban gardening, seedlings growing, tree planning, and green charcoal trading serve among the disaster prevention/mitigation measures employed in the community.

45 Chapter 3

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

3.1 Introduction

This chapter lays the conceptual framework of the study. In the previous sections, the concepts of local knowledge and social memory have been unpacked by examining its theoretical models, and definitions. Also, examples were provided.

Further, the theoretical issues dealing with the questions on the relationships of local knowledge, social memory, and public policies were discussed. This was approached by providing the current stand of local knowledge and social memory in the context of public policy of disaster risk reduction and management. Finally, two cases on how local knowledge and social memory was promoted and capitalized in disaster risk reduction and management initiatives were presented. Following this, the conceptual position and the contribution of the study in the prevailing discourse will be emphasized in this chapter.

3.2 A Conceptual Framework toward a Local Knowledge and Social Memory- Driven Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Policy

In the current understanding of disasters, it is believed that disaster risk is a consequence of the exposure and presence of hazards, social vulnerability, and low capacity. Also, literature on disaster risk reduction and management stress that disaster events are becoming more frequent, its damages and losses more costly, and its impacts more devastating. Needless to say, disasters hamper national development. The implications of disasters to a country’s development proved that

46 disasters and development are strongly linked. Additionally, although disasters are becoming a global phenomenon, it has been observed that there seems to be a geographical concentration in relation to its frequency and its magnitude of impact and devastation. Asia and the Pacific are considered the most vulnerable region, while the Philippines consistently ranks as the most disaster-prone in the region.

Although disasters occur in a certain locality, the impacts transcend jurisdictional boundaries making intra and inter-country cooperation imperative.

As stressed in the earlier chapters, disaster events serve as focusing events, policy windows, policy agenda, and/or reform conjunctures. This is evident in the passage of policies as a response to disasters. More specifically, global frameworks such as the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) were produced that serve as the blueprint for disaster risk reduction and management. The global frameworks are then translated into regional strategies. Also, national governments, as signatories to the global frameworks, are mandated to formulate national policies, plans and frameworks aligned to the global agenda. It was underscored in Chapter 1 that

Typhoon Ketsana (local name: Ondoy) facilitated the swift ratification of two landmark policies in relation to climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and management, namely: Republic Act 9729 or the Climate Change Act of 2009 and the Republic Act 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and

Management Law singed in 2010. If Typhoon Ketsana did not affected Metro

Manila, perhaps the said laws would have taken years to be passed.

As exemplified in the experiences of the residents of Dagupan City and

Barangay Banaba in San Mateo, Rizal, people and communities have inherent

47 capacities on disasters such as local knowledge and social memory. Local knowledge have been existing in these communities which people operate on even prior to the introduction of modern tools in forecasting disasters. On the other hand, social memory is event-specific and serves as the basis for resiliency and preparedness of the said communities. However, even though local knowledge and social memory are significant bases of strong policies and plans for disaster risk reduction and management, the integration of these are slow moving.

Gaillard (2011) argues that public policies on disaster risk reduction and management in the Philippines are primarily premised on the belief that disasters are results of hazard events and well as people’s low risk perception and risk denial.

Those are the elements that inform policy on disaster risk reduction and management. This can likewise be said in the global frameworks and in the regional strategies on risk reduction. Consequently, the approach of the state has been very response or emergency-oriented. More importantly, the focus of initiatives is on the hazard, but not on people’s inherent capacities that would enable them to cope and recover from disaster events.

Figure 1 provides the conceptual framework developed for the study. The framework underscores that local knowledge and social memory on disaster can improve the existing policies on disaster risk reduction and management. This is made possible in three (3) significant ways: (1) local knowledge and social memory bring to the fore the people’s inherent capacities; (2) the recovery of local knowledge and social memory and its subsequent integration in the disaster risk reduction and management policy gives the community a sense of ownership of the

48 policy which in turn makes such policy more effective; and, (3) local knowledge and social memory make the policy context-specific which better suits the needs, situation, and vulnerability of the community. That being said, it is indispensable that local knowledge and social are given utmost consideration in local level disaster risk reduction and management policy. Gaventa (2009) argues that the power and knowledge from below (the communities) are imperative. Gaventa (2006) further holds that the power cube is "a useful way to consider the ways that people are organising to contest the things that put them at risk and to gain control of resources that will make them safer". In relation to disaster risk reduction and management, the researcher contends that undeniably, the local knowledge and social memory or the powers from below are substantial inputs to and can improve the local, national, regional, and global policies, frameworks and plans on disaster risk reduction and management.

49 Figure 1: Conceptual Framework of the Study

50 Chapter 4

METHODOLOGY

4.1 Introduction

This chapter provides the methodological approach of the research. The study is highly qualitative in nature. The primary approach would be policy analysis of disaster risk reduction and management programs and policies in the selected communities. Anderson (2011: 2) defines policy analysis as an approach “… to identify the most efficient alternative in relation to dealing with the problem.” Kraft et al., (2007) argue that this approach is critical in relation to the formulation of public policies as well in assessing programs after implementation (2007: 23). They further hold that policy analysis is an attempt toward critically dissecting public problems and providing appropriate solutions in a rational manner (2007: 23).

This study examines how can the recovery of local knowledge and social memory on disasters improve local level disaster risk reduction and management policy, specifically in the context of the Angat watershed and river basin region.

Corollary to this, there are three (3) objectives of the study, namely:

. to document the local knowledge and social memory on disasters of the

riverfront dweller of Angat watershed and river basin region;

. to examine the local level plans and community practices on disaster risk

reduction and management in the Angat watershed and river basin

region; and,

51 . to determine how local knowledge and social memory on disasters are

integrated in the local level plans and community practices on disaster

risk reduction and management in the Angat watershed and river basin

region.

4.2 Research Methods

In gathering the relevant the study employed, four (4) methods by which the:

(1) key informant interviews; (2) focus group discussion, (3) community disaster transect walk, and (4) documents review, content analysis and review of public policies on disaster risk reduction and management.

The first method utilized in the study is key informant interviews. The key informant interview was used as a key method to provide avenue for more in-depth information gathering and reflects the experience of the informants/respondents.

There were four (4) groups of people to be interviewed in the study, namely:

. culture bearers or the past and present community leaders;

. residents within the 5-meter easement of the river who are considered the

most high risk dwellers in flooding;

. local government officials of the municipalities; and,

. academics, disaster risk reduction and management experts and

practitioners to provide an outsider’s perspective in relation to the focus

of the study.

Focus group discussion was employed in the study, particularly with the officers of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office. The said

52 method was employed to identify the collective knowledge in relation to how the local government addresses the problem of flooding in the area.

In the same way, the municipality officials and the respondents in the first and second group were invited to in a transect walk to show researcher the actual water level and embodiment of the previous disasters that occurred in the community. The transect walk enriched the remembering of the community members of their previous disaster experience. In the transect walk, the respondents were asked to point how high the water levels during the flooding and what are the critical infrastructures in the community that were hit by the disasters among others.

This approach is called the community disaster transect walk.

Lastly, written documents were reviewed and analysed in the study. This includes community ordinances in relation to disaster risk reduction, the Municipal and Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan (BDRRMP),

Contingency Plans and other government reports and historical manuscripts that highlight the disaster events that occurred in the communities covered in the research sites.

4.3 Procedures in the Conduct of the Research

Shown in Figure 2 is the schematic diagram of the research methodology.

As provide in Figure 2, there were four (4) phases in the conduct of the study: site selection, social preparation, in-depth data gathering, and data processing and writing.

53 4.3.1 Site Selection

In selecting the research sites for the study, three stages have been undertaken: review of documents, ocular survey of the municipalities and communities, and courtesy call to local level officials.

Review of Documents. The study is undertaken under a larger research project called Urbanizing Watersheds implemented by the University of the British

Columbia (UBC), De La Salle University (DLSU), and the Bulacan State University

(BSU). That said, it was recommended to the researcher to focus on the areas in

Bulacan susceptible to flooding. While reviewing the literature to find the best place to carry out the research, the researcher found out that practically the entire province is prone and have a long history of flooding. The research further studied the literature and scaled down the municipalities into areas that are highly susceptible to flooding, threatened by the water release of the , and have a population living in and near the waterways. From 24 municipalities/cities of the Province of

Bulacan, the sample was scaled down to three: Calumpit, Hagonoy, and .

Calumpit is the oldest municipality in Bulacan and is comprised of 29 communities.

Hagonoy used to be part of Calumpit and is composed of 26 communities. On the other hand, Marilao has 16 communities that are all prone to flooding. At first, the researcher was tempted to cover the three municipalities. But taking into consideration the coordination to the municipal government and to the selected communities in each area, the process would take very long. The researcher decided to focus only in two Calumpit and Hagonoy. From there, three community case studies in each municipality were undertaken.

54

IN-DEPTH SITE SELECTION SOCIAL DATA DATA PROCESSING PREPARATION GATHERING

Review of Documents Review of Documents Ocular Survey

WRITING

Ocular Survey Courtesy Calls to the Community case studies Barangay Officials

Semi-structured Courtesy Calls and interviews with discussions with Formal entry to the Selected communities Barangay Officials and Municipal Disaster Risk community members Reduction and Management Office

Figure 2: Schematic Diagram of the Research Methodology

55 As mentioned above, Calumpit has 29 communities, while Hagonoy has 26.

All communities are flood-prone, but the level of susceptibility depends on the geographical and topographical. That said, the researcher visited to two municipalities to see the context on the ground.

Ocular Survey of the Municipality and Selected Barangays. On 12 April

2014, the researcher carried out an ocular survey in Calumpit particularly in

Barangay , Frances, Gatbuca, Sapang Bayan, Balungao Central (see Plate

1). The visit provided the researcher the actual context and facilitated in coming up with communities to carry out the study. However, the researcher do not want to formally enter the communities and conduct the study without undertaking a courtesy call to the local government unit of each municipality. In the same way, the research thought that it would be best to involve the local government unit in selecting the research sites for the study.

Plate 1: House near the waterways in Sapang Bayan, Calumpit (Taken during the ocular visit on 12 April)

56 Courtesy Calls and Coordination with the LGU. On 21 April, the researcher carried out courtesy calls to local government officials of Calumpit and Hagonoy

Bulacan. Also, a letter was provided to Mayor Jessie de Jesus of Calumpit and

Mayor Raulito Manlapaz of Hagonoy to formally introduce the research and the objective of the study. The said letters were specifically provided to the Municipal

Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices of both local government units. It was specifically highlighted in the letters that the researcher needs the assistance of the local government in selecting three (3) selected communities in each municipality located near the Angat river basin as the research sites for study.

In the case of Calumpit, the researcher was brought to the Municipal

Administrator and the Municipal Planning and Development Officers (see Plate 2).

The officer then endorsed the researcher to the responsible unit to carry out the study. In the same way, the DRRM and CCA consultant of the municipality discussed the DRRM practice in the locality. He likewise recommended three areas for the study:

. Sapang Bayan: prone to coastal flooding as a result of the overflow of the

Pampanga River;

. Caniogan: prone to coastal flooding as a result of the overflow of Angat

River and River; and,

. Iba o Este (but later changed to Corazon): Corazon is located near the

municipal office. It is not usually flooded as compared to Sapang Bayan

and Caniogan. In 2011, Corazon had experienced the worst flooding in

40 years due to the southwest monsoon.

57

Plate 2: The Researcher with the Municipal Administrator and the DRRM Officer of Calumpit, Bulacan. Source: Author. 21 April 2014

On the other hand, during the 21 April coordination in Hagonoy, the Mayors

Offices directly endorsed the research to the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and

Management Office (see Plate 3). The said office then recommended the following communities as cases for the study:

. Tampok: prone to coastal flooding due to Angat River overflow.

. San Miguel: prone to coastal flooding due to Angat River overflow

. Sta Monica: prone to coastal flooding due to Angat River overflow

58

Plate 3: The researcher with Municipal DRRM Officers of Hagonoy, Bulacan. Source: Author. 21 April 2014

As shown in Plate 4 is an example of a house in Hagonoy, Bulacan submerged to floodwater all year round due to high tide.

Plate 4: A house in Hagonoy, Bulacan submerged to water due to high tide (21 April 2014)

59 4.3.2 Social Preparation

For the social preparation prior to the actual conduct of the study, four (4) stages have been undertaken: review of documents, courtesy calls to the Barangay

Officials of the selected communities, ocular visits to the selected communities, and formal entry to the selected communities.

Review of Documents. With the final roster of communities for the study, the review of literature for the research sites had been scaled down. More specifically, the experiences and impacts of flooding in Sapang Bayan, Caniogan, and Corazon in

Calumpit as well as Tampok, San Miguel, and Sta. Monica in Hagonoy were examined.

Courtesy Calls to the Barangay Officials. On 25 April, courtesy calls were conducted in Sapang Bayan, Caniogan, and Iba O Este. To smoothen the process of coordination, an official of the local government unit joined the researcher in carrying the said activity. On the other hand, the courtesy calls in Tampok, San

Miguel, and Sta. Monica were carried out on 28 April 2014.

Ocular Survey of the Barangays. After the courtesy calls, the researcher carried out ocular visit in the selected barangays for the study. The previous ocular visits were carried out to the communities initially targeted by the researcher. Plate

5 underscores the ongoing drainage construction in Barangay Caniogan taken during the ocular visit. The picture shows the structural mitigation of the local government in relation to the flooding problem in the area.

60 Formal Entry to the Selected Communities. After the series of courtesy calls to the community officials, the researcher formally entered the research sites to carry out the research.

4.3.3 In-Depth Data Gathering

In relation to the actual gathering of data for the study, three phases have been employed by the research: ocular survey, community case studies, and the actual conduct of the data gathering.

Ocular Survey. Even though prior ocular survey of the areas have been undertaken previously, the researcher deemed that there is still a need to further look at the areas to grasp and have a picture of the situation in the communities. This further gave the researcher an opportunity to collect and gather date in relation to the description of research sites.

Plate 5: Structural mitigation in Barangay Caniogan, Calumpit Source: Author. 28 April 2014.

61 Community Case Studies. This enabled the researcher to examine the vulnerability, exposure to hazards, and the capacities of the communities in relation to disaster risk reduction and management. This provided the general picture and description of the vulnerable situation as well as the experiences of the selected communities on disasters. As mentioned above, the research sites for the study are:

Calumpit, Bulacan: Barangays Sapang Bayan, Caniogan, and Corazon (see Figure

3) and Hagonoy, Bulacan: Barangays Tampok, Sta, Monica, and San Miguel (see

Figure 4).

Figure 3: Flood hazard map of Calumpit, Bulacan (DENR-MGB Region III, 2012)

62

Figure 4: Flood hazard map of Hagonoy, Bulacan (DENR-MGB Region III, 2012)

Conduct of Key Informant Interviews and FGDs. In relation to the actual conduct of the key informant interviews and focus group discussions, the table below provides the respondents in each of the research method. Appendix 1 provides the list of respondents in the study.

63 4.3.4. Data Processing

In relation to processing the data collected for the study, the local knowledge and social memory on disasters were coded using the following tables. For local knowledge, the responses were processed using Table 2. Concurrently, Tables 3 and

4 were used to code the social memory on disasters.

Table 2: Coding for the local knowledge in DRRM

Responses Anticipate or Adjust or people’s Communication or people’s access to assets people’s ability to identification and transfer knowledge monitoring of among themselves environmental and between indicators generation

Table 3: Matrix of significant disaster occurrence

1950- 1960- 1970- 1980- 1990- 2000- 1959 1969 1979 1989 1999 present Significant disaster events

Adapted from DRRNet Philippines (2014)

64 Table 4: Coding for the Social Memory on Disasters

YEAR/ IMPACT LESSONS LEARNED DISASTER People (their lives Household and Community facilities Livelihood and Environment and health) community structures and services (houses, economic activities access roads, bridges, (jobs, crops, schools, hospitals, livestock, equipment) water, electric, communication facilities)

65

PART TWO

VULNERABILITIES AND LOCAL CAPACITIES: THE CASE OF CALUMPIT AND HAGONOY, BULACAN

Chapter 5: Vulnerabilities to Flooding: The Context of Flooding in the Province of Bulacan

Chapter 6: “Sanay na sa Baha ang mga Tao”: Narratives on the Social Memory on Disasters and the Development of Local Knowledge in DRRM

Chapter 7: How are Local Knowledge and Social Memory on Disasters Integrated in Local Level Policy and Plans on Flooding? The Case of Calumpit and Hagonoy

66 Chapter 5

VULNERABILITIES TO FLOODING: THE CONTEXT OF FLOODING IN THE PROVINCE OF BULACAN

5.1 Introduction

This section provides the vulnerability context of the Province of Bulacan.

The section is divided into two (2) parts. First, the geographical, political, and socio- economic profile of Bulacan will be presented. Also, it discusses the Province’s susceptibility to hydrometeorological hazards, such as flooding.

The second part discusses the Angat River Basin and watershed region. More specifically, the discussion addresses the following questions:

1. Why are watersheds important?

2. What roles do they play?

3. What are examples of watershed and river basin local and international?

4. Why was the Angat River Basin established?

5. What roles does it play in the surrounding areas?

6. What institutions are governing the Angat watershed?

7. How does the watershed affect the disaster vulnerability of Calumpit,

Hagonoy, and other areas in Bulacan?

5.2 Flooding in Bulacan

Jha et al. (2012: 19) maintained that the risk to urban flooding is a growing challenge worldwide and is causing devastation, economic damages, as well as claiming human lives. Flooding can be a consequence of combination of

67 meteorological and hydrological extremes exacerbated by human activities (Jha et al., 2012: 55; Schmuck, 2012: 244). From 1900 to 2010, approximately 3,686 flooding events occurred worldwide (EM-DAT, 2010 as cited in Schmuck, 2012:

44). Flooding is affecting particularly the dwellers living close to the flood plains and coasts (Wisner et al., 2004 as cited in Schmuck, 2012: 245-246). Table 5 provides the various types and causes of floods.

As a result of varying levels of exposure and vulnerability, disaster risks differ among provinces in the Philippines (Jose, 2012: 7). Bulacan is one of the provinces in the country where 20 per cent of the total land area is susceptible to flooding (Jose, 2012: 7). Many areas in Bulacan are at risk of urban flooding.

Schmuck (2012: 244) argued that flooding is a part and parcel of the hydrological cycle and the life of rivers. It is further exacerbated by actions such as deforestations or interference with the river channel (Schmuck, 2012: 244). In the case of Bulacan,

Francisco (2012) concluded that the flooding is a result of the massive deforestation of the Sierra Madre mountain range as well as the forest area of Angat. The shows other areas in the Philippines susceptible to flooding: Pampanga, ,

Pangasinan, , Maguindanao, Cagayan, North Cotabato, Mindoro Oriental,

Ilocos Norte, La Union, Davao del Norte, National Capital Region, Sultan Kudarat,

Ilocos Sur, , Leyte, and Compostella Valley (PAGASA, 2011)

68 Table 5. Types and causes of floods TYPES OF NATURAL HUMAN INDUCED ONSET TIME DURATION FLOODING OCCURRENCE Urban flood Fluvial Saturation of drainage and sewage Varies depending on From few hours to days Coastal capacity the causes Flash Pluvial Lack of permeability due to Groundwater increased concentration

Faulty drainage system and lack of management Pluvial and Convective Land use changes, urbanization. Varies Varies depending upon prior overland flood thunderstorms, severe conditions rainfall, breakage of ice Increase in surface runoff jam, glacial lake burst, earthquakes resulting to landslides Coastal Earthquakes Development of coastal zones Varies but usually Usually a short time however (Tsunami, storm Submarine volcanic fairly rapid sometimes takes a long time surge) eruptions Destruction of coastal natural flora to recede Subsidence, (e.g. mangrove) Coastal erosion Groundwater High water table level Development in low-lying areas; Usually slow Longer duration combined with heavy interference with natural aquifers rainfall

Embedded effect Flash flood Can be caused by river, Catastrophic failure of water Rapid Usually short often just a few pluvial or coastal systems; retaining structures hours convective thunderstorms; GLOFs Inadequate drainage infrastructure Semi-permanent Sea level rise, land Drainage overload, failure of Usually slow Long duration or permanent flooding subsidence systems, inappropriate urban development Poor groundwater management Source: Reconstructed and Adapted from Jha et al., (2012)

69 Bulacan derived its name from the term bulaklakan due to the proliferation of green orchids in the province as seen by the Spanish colonizers (Bulacan PPDO, 2006:

21). Currently one of the fastest-growing local economies, it was once a small fishing community along the coast (Bulacan PPDO, 2006: 21). It comprises twenty- two (22) municipalities, two (2) component cities, and 569 barangays, which are grouped together into five (5) congressional districts. The following are the jurisdictional boundaries of the province of Bulacan (Bulacan PPDO, 2006):

District I Bulacan, Calumpit, Hagonoy, City, , and

Pulilan (comprises 153 barangays)

District II Balagtas, , Bacaue, Bustos, , Pandi, and Plaridel

(comprises 124 barangays)

District III Angat, Doña Remedios Trinidad, San Idelfonso, San Miguel, and

San Rafael (comprises 155 barangays)

District IV Marilao, City, Obando, and Santa Maria (comprises

78 barangays)

District VI City (comprises 59 barangays)

Bulacan has a long-history of flooding dating back from the 1970s. Tomas

Martin, a 92-year old resident of Hagonoy, narrated that the area experienced massive flooding in 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, and 1978. Of these events, Martin recounted that the 1972 flooding was the deepest, but the 1978 flooding was the worst in terms of damages to property (Balado, 2013). On the other hand, Governor Alvarado noted that the 27 October 1978 flooding was partly “man-made” since the Angat Dam was opened,

70 therefore releasing a huge amount of water due to Typhoon Kading (Balado, 2013). The dam was opened to prevent the dam from collapsing that would have led to loss of lives and property damage (Balado, 2013). This raised the need to install flood forecasting and warning devices in major dams. Subsequently, the first ever Flood Forecasting and

Warning System for Dam Operations was established in April 1983.

Bulacan is located in the Central Plain of Luzon and forms a part of the

Pampanga River delta (Bulacan PPDO, 2006: 5). Angat, Ipo, and Bustos Dams, which are also part of the Pampanga River Basin, form a big portion of the province. With these dams located in the province, many of its areas are prone to perennial flooding.

Table 6 below lists down the areas in Bulacan which consistently experience flooding

(Bulacan PPDO, 2006: 32).

Table 62. Areas in Bulacan most prone to flooding (Bulacan PPDO, 2006)

Municipality(ies) Type of area Characteristics

Malolos Low lying areas Fishermen

Hagonoy Coastal areas Informal settlers

Calumpit Low lying areas Residing along river banks/creeks

Obando Coastal areas Residing along river banks/creeks

Meycauyan Low lying areas Houses made of indigenous materials

Marilao Low lying areas Houses made of indigenous materials

Bocaue Low lying areas Fishermen, houses made of indigenous

materials

Pulilan Low lying areas

2 The researcher designed the table for the purposes of the presentation.

71 The Mines and Geoscience Bureau (MGB, 2012) conducted a Geohazard

Assessment covering 24 municipalities and cities in Bulacan. The study assessed 565 barangays of the province. Table 7 provides the parameters by which each community was assessed. Table 8 shows the specific areas assessed by the Mines and Geoscience

Bureau (MGB).

Table 73. Parameter of the DENR-MGB Geohazard Assessment (DENR-MGB, 2012)

High . Presence of active and/or recent landslides

. Presence of numerous and large tension cracks along slope

adjacent to the community and that would directly affect the

community

. Areas with drainages that are prone to landslides damming

. Steep/unstable slopes consisting of loose materials

Moderate . Areas with indicative and/or old landslides

. Presence of small tension cracks along slope and are located

away from the community

. Moderate slopes

Low . Low to gently sloping

. No presence of tension cracks

In hindsight, the assessment carried out by the DENR-MGB (2012) underscores two (2) things, namely: (1) Bulacan is extremely prone to water-related disasters because of the geographical locations of the communities; and (2) in relation to the

3 The researcher designed the table for the purposes of the presentation.

72 earlier discussion on the impacts and projected scenario of climate change, it will continue to be vulnerable unless structural and non-structural mitigation measures will be undertaken to reduce its susceptibility.

73 Table 84. Communities in Bulacan susceptible to flooding

Municipality/ Number of Communities Results of the Assessment City Communities Assessed Angat 16 16 No community has the potential for landslide occurrence

Ten (10) out of 16 communities are susceptible to flooding, namely: Banaban, Baybay, Binagbag, Donacion, Laoag, San Roque, Sta. Cruz, Sta. Lucia, Sulucan, and Taboc

Balagtas 9 9 Six (6) communities with low susceptibility to flooding, namely: Burol 1st, Burol 2nd, Panginay, Gubat, Santol, and Wawa

Four (4) communities with low susceptibility to flooding with some areas or portions that have moderate to high susceptibility

Three (3) communities with high susceptibility to flooding, namely: Dalig, Longos, and San Juan

Baliuag 27 27 Most of the communities have low susceptibility to flooding

Eleven (11) communities with low susceptibility to flooding, namely: Tarcan, Makinabang, Concepcion, Sto. Cristo, Subic, Bagong Nayon, Tangos, Piel, Pinagbarilan, Pagala, and Sto. Niño

Six (6) communities with low susceptibility to flooding areas near the Bustos- Baliwag River with moderate to high susceptibility to flooding, namely: San Jose, Sta. Barbara, Tiaong, Sabang, Tibag, and Poblacion

Seven (7) communities with low susceptibility to flooding but with portions that have moderate to high susceptibility to flooding depending on the location, namely:

4 The researcher designed the table for the purposes of the presentation.

74 Municipality/ Number of Communities Results of the Assessment City Communities Assessed Virgen dela Flores, Concepcion, Matangtubig, Baranka, Hinukay, Catulinan, Tilapayong, Calantipay – flooding usually in agricultural areas

Two (2) communities with low to moderate susceptibility to flooding due to heavy rains associated typhoons, structures such as elevated roads, irrigation canals, water impoundments, and dams among others, namely: San Roque and Suliban

One (1) community with low, moderate, high vulnerability to flooding due to topography and adjacent to swamp: Paitan

Bocaue 19 19 Four (4) communities with low susceptibility to flooding, namely: Turo, Batia, Bolacan, and Bunducan

Four (4) communities with low susceptibility to flooding but some parts have moderate to high susceptibility

Three (3) communities with moderate to high susceptibility to flooding depending on the location, namely: Bunlo, Ogolot, and Taal

Eight (8) communities with high susceptibility to flooding, namely: Lolomboy, Poblacion, Antipona, Bambang, Sulucan, Bagumbayan, Wakas, and Caingin

Bulacan 14 14 Two (2) communities with low susceptibility to flooding, namely: Balubad and San Francisco

Three (3) communities with low to moderate susceptibility to flooding

Eight (8) communities with moderate to high susceptibility to flooding depending on the location, namely: Bagumbayan, Bambang, San Jose, San Nicolas, Sta. Ana, Sta. Ines, Taliptip, and Tibig

75 Municipality/ Number of Communities Results of the Assessment City Communities Assessed One (1) community with high susceptibility to flooding: Perez

Bustos 14 14 Eight (8) communities with low susceptibility to flooding, namely: Tanauan, Bonga Menor, Bonga Mayor, Tibagan, Talampas, Cambaog, Malamig, and Liciada

Three (3) communities with low susceptibility to flooding with areas that have moderate to high susceptibility, namely: Malawak, Camachilihan, and Bauisan

Two (2) communities with low, moderate to high susceptibility to flooding, namely: Poblacion and San Pedro

Calumpit 29 29 To be discussed separately

Doña 8 7 Three (3) communities with moderate landslide susceptibility, namely: Camachin, Remedios Kalawakan, and Talbak Trinidad Three (3) communities with low susceptibility to landslides, namely: Bayabas, Pulong Sampalok, and Sapang Bulak

One (1) community with no landslide susceptibility: Camachile

Three (3) communities susceptible to flood and flashflood, namely: Camachile, Kalawakan, and Talbak. Guiguinto 14 14 Most of the communities have low susceptibility to flooding, namely: Tuktukan, Panginay, Tiaong, Pulong Gubat, Cut-cut, Pritil, Sta. Rita, Sta. Ctuz, Tabang, Ilang- ilang, and Tabe

Three (3) communities with different susceptibility to flooding depending on location and topography, namely: Poblacion, Daungan, and Malis

Hagonoy 26 26 To be discussed separately

76 Municipality/ Number of Communities Results of the Assessment City Communities Assessed

City of 51 51 Fifteen (15) communities with low susceptibility to flooding, namely: San Pablo, Malolos Sumapang, Cofradia, Santor, Look 2nd, Bangkal, Santisima Trinidad, Banihan, Bungahan, Ligas, Sumapang Bata, Mojon, Lugam, Look 1st, and Niugan

Six (6) communities with low susceptibility to flooding in most areas but other areas have moderate to high susceptibility, namely: Caniogan, Bagong Bayan, San Juan, Sto. Cristo, Altag, and Balite

Twelve (12) communities with low to moderate susceptibility for flooding, namely: Mabolo, Sto. Nino, Sto. Rosarion, Guinhawa, Matimbo, Mambog, Balayong, Pinagbakahan, Longos, Bulihan, Taal, and Panasahan

Two (2) communities with moderate susceptibility to flooding, namely: Caliligawan and Caingin

Eleven (11) communities with moderate to high susceptibility to flooding, namely: San Vicente, Namayan, Tikay, Dakila, Masile, Babatiran, Canalate, San Gabriel, Liang, Anilao, and Bagna

Three (3) communities with high susceptibility to flooding due to national elevation, high tides, and overflowing of water from river channels, namely: Pamarawan, Calero, and San Agustin

Two (2) communities with low, moderate, and high susceptibility to flooding due to topography, namely: Santiago and Catmon

Marilao 16 16 Eight (8) communities with low susceptibility to flooding, namely: Lambakin, Lias, Loma de Gato, Prenza 1st, Prenza 2nd, Saog, Sta. Rosa 1, and Sta. Rosa 2

Three (3) communities with moderate to high susceptibility to flooding depending on

77 Municipality/ Number of Communities Results of the Assessment City Communities Assessed the location, namely: Abangan Sur, Poblacion 2, and Tabing Ilog

Four (4) communities with high susceptibility to flooding, namely: Abangan Norte, Ibayo, Nagbalen, and Poblacion

City of 26 26 Nine (9) communities with low susceptibility to flooding but with areas having a Meycauayan moderate to high susceptibility to flooding located near the creek, namely: Bagbaguin, Bahay Pare, Iba, Pantok, Tugatog, Camalig, Pajo, Perez, and Libtong

Two (2) communities with moderate to high susceptibility to flooding, namely: Caingan and Pandayan

Four (4) communities with low, moderate, and high susceptibility to flooding usually topographic controlled, namely: Calvario, Lawa, Langka, and Malhacan

Nine (9) communities with high susceptibility to flooding due to the natural elevation, high precipitation, and high tides, namely: Bancal, Bayugo, Huo, Lawa, Longos, Poblacion, Saluysoy, St. Francis, and Zamora

Norzagaray 13 13 One (1) community with high landslide susceptibility: San Lorenzo

One (1) community with moderate landslide susceptibility: San Mateo

Four (4) communities with low landslide susceptibility, namely: Bangkal, Bigte, Bitunggol, and Pinagtulayan

Six (6) communities with no landslide susceptibility, namely: Baraka, Matictic, Minuyan, Partida, Poblacion, and Tigbe

Six (6) communities susceptible to flash flood nad flooding, namely: Bigte, San Mateo, Matictic, Minuyan, Partida, and Poblacion

78 Municipality/ Number of Communities Results of the Assessment City Communities Assessed

Obando 11 11 Four (4) communities with moderate to high susceptibility to flooding, namely: Paco, Pag-asa, Palipas, and Panghulo

Sven (7) communities with high susceptibility to flooding, namely: Binuangan, Catanghalan, Hulo, Lawa, Salambao, San Pascual, and Tawiran

Pandi 22 22 Most of the communities have low susceptibility. However, there are areas with low elevation that are moderate to high susceptibility, namely: Masagana, Masuso, and Manatal

Paombong 14 14 Three (3) communities with low susceptibility to flooding, namely: Kapitangan, San Vicente, and Poblacion

Four (4) communities with low to moderate susceptibility to flooding, namely: Sto. Rosario, Malumot, San Isidro 1st, and San Isidro 2nd.

Six (6) communities with moderate to high susceptibility to flooding, namely: Pinalagdan, Sto. Nino, San Jose, Sta. Cruz, Binakod, and Masukol

Plaridel 19 19 Most of the communities have low susceptibility to flooding

Pulilan 19 19 Most of the communities have low susceptibility to flooding

Four (4) communities with different flooding susceptibility due to location, namely: Inaon, Dulong Malabon, Dampol 2nd B, and Tabon

San Idelfonso 36 36 Six (6) communities with low susceptibility to landslide, namely: Akle, Buhol na Mangga, Casalat, Pasong Bangkal, Mataas na Parang, and Sapang Dayap

Twenty-nine (29) communities with no susceptibility to landslide

79 Municipality/ Number of Communities Results of the Assessment City Communities Assessed

City of San 59 56 Five (5) communities have moderate landslide susceptibility, namely: Fatima I, Jose del Monte Fatima IV, Fatima V, Minuyan I, and Minuyan IV

San Miguel 49 49 All are susceptible to flood and flashflood

San Rafael 34 34 Two (2) communities with low susceptibility to landslide, namely: Sapang Pahalang and Tukod

Twenty-seven (27) are prone to flood and flashflood, namely: Balagtas-BMA, Banca-Banca, Caingin, Capihan, Coral na Bato, Cruz na Daan, Dagat-Dagatan, Diliman I, Diliman II, Libis, Lico, Maguinao, Maasim, Mabalas-Balas, Maronquillo, Paco, Pantubig, Pansumaloc, Pasiong Bangkal, Pasong Callos, Pasong Intsik, Pinac- Pinacan, Poblacion, Pulo, Pulong Bayabas, Salapungan, San Roque, Sampaloc San Agustin, Sapang Pahalang, Talacsan, Tambubong, Tukod, Ulingao

Sta. Maria 24 24 Eighteen (18) communities with low susceptibility to flooding, namely: Manggahan, Sta. Cruz, Cayombo, Caysio, Pulong Buhangin, Magasawang Sapa, Silangan, Balasing, Parada, Tumana, Mahabang Parang, Bulac, Catmon, San Vicente, Camangyangan, Sto. Tomas, Buenavista, and San Gabriel

Five (5) communities with low susceptibility to flooding, particularly the areas near the Sta. Maria River, namely: Sta. Clara, Lalakhan, Poblacion, San Jose, Patag, and Guyong

One (1) community with low, moderate to high susceptibility to flooding: Bagbuguin

569 565 The researcher designed the table for the purposes of the presentation based from the data of MGB (2012)

80 5.3 Angat Watershed and River Basin Basin: The River of Life and Aggravating the Flooding Phenomena in Bulacan

The Philippines has thirty nine (39) watershed forest reserves. Of these, sixteen (16) are identified as significant source of water for hydroelectric power generation, irrigation, and domestic use as, well as supplying water to surrounding areas (Briones and Castro, 1986: 157). The Republic Act 7586 or the National

Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act stipulate that there are eight (8) categories of protected areas, namely: strict nature reserve, natural park, natural monument, wildlife sanctuary, protected landscapes and seascapes, resource reserve, natural biotic areas, and other categories (JICA, 2011: 8). The Angat Watershed

Forest Reserve District (55,709.10 hectares) and the Angat Watershed and Forest

Range (6,600 hectares) are part of the National Protected Areas (JICA, 2011: 8).

The Angat Watershed Reservation is said to be one of the last remaining watersheds in the Philippines (NAPOCOR, 2010 as cited in Fresco, 2012: 20).

The Angat River Basin, the largest river in the Philippines, located in

Bulacan, is situated 40 kilometers north of Manila (Fresco, 2012). Its total mainstream length is 153 kilometers, while the catchment area is approximately

1,085 square kilometers (JICA, 2011: 3). It is moderately steep and its highest elevation is 1,219 meters; dry from November to April, while wet from May to

October (Briones and Castro 1986). It passes through eleven (11) municipalities and covers four (4) major provinces in , namely: Bulacan, Nueva Ecija,

Pampanga, and Tarlac (NCSB, 2008). The Angat River system that passes and flows through the Angat dam originates in the Sierra Madre Mountains (JICA, 2011: 3).

The economic potential of Angat River has been recognized in 1904. Subsequently,

81 the national government earmarked its full development and the Angat River

Multipurpose Water Project was completed in 1967 (Briones and Castro, 1986).

There are more than 30 agencies involved in water management in the country. However, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) serves as the highest policy making body. The Local Government Code of 1991, though, stipulates that the local government unit will be the managing and enforcing agency of the water management policies.

Angat River has many economical, industrial, and recreational uses. The upstream section of the river is categorized as Recreation Water Class I and is used for bathing, swimming, and diving. On the other hand, the downstream section of the river is called the Fishery Water and Recreational Class II. It can be utilized for propagating and growing fish and other marine and aquatic resources. In the same way, this section is also used for bathing and manufacturing right after treatment

(DENR, 2005: as cites in Fresco, 2012: 21). Likewise, is it supporting the province’s growing industrial and extraction business (fishing, quarrying, mining, and logging)

(Bulacan PPDO, 2010: as cited in Fresco, 2012: 21).

Angat River is also very important to Metro Manila residents in terms of hydroelectric power and domestic and industrial supply (Briones and Castro, 1986).

In fact, the river is supplying the and Sewerage System (MWSS) 500 million gallons of water per day. Furthermore, it helps irrigating 31,500 hectares of rice fields under the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) in Bulacan.

The Angat Dam provides danger, too, as it has the possibility of breaking once a 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes. According to a study by Tonkin and

82 Taylor, if the Angat Dam breaks, it could lead to massive flooding in the entire province of Bulacan. It is estimated that the water level will rise to 88 feet in

Matictic, Bulacan. This means affecting almost 300 residents in the area. To prevent such disaster from happening, in 2012, the Philippine Government approved a budget of 5.7 billion pesos to repair the dam. However, until now, no repair has been undertaken.

83 Chapter 6

“SANAY NA SA BAHA ANG MGA TAO”5: NARRATIVES ON THE SOCIAL MEMORY ON DISASTERS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL KNOWLEDGE IN DRRM

6.1 Introduction

This chapter provides the narratives on significant disaster events as remembered by the riverfront dwellers from six high-risk communities in the Angat watershed and river basin region. The chapter is organized into two main sections.

First, the accounts on the social memory on previous events will be underscored.

The narratives are further categorized into the chronicles from the riverfront dwellers and community officials of Calumpit and Hagonoy. The narratives from the stakeholders highlight the following themes:

. social memory on the impacts of the disaster events to people, household

and community structures, community facilities and services, livelihood

and economic activities, and environment;

. social memory on the responses of the community, non-government

organizations, the local government and private institutions to the

disasters; and,

. social memory of the programs and initiatives undertaken by different

stakeholders in the aftermath of the disasters.

5 Adapted from the interview with Vivian Galang, 40 years old, a resident of Sapang Bayan in Calumpit, Bulacan. This narrative was adapted as the title of the chapter because the researcher deems that the phrase is powerful in two ways: (1) it employs that people have a wealth of memory on flooding; and, (2) it entails that as a result of being perennially flooded, people have developed coping strategies and mechanisms for adaptation.

84 On the other hand, the second part of the chapter talks about the local knowledge the riverfront dwellers have developed in relation to disaster risk reduction and management. The local knowledge highlights how the riverfront dwellers learned from the disaster events as embodied in the development of concrete individual, family level, and community level ways of coping and adapting to the flood hazard. More specifically, the following typology on local knowledge and disaster risk reduction and management will be presented in the chapter:

. anticipate or local knowledge related to people’s identification and

monitoring of environmental indicators;

. adjust or local knowledge related to people’s access to assets; and,

. communication or local knowledge to people’s ability to transfer

knowledge among themselves and between generation.

The following comprise local knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management related to anticipate: signals (i.e. interpretational knowledge of changes in animal behavior, knowledge of local weather forecasts using celestial bodies observation). The local knowledge associated in adjust include physical assets (i.e. infrastructural safety arrangements such as boats, housing, embankments) developed to cope and adapt to the risk that people face. Finally, the local knowledge associated with communication are early warning systems (i.e. use of visual signals such as markers, fire or audio signals like drums; having dreams of natural hazards in advance) to share information on disaster.

85 6.2 Social Memory on Disasters: Narratives on Significant Disaster Events

The narratives of Rodolfo Manubas, the Municipal Administrator of

Calumpit, during the conduct of the research, reveals that historically, Calumpit is a flood-prone area and has a long history of flooding. According to Manubas, the

Spaniards founded the Municipality in 1572 and is considered as the oldest town in

Bulacan. In fact, the official records of the Municipality being kept by its Municipal

Planning and Development Office show that even the history of the naming of the

Municipality is linked to its vulnerability to disasters. Based on the Municipality’s official documents, the name Calumpit was derived from Kalumpit trees, which were uprooted and found scattered after a devastating super typhoon that hit the

Municipality in 1882 (Calumpit MPDO, 2010).

The Municipality of Calumpit is surrounded by different river systems. As a result of this, much of the life histories of its residents are strongly tied and identified with the rivers. A great number of residents of Calumpit heavily depend on the river systems for livelihood. Also, bodies of water separate a lot of barangays in Calumpit. With this, there are communities that are connected only by man-made bridges. Plate 6 shows the Calumpit bridges connecting Barangays Poblacion,

Balungan to Barangays Frances and Gatbuca. The said bridge also connects Bulacan and , Pampanga.

86

Plate 6: Calumpit Bridge. Source: Author

Plate 7 shows the view of the Calumpit Bridge taken from the Sapang Bayan

Bridge. The Sapang Bayan Bridge connects Barangays Sapang Bayan and

Poblacion.

Plate 7: Shot of Calumpit Bridge taken from Sapang Bayan Bridge. Source: Author

87 Being surrounded by creeks and river systems such the Pampanga River,

Angat River, Labangan River, Iba-Hagonoy River, Calumpit-Hagonoy River,

Sapang Mandasig, Kutyo Creek, Sapang Malaki, and Abalos Creek, Calumpit is prone to flooding and other hazards such as riverbank erosion and siltation (MGB,

2012). Calumpit has a total land area of 5,623 hectares comprising of 29 barangays.

The study conducted by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in 2012 reveals that all barangays of Calumpit are susceptible to flooding, but at varying level. The barangays considered as highly susceptible to flooding are Sapang Bayan, Gatbuca,

Frances, San Jose, Panducon, Bulusan, Calizon, Gugo, and Meysulao. Concurrently, the barangays considered with moderate to high susceptibility are Longos, Sto.

Nino, Caniogan, San Miguel, Meyto, and Sta. Lucia. Two of the 29 barangays have low to moderate susceptibility, which include Buguion and Corazon. On the other hand, the barangays with low susceptibility to flooding are Calumpang, San Marcos,

Pio Cruzcosa, Sergio Bayan, Balite, Iba o Este, Iba Este, Palimbang, Balungao,

Pungo, Sucol, and Poblacion.

The accounts of Jojo Tomas, the Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate

Change Adaptation Consultant of the Municipality of Calumpit, revealed that flooding in Municipality is trigged primarily by Pampanga River, not the Angat

River. After studying the characteristics of flooding, particularly when Typhoon

Pedring hit the area in 2013, he observed that Angat River was only an aggravating factor. Also, based on this accounts, the overflow of Angat River can prolong the flooding in Calumpit. He also narrated that the overflow of Pampanga and Angat

Rivers causes flooding mainly in Barangay Caniogan. In 2013, the 29 barangays of

88 Calumpit were submerged to floodwaters due to Typhoon Pedring. In fact, five (5) of the 28 communities were placed under the state of calamity, namely: Meysaulo,

Sapang Bayan, Gatbuca, Frances, and San Miguel (Gamas, 2013). During the typhoon, 4,732 families or 8,528 individuals were evacuated (Gamas, 2013). The flooding as a result of Typhoons Pedring and Quiel were said to be the deepest that the province experienced in thirty (30) years because of the construction on the

Labangan Channel in 1979 and the Phase 1 of the Pampanga Delta Development

Project in 1989 (Balado, 2013).

One the other hand, Hagonoy is used to be part of the Municipality of

Calumpit, according to Manubas. The 10,310 hectares Municipality of Hagonoy is subdivided into 26 barangays. Based on the 2013 official records of Hagonoy, the

Municipality has 126, 329 residents divided into 34,408 families (Hagonoy

Contingency Plan, 2013).

Plate 8: Road Water. This is a view at 12NN in Barangay Tampok. High tide measuring around 3.5m causes this kind of water level on the road. This is still considered by residents as lower level of tidewater. (Source: Author)

89 Similar to Calumpit, the Municipality of Hagonoy is prone to flooding as a result of the overflow of water from Pampanga and Angat Rivers. Also, many low- lying areas in the Municipality experience flooding all year round due to high tide.

Plate 8 and 9 show the usual 12NN scenario in Hagonoy during high tide seasons.

The classification of flooding susceptibility of the communities in Hagonoy varies depending on its geographic location. However, based on the 2012 DENR-MGB study, the high-risk areas in Hagonoy include barangays San Miguel, Tampok, San

Pablo, Sagrada, San Nicolas, Mercado, Pugad, San Jose, San Pascual, San Roque,

Sta. Cruz, Sta. Monica, Sto. Rosario, and Tibaguin.

In hindsight, given the susceptibility of the municipalities of Calumpit and

Hagonoy, its residents have a wealth of memory on flooding. Also, it enabled the people to develop coping strategies and mechanisms for adaptation known as “local knowledge”. The following section provides the narratives of riverfront dwellers and community leaders on disasters in relation to the significant disaster events that they could still remember.

90

Plate 9: Tampok Water. This is a view of a house in Barangay Tampok, Hagonoy about an hour after 3.0+ high tide water subsided. Some roads were not accessible when the water rose. The family seen vending here along the road was forced to use boots to continue with their livelihood despite the water. (Source: Author)

6.2.1 The Great Flood of 1972: Typhoon Edeng

6.2.1.1 Social Memory on Typhoon Edeng: Narratives from the Riverfront Dwellers

In the 1970s, the Bulakenyos had experienced a series of month-long flooding events that are still etched in their memory. More pointedly, the Province of

Bulacan was inundated to floodwaters in 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, and 1978.

According to Tomas Martin, the former Governor of the province, of the five flood events, the deepest was in 1972, but the worst was in 1978 (Balado, 2013).

Among the flooding events in the 1970s, what was considered as the “Great

Flood of 1972” or Typhoon Edeng is what the residents of both Calumpit and

Hagonoy remember the most. The said flood submerged Central Luzon and

91 happened before President Marcos declared Martial Law (Philippine Daily Inquirer,

2009).

Riverfront dwellers of Hagonoy vividly remembered the memory of the flooding event in 1972. Among the residents who still recall the flooding is Rosario

Alejo, 50 years old and resident of Barangay San Miguel, Hagonoy. Although

Rosario shared that she was very young then when the 1972 flooding happened, but by far she considers it as the most significant disaster event that happened in their municipality.

Rosario recounted that when the 1972 flooding happened, they had to leave their house due to rising water level. She accounted how hard there life was when it came about. She said that, “there was no electricity and potable water. We get our drinking water from Balabat. When it rained, we collected rainwater. We boiled it and made it our drinking water as well as source of water for washing our clothes.”

In the same way she shared that during the flooding of the 1972, they mainly relied in relief goods provided by the government that were usually given twice a day.

Rosario, however, observed that flooding in Hagonoy now are becoming more frequent as compared before. She held that, “back in the early days, flooding would occur every two years or so. Unlike now which happens yearly and even twice a year at times.”

Another riverfront dweller recalled the Great Flood of 1972 is Arnel

Crisostomo, 51 years old and resident of Tampok, Hagonoy, remembered that the

1972 flood lasted for about a month. He also reminisced that there was no work for duration of the calamity. That said, like Rosario, they only had to depend for relief

92 goods to be given by the national government. Arnel narrated that there was plenty of relief goods before because goods them were sold much cheaper as compared than today. He vividly recalled that in 1972, the government just dropped bundles of the relief goods to them from helicopters. Contrariwise, he observed that right now they are only packaged in a simple package, roughly around 5 kilos. This is because the market now sells much expensive than before.

Another narrative on the 1972 flooding were shared by siblings, Ildefonso,

56 years old, and Bienvenido Villanueva, 58 years old, both residents of Sta.

Monica, Hagonoy. Both were still very young when the flooding took place. For the two, it was also the deepest flooding event in their community. Like Rosario and

Arnel who provided lucid description of the flooding event, both Ildefonso and

Bienvenido vividly remembered that they relied mainly on rasyon (relief goods).

Also, Ildefonso shared that as a result of the flooding, a lot people contracted respiratory problems such as cough and flu. Additionally, he narrated that during those times he was not afraid of the flood because he was still young then. Also, his parents were still alive then to take care of him and his siblings. The 56 year-old

Ildefonso recounted that those families whose houses had second floors were very lucky because they were able stay in their respective houses. However, those who lived in bungalow-styled houses had to stayed in their rooftops.

Ildefonso also clearly remembered that trees were abundant in their community in the early days, but over the years it decreased as a result of saltwater intrusion due to floodwaters. Given this, as narrated by Ildefonso, the rice fields were turned into fish ponds. Ildefonso particularly noticed the similarity of flooding

93 events in his community after the 1972 flooding, he noted that the floods in their community are just repeating the cycles – the impacts include damaged houses, destroyed roofs, and the houses made from light materials were blown away.

Nilo Clemente, 45 years old and resident of Sta. Monica, Hagonoy, also looked back at the 1972 flooding. Nilo called to mind that he was still a grade school student when it occured. Moreover, he particularly shared that he did not know much about disaster then due to his very young age. But he described the flooding was very deep. Now, he knows very well that his barangay is a catchment basin whenever there is an overflow of water is Nueva Ecija and Pampanga Rivers.

Josephine Atenta, 40 years old and also a resident of San Miguel, also narrated that: “some of the houses were washed out. Roads were inaccessible. We can only be reached by boat. It is also our only way to be able to get relief goods.”

94

Plate 10: News clipping on the 1972 Great Flood of Luzon published in the Philippine Free Press. Source YouScoop (2012)

6.2.1.2 Social Memory on Typhoon Edeng: Narratives from the Community Leaders

Plate 10 provides the news clipping on the 1972 Great Flood of Luzon published in the Philippine Free Press in 1972. The current community leaders of the

Municipality of Hagonoy also have not forgotten the impacts of Typhoon Edeng.

One of the community leaders who shared narratives that he acquired from his parents concerning the Great Flood of 1972 is 44 years old Rolando Tolentino. The current Barangay Captain of San Miguel, who was 2 years old when the flooding happened, shared that during flooding houses were damaged and the their roofs were blown away. He also shared that there was scarcity of drinking water and supply of electricity then. Furthermore, he narrated that normal flooding events continued in

95 the 1980s and 1990s. He also vividly remembered that before there was an abundance of trees, in his community, but it slowly decreased and most of them died because of the salt-water intrusion as a result of the regular high tide in the community. Similar to Ildefonso, Kapitan Rolando observed that in the 1980s there was a massive conversion of rice fields into fishponds because of the flooding experience and susceptibility of their municipality. On the other hand, Kapitan

Rolando mentioned that flood-warning communication is far better now as compared before. He narrated that: “now we can get information through cellular phone. Also, the administrators of Angat Dam have identified measurements on the water level.” He also narrated that now the Angat Dam administration will provide early warning and information if they are going to release water from the dam. One of the concerns of his constituents now is the Angat Dam break. He said that once it happened, it is expected that it will create an enormous impact to the entire province.

However, Kapitan Rolando holds that people will be advised accordingly should it came about.

As a community leader, Kapitan Rolando had observed how the Municipal

Government and the community responded to disasters over the years. He narrated that currently, the Municipal Government invites the kapitans from different barangays to ask what do the community leaders think should be done to effectively address the flooding in their respective communities. Also, he shared that in times of emergency, the Municipal Mayor sends boats to be used for search and rescue. On the other hand, he observed that for his constituents, flooding is just a usual event.

Nevertheless, even flooding is a usual occurrence, he narrated that there were

96 residents in his barangay who already migrated to Manila, while other residents opted to merely repair their houses and still stayed in the same community. Kapitan

Rolando also shared that aside from the Municipal Government, non-government organizations are actively helping his barangay. This includes World Vision and the

Philippine Red Cross.

Elisa Quinton, 46 years old and Barangay Kagawad of San Miguel, also called to mind the deep flood of 1972. She said that it lasted about more than two weeks. Elisa vividly recalled that there was no electricity, water or accessible roads.

Like other residents she remembered the terrible condition in 1972 even though she was so young then. She narrated, “… we had to travel by boat. People had no livelihood and were stranded in their roofs so we just had to wait for relief goods.

The rice fields were submerged in floodwater.” Similarly, Lamberto Lopez, 54 years old and Barangay Kagawad of San Miguel, narrated that the 1972 flooding was really devastating. He narrated that the flood destroyed bamboo bridges in the barangay as well as damaging the rice fields. He particularly recalled how the crops like sugarcane, corn and turnip were destroyed after being submerged into floodwaters. On the other hand, he remembered that the water level in 1972 did not rise that quickly. Also, he shared that the flooding lasted for weeks. See Plate 11.

97

Plate 11. Comparative picture of 1970s and 2011 flooding in Hagonoy, Bulacan (Source: Mabuhay Bulacan, 2011)

98 Another community leader, Rogelio del Rosario, 50 years old and Barangay

Kagawad of Tampok, Hagonoy, reminisced the flood in 1972. He said that,

“everything was washed out because the barangay was submerged in deep water.

The flood here happens yearly then on but not as deep as in 1972. We also saw about five people who were drowned by the flood. Communication was really hard and the helicopter delivered relief goods.” He also recalled that during the 1970s, a lot of residents in his community were working in the rice field, however, like other residents, he vividly remembered how rice fields were converted to fishpond in the

1980s. That said, the flooding affected the livelihood of the residents. He also brought to mind that before the high tide became a regular occurrence in his community, people would plant crops from during sunny season then would go to fisheries during the rainy season. Kagawad Rogelio also narrated that there were flooding in the 1980s, but were not that serious as compared to the previous decade.

Although for him, Ondoy, Pedring and Habagat were the recent devastating ones.

According to Florentina Reyes Espiritu, 69 years old and the then Kapitana del Barrio of Caniogan, Calumpit, Typhoon Edeng as the worst disaster that happened in their community in the 1970s. He recalled that in terms of impact of

Typhoon Edeng to his constituents, a lot of people suffered from skin diseases and high fever. Not only that, Typhoon Edeng destroyed community facilities and infrastructures as well as interrupted a lot of basic services for the residents.

99 6.2.2 Flooding Events from 2009 Onwards: Typhoon Ondoy, Typhoon Pedring, and Habagat

6.2.2.1 Social Memory on the Flooding Events: Narratives from the Riverfront Dwellers

The Province of Bulacan was one of the worst hit provinces in 2009 when

Typhoon Ondoy dumped a month’s worth of rain in just 24 hours. More pointedly, massive floods were experienced by the resident in the municipalities of Hagonoy and Calumpit as well as in other towns in the province. Concurrently, thousands of

Bulakenyos were also affected by flooding due to Typhoon Pedring in 2011

(Sunnex, 2011). As a matter of fact, almost all the 29 barangays in Calumpit were immersed in floodwaters. Gamos (2012) noted that thousands of the affected residents opted to stay atop their roofs while others undertook preemptive measures by evacuating to safer grounds. Based on the data of the Bulacan Provincial Disaster

Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) (as cited in Gamos, 2012), 754 families or approximately 3,255 persons coming from various barangays in

Calumpit were rescued and evacuated. On the other hand, approximately 437 families in Hagonoy were also evacuated because of the flooding (PDRRM as cited in Gamos, 2012). Sta. Ana (2012) discussed that when Typhoon Pedring struck, the

Provincial Government of Bulacan was not able to regulate the water released from the nearby dams. As a result, both Hagonoy and Calumpit were submerged in 5-6 feet of floodwaters. Aside from Hagonoy and Calumpit, many other towns in

Bulacan were affected by the flooding: Bustos, San Miguel, Obando, Meycauayan,

Marilao, Bocaue, Malolos; however, Calumpit was the hardest hit (Gamos, 2012).

Subsequently, Calumpit was placed under state of calamity (Sunnex, 2011).

100 Concurrently, in 2012, the enhanced southwest monsoon of habagat rains caused the flooding in 116 barangays in 12 towns and 3 cities in the Province of

Bulacan (Gamos, 2012). This time, it was Malolos, which was the worst hit. Gamos

(2012) noted that 29 barangays were ravaged by floods up to 4 feet deep. The other areas in Bulacan which were submerged in floodwaters brought by the southwest monsoon were: 16 barangays in Calumpit (1-2 feet), 11 barangays in Obando (1-6 feet), 8 barangays in Marilao (1-6 feet), 7 barangays in Guiginto (1-2 feet), 6 barangays in Balagtas, Baliwag, Bocaue (1-2 feet), 5 barangays in Bulakan and

Pulilan (1-2 feet), 4 barangays in Plaridel (1-2 feet), 3 barangays in Meycauayan (1-

4 feet), 2 barangays in San Jose Del Monte (2 feet), and a barangay in Sta Maria (1 foot).

The following year, half of the Province of Bulacan was affected by flooding during that year’s southwest monsoon (Diola, 2013). Two typhoons enhanced the rains brought by southwest monsoon: Labuyo and Santi. When Labuyo struck in

August, approximately 61 barangays were submerged in floodwaters: 14 in

Meycauyan, 26 in Hagonoy (2 – 4 feet water level); 6 in Marilao, 8 in Obando, and 7 in Bulacan (4 feet water level) (Diola, 2013). In October, Santi brought flash floods that affected 28 barangays in Calumpit; five of which were declared under state of calamity: Meysulao, Sapang Bayan, Gatbuca, Frances, San Miguel (Gamos, 2013).

Hagonoy was likewise affected by the flashfloods. Lazaro and Pavia (2013) stated that all the barangays in Hagonoy were under 3-4 feet of water.

The residents of both Barangay Calumpit and Hagonoy considered the flooding brought by Typhoon Ondoy, Typhoon Pedring, and Habagat as

101 devastating. However, based on the narratives of majority of the residents asked to share their memory on those disasters, Typhoon Pedring is the worst to have happened in their respective communities in recent years. The following provides the social memory of the residents of Hagonoy and Calumpit due to the flooding brought by Typhoon Ondoy, Typhoon Pedring, and Habagat.

According to the narratives of Len Marie Manansala, 36 years old and resident of Tampok, Hagonoy, Typhoon Ondoy is one of the significant disaster events that she can remember in the recent years. She shared that,“ I think that

(Typhoon Ondoy) was the biggest flood ever in my life here in Barangay Tampok, plus we ran out of drinking water. Since our house has a higher floor, we stayed there for a few weeks during the flood. We did not have drinking water. We were only able to drink if it rains. There was also no electricity. We were not eating. We can only feed ourselves if the relief goods arrive or if somebody sends us food. We only eat once a day by then”. Len Marie also recalled that during Typhoon Ondoy, her children kept on crying because they were afraid and were really hungry. She likewise observed that in times of calamities, even if you are a millionaire, if nobody is selling anything then your money is nothing. Len Marie also narrated that her family was not able to receive relief goods from the Municipal Government. She reasoned that perhaps because she lives in a house with concrete walls. She likewise said that maybe those who were badly affected by Typhoon Ondoy managed to receive assistance from the Municipal Government. In the aftermath of Typhoon

Ondoy, Len Marie observed that the Barangay Officials initiated clean up drive.

Also, a month after Typhoon Ondoy struck, residents as well as Barangay Officials

102 cleared the blockage in the drainages. On the other hand, she shared that the

Barangay Council still lacks the needed equipment such as those that can be used for search and rescue. In cases where people stayed atop of their roofs, the Barangay

Council did not have rubber boats to rescue the residents. She also noticed that still they do not have an evacuation center in the community.

Herminia Anicente, 52 years old and a resident of San Miguel, Hagonoy, uncovered the memory in which how her family had to evacuate due to Habagat and

Typhoon Pedring. She noted that, “we just evacuated at that time. We stayed in the

Barangay Hall (during Habagat). We stayed inside the elementary school in the other one (during Pedring). Our house was damaged especially the bedroom side.

There was no electricity or livelihood. We could not sell our pandesal. We are just hoping for the relief goods.” She also remembered that they received assistance from different organization. She narrated that: “We received rice and canned goods.

We also had biscuits during Typhoon Pedring. Last flooding, we also received mat and blanket. It was World Vision I think.”

Concurrently, Fabiano Anicente, 53 years old and resident of San Miguel,

Hagonoy, remarked, “I really cannot remember all the floods. But recently, there is this Pedring and Habagat… If it rains here, surely our house will be submerged in floodwater because we are beside the river. During the latest deep flood, it was fast so we were not able to evacuate. We only stayed on our roof. All our appliances inside the house were damaged… During the Pedring in 2011, it happened at night and electricity was cut. I was left here and I stayed in our roof. I heard some slamming inside of our house. I was afraid of what it was but it was our stuff all

103 along. I thought an animal entered our house that why there were those sounds.

Fabiano also shared that during calamities, it is the Barangay Council who really helps the resident. Aside from the local council, non-government organizations such as the Philippine Red Cross also provided them mats, blankets, medicines, and mosquito nets (See Plate 12).

Plate 12: Rooftop. The Pedring floodwater was said to be so high that the roof of these houses from Barangay Tampok are the only ones visible. All residents without second floors were forced to stay on their roofs for more than a week because of the floodwater. (Source: Author)

Levi Felipe, 56 years old and a storeowner from San Miguel, likewise called to mind her memory of Habagat and Typhoon Pedring. She said that, the two are the memorable floods, which happened in her community. Although, for her

Typhoon Pedring can be considered as the biggest one. She held, “it was really hard. You may have your money but still you cannot buy anything from the

104 municipal market. There were still residents who buy from our store when the floodwater starts to rise but it was hard to go to the market because the fare was so expensive… We were not affected much by the big flood because we had a second floor. But my furniture and appliances were all submerged in floodwater, even my refrigerator. I put it on top of what we usually raise it during former floods but it was still reached by the floodwater. Also, it was really hard when it comes to drinking water. And also during the big flood, it happened at night so you won’t really see where to go.” Levi recalled that the Barangay Council provided food, water, clothes, and medicine. According to her, the Barangay Council had livelihood programs to cater to the people affected by the calamities.

Another resident who shared that Typhoon Pedring was the highest flood occurrence in his community was Rogelio Carpio, 58 years old and resident of

Tampok, Hagonoy. He particularly remembered how the water rose fast and it happened at night. Rogelio said that because of the event, some people had heart attacks but luckily nobody died. Likewise, he recalled that it was hard for children since there was a lack of drinking water. They also had to wait for the rain to be able drink. But he said that as time went by, the Barangay Council and non-government organizations were able to give more relief goods to the survivors. In the same way, in the aftermath of Typhoon Pedring, the roads were improved to facilitate continues flow of the relief goods.

Fifty-three (53) years old resident of Tampok, Engracia Crisostomo, also considered Typhoon Pedring as the most significant disaster event that happened in her community. She maintained that, “we were really nervous and afraid because we

105 do not have something to eat since we cannot buy anywhere. We just stay on our house because we have a second floor. There was also no electricity and no drinking water. She also observed that the relief goods were only given to the selected residents. Those who were closer to the leaders were those who get the relief goods.

Concurrently, Arnel Crisostomo, 51 years old and resident of Tampok, Hagonoy, remembered that as a result of the disasters, incentive were given by the Municipal

Government two years after the disaster. He shared that if the house was semi- damaged, the owner got 5000 pesos. However, if the house was totally destroyed, the owner received 10,000 pesos. Plate 13 underscores a news article about the flooding brought about by Typhoon Pedring in 2011.

“Deeper than a man’s height.” This was how Nilo Clemente, 45 years old and resident of Sta. Monica, Hagonoy, described the water level during Typhoon

Pedring. He said that: “…we had no business operation for two weeks. There were plenty of relief goods, so we just leaned upon them. The roof of our garage was blown away because of the typhoon. We did not evacuate because our house is tall enough.” He also shared that relief goods were distributed in their community even after the floodwater subsided.

Aside from the impacts of the flooding events in Hagonoy, riverfront dwellers of Calumpit were also affected by the inundation brought about by

Typhoon Ondoy, Typhoon Pedring, and Habagat. The following highlights the narratives on the social memory of Calumpit’s riverfront dwellers on the said flooding events.

106

Plate 13: News clipping and picture of 2011 flooding in Bulacan (Source: Mabuhay Bulacan, 2011)

107 According to Cherryl Manio, 36 years old and resident of Barangay

Caniogan, Calumpit, when Typhoon Pedring inundated her barangay in 2011, residents were more prepared given their long experience in flooding. Even that is the case, there were residents of Barangay Caniogan who suffered from athlete’s foot due to prolonged exposure to floodwaters. She also clearly recalled that community services such as water supply and electricity were interrupted. Aside from this, she vividly recalled that a lot of residents had to leave their houses because of the rising water level. As a result, many residents chose to stay in higher portions of the Municipality.

Cherryl also uncovered how Typhoon Pedring affected the economic activities of the people. For instance, there were residents who could not go to their respective workplaces because they could not pass by the roads. Additionally, a lot of crops were heavily damaged that led to heavy losses for the residents of Barangay

Caniogan. She also called to mind how the physical environment of her community was affected as a result of the recent flooding events of the last five years. She shared that as a result of the strong water current, a lot trees and plants were uprooted. At the same time, garbage was all over the place in the aftermath of the flooding because of the poor household waste management of a lot of residents.

Aside from Cheryl, Mercedita Manio, 49 years old and resident of Barangay

Caniogan, Calumpit, also narrated that there were a number of houses that were damaged by Typhoon Pedring, particularly the small ones made from light materials. Similar to other residents of Calumpit and Hagonoy, Mercedita reminisced that there were no supply of potable water and electricity specifically

108 during Typhoon Pedring. She also remembered that the crops were also ravaged as a result of the flooding. Mercedita also reminisced about how the trees in the community fell on several houses in the community that led to the damaged of her neighbor’s houses.

As uncovered by Mercedita, the flooding brought about by Typhoon Pedring was for many residents depressing and frightening the disaster, particularly to the children. She recounted that people had to evacuate to the designated temporary shelters. To ease the burden of the people, she called to mind that the Municipal

Government provided relief goods and other basic necessities, particularly to those who evacuated in the temporary shelters. She clearly remembered how the local government enforced a pre-emptive evacuation to the residents near the rivers to reduce the risks, further losses and damages. Mercedita also shared that not only the local government that helped the affected residents, but also several non-government organizations that provided clothes, water, and food among others.

Typhoons Ondoy, Pedring and Habagat were also the most significant disaster events that Teresita Tranquillo, 59 years old and resident of Barangay

Corazon, remembered. Like Cherryl and Mercedita, she recalled that the flooding brought about health problems to the residents of her community such as cough, flu, fever, and athlete’s foot. She also recalled that her house was inundated to floodwater, particularly during Typhoon Pedring. Not only that, she called to mind that their appliances were washed out. Teresita shared that she was worried when

Typhoon Pedring submerged their house to floodwater. This is because her husband was almost drowned due to high water level. She shared that she could not contain

109 her emotions then because she did not want to lose her partner. But when she learned that her husband survived, she was very joyful. Aside from their house, their sari- sari store they used to own was inundated. This tremendously affected their livelihood too. Based on the narratives of Teresita, the Municipal Government and the Barangay Officials responded to them and to other residents immediately. In fact, she shared that the local authorities promptly provided early warning in relation to the potential release of water from the surrounding dams. In the same way, she reminisced that the government carried our search and rescue operations. Not only that, they provided relief goods to affected families. In the same way, as narrated by

Teresita, the local government officials immediately sprayed anti-dengue chemical, so that the residents will not contract mosquito-borne diseases. She also recollected how non-government organizations extended assistance by providing reliefs goods to affected families.

Other residents of Barangay Corazon shared the same memory with Teresita on Typhoon Pedring. These include Levita Deogracias, 68 years old; Violeta

Sungha, 49 yeards old; Jojo Roque, 34 years old; Amanda Deogracias, 48 years old; and, Evangeline Peralta, 52 years old. Based on the narratives of the said residents, it was the first time in 40 years that they experienced flooding in the area. Barangay

Corazon, the community where they live, is one of low-risk areas in the

Municipality of Calumpit. That said, the residents do not usually get flooded as compared to those from other barangays.

Based on the narratives of Levita, it was difficult, both for people and vehicles to pass by in their community because the roads were submerged to

110 floodwaters for a long period of time. This situation made it difficult also for students to go their schools. She also recalled that she had neighbors who were not able to go to their respective workplaces because floodwaters were everywhere.

Also, Levita narrated that in the aftermath of Typhoon Perdring there were garbage all around the community because people did not practice proper waste disposal.

“The water is slowly rising up.” This was how Violeta described the force of the water when Typoon Pedring inundated their community. Given that the water level was moving slowly, there were residents were able to evacuate to designated temporary shelters. Violeta also recounted that the water level almost reached the second floor of their house. As a result of this, she and her family members were very worried. As narrated by Violeta, the overflow of water and damaged in the dike in Barangay Balungaw caused flooding in their community.

Given that one of the communities near Municipality’s center was inundated to floodwater, Violeta shared that the local government officials immediately operated the pump that sucked the floodwaters. In the same way, the local government carried out rapid rescue of residents who were still in their houses. The rescued residents were then transported to the evacuation centers were their urgent needs were provided to them. Based on the narratives of Violeta, aside from the local government, non-government organizations also provided cooked foods and relief goods to affected population.

“There were a lot of household appliance that were damaged.” This was how Amanda narrated what happened to their appliances when Typhoon Pedring hit their community even though they tried putting them at a higher level. Amanda also

111 exclaimed that, “the cabinets, double deck bed, and kitchen appliances were badly damaged.”

Another resident, who could not contain her sadness because of what happened to their properties as a result of years of hard work and investment, is

Evangeline. She exclaimed: “I cried. We thought that the water level would not reach that high. All our household appliances and equipment were washed out. Our house pet died. I have neighbors who got electrocuted.” Evangeline narrated that the local government responded immediately. She shared that the government quickly evacuated the residents near the river. Also, they sucked up the water rapidly.

Interestingly, Vivian Galang, 40 years old and resident of Barangay Sapang

Bayan narrated, “I like it better when it is flooding because garbage that I can sell in the junkshop go near my house. Also, people in our community (Barangay Sapang

Bayan) are used to flooding.” The researcher deems that the phrase is powerful in two ways: (1) it employs that people have a wealth of memory on flooding; and, (2) it entails that as a result of being perennially flooded, people have developed coping strategies and mechanisms for adaptation.

6.2.2.2 Social Memory on the Flooding Events: Narratives from the Community Leaders

Community leaders have also a rich social memory on the recent flooding events that transpired in their respective communities. Barangay Captain Tolentino narrated that during the recent flooding caused by Typhoon Ondoy, Typhoon

Pedring and Habagat, the Barangay Council really had a problem regarding

112 drinking water. One time, he recalled riding a boat from his community going to Iba,

Zambales just to buy drinking water for his constituents. He also shared that the

Municipal Government and the Barangay Council worked hand in hand in supplying relief goods to the residents. Relief goods continue even after the flood. Kapitan

Tolentino likewise called to mind that there were provincial medical missions after the floods occurred. Aside from the local government, Kapitan Tolentino said that non-government organizations such as the World vision gave relief goods and provided drinking water to the affected families.

People’s livelihood were badly damaged by the recent flooding, this was what Elisa Quinton, 46 years old and Barangay Kagawad of San Miguel narrated.

She said that residents could not go to work or open their stalls due to the flooding.

She also remembered that the community inundated by Typhoon Ondoy for around two weeks. On the other hand, Habagat was the worst recent flood event because it greatly affected their livelihood. Kagawad Elisa also narrated that some roofs were destroyed because of the strong winds. A lot of residents also had a hard time with drinking water. Even that is the case, she maintained that the relief goods did not become a problem since they had so much relief goods. She recounted that the flooding of the recent years affected the children because classes were suspended due to flooding.

Barangay Captain Leopoldo Medina of Sta. Monica, Hagonoy, also vividly remembered the flooding brought about by Typhoon Pedring. He said that the water was deep and which lasted for about a month. He also narrated that the community

113 and national roads were not accessible and passable. As a result, they had to use boats to be able to deliver relief goods.

Based on the narratives of Kapitan Leopoldo, crops were also damaged and there were some skin disease was quite rampant. He also remembered how his house submerged to water for 14 days when Typhoon Pedring hit. He said that the water was neck-deep and the fishpond owners lost income and were greatly affected. Plate

14 underscores Kapitan Leopoldo showing how high the water level when Typhoon

Pedring affected his own house.

Plate 14: The mark of this house in Barangay Captain Medina's compound in Sta. Monica, Hagonoy shows how deep the flood was brought by Pedring in 2011. (Source: Author)

114

Plate 15: Flood Marker. Barangay Hall of Sta. Monica, Hagonoy has this ruler-like post, which is used as a gauge and warning regarding water level in the river. (Source: Author)

Barangay Kagawad Lopez also remembered the devastating impacts of

Typhoons Ondoy, Pedring and Habagat to his community. Based on his narratives, for a week they had no electricity. For him, it was very frightening because the water level rose so fast and it was really deep. As to the flooding as a result of Typhoon

Pedring, Kagawad Lopez vividly remembered that it rained for nine days, and that the floodwater was even deeper than Typhoon Ondoy. In the aftermath of Typhoon

Pedring, he said that the Municipal Government provided relief goods.

Concurrently, he said that out of the goodness of the heart, some television networks also provided them with some food. Also, as he uncovered, because of the occurrence of deep flooding in the community, they have planned and bought a boat and life vests to be used in times of severe calamities. He also shared that the

115 Municipal Government laid out plan, which they relayed, to Barangay Captains.

Plate 15 shows the Barangay Hall of Sta. Monica, Hagonoy has this ruler-like post, which is used as a gauge and warning regarding water level in the river.

According to Barangay Kagawad Rogelio del Rosario, in the recent flooding brought about by Typhoon Ondoy, Typhoon Pedring, and Habagat, the Municipal

Government sent them trucks and boats used in delivering relief goods to families staying on their rooftops. He also shared, that after the flood, residents of his barangay became more organized. It is unlike before that they were not informed rightfully about calamities. Similarly, he shared that the Barangay Council banned throwing of garbage in the river because they exacerbate the flooding condition. He also recalled that nongovernment organizations such as Save the Children came to help by providing relief goods.

Based on the narratives of Kapitana Florentina Reyes Espiritu, 69 years old and resident of Barangay Caniogan, Calumpit, when Typhoon Ondoy, Typhoon

Pedring, and Habagat happened, the residents of her community was greatly affected. More pointedly, she recalled that in terms of the impacts of the said flooding to people’s health, many residents suffered from skin diseases and high fever. Also, Kapitana Florentina particularly remembered that they were trapped inside their house. As a result, she and her family had no other option but to stay in their rooftops and wait for the water to subside. She also called to mind how community facilities and services were interrupted as a result of the flooding. She shared that there was a shortage in the supply of electricity during the disaster, which resulted to electricity rate hike. Also, the roads were destroyed. The said

116 flooding events, as narrated by Kapitana Florentina, forced a lot of residents to stop working to be able to attend to the needs of their respective families.

Kapitana Florentina also narrated that the Municipal Government, non- government institutions, and the community members responded positively as a result of the flooding events. More concretely, she recalled that the Municipal

Government provided relief goods to the affected population. Not only that, they carried out search and rescue operations to salvage residents who were staying in their rooftops. Concurrently, she particularly remembered that the non-government organizations provided the immediate needs of the affected residents such as mats, mattresses, and clothes among others. Based on her narratives, there were non- government organizations that undertook psycho-social interventions as well to look to address trauma-related effects of the disasters to the residents, particularly the children. What she found most encouraging was when survivors themselves each other. She recalled how community members helped each other in the form of assisting community members in salvaging appliances and house equipment that can still be salvaged. Similarly, based on Kapitana Florentina’s narratives, people shared food and coffee with one another in the evacuation sites.

Ramil Santiago, 45 years old and the current Barangay Captain of Sapang

Bayan, Calumpit and Milagros Robles, 59 years old, Kagawad of the same

Barangay, recalled that many of their constituents suffered from cough, athlete’s foot, and colds as a result of Typhoon Pedring. Kapitan Ramil also narrated that in relation to the impacts of the disaster to household and community structures, a lot of houses were damaged, while others were washed out. He also shared that water,

117 electric, and road facilities were also damaged as a result of the force of floodwaters.

Kapitan Ramil narrated that members of the Barangay Officials were monitoring the water level and they communicated the needed information to their residents. On the other hand, Barangay Secretary Milagros narrated that, “I do not know how to swim that is why I immediately evacuated together with my family. We went to Pobalcion.

I almost died because the water level suddenly went high. Also, the food ration then ran out. We were just waiting for the rain to come, so that we can drink.” Based on the narratives of Barangay Secretary Milagros, the Barangay Council and the

Municipal Government responded immediately. She shared the local government officials provided food and relief goods. At the same time, the Barangay Council and the Municipal Government provided early warning communications, so that people from high-risk areas could evacuate early. Based on the accounts of

Barangay Secretary Milagros, the Department of Health immediately provided vaccination to prevent diseases, while the Department of Social Welfare and

Development quickly distributed relief items to affected residents. She also shared that non-government organizations were also present and they provided the immediate needs of the displaced families.

Mar Angelo Villalobos, 34 years old and Kagawad of Barangay Corazon,

Calumpit, also remembered that many people in their community suffered from fever and skin diseases due to the flood exposure. Concurrently, Arturo Magtalas, 57 years old and the current Barangay Captain of Caniogan recalled that during the flooding brought about by Typhoon Pedring, people experienced fear and hunger.

He also narrated that the residents who were stranded in their rooftops used the same

118 clothes for a number of days because they were not able to salvage much of their household materials. Kapitan Magtalas also vividly remembered that the roofs of many houses were damaged due to the strong winds when the disaster happened.

Finally, Norberto Candelaria, 52 years old and Kagawad of Barangay

Caniogan also recounted that people had no source of food and water-borne diseases were rampant. Moises Manala Villena, 49 years old and also a Kagawad of

Barangay Caniogan, shared that as to the impacts on the households, many of the residents were helpless and just watched on as houses got destroyed during the typhoon. Also, he mentioned that access roads and bridges in their barangay were all damaged.

6.3 Learning from Calamities: Local Knowledge on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

Unlike social memory on disasters, which are event/disaster-specific, local knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management is not. Local knowledge is developed over time as a result of years of experiences on and learning from disasters. Local knowledge can be both at the individual and /or community level.

Also, it can either be hidden, unexpressed, and evident as embodied in how people prepare and respond to the risk they are facing.

Indubitably, the social memory on different flooding events in Hagonoy and

Calumpit had taught a lot of things to its residents. As a result of one disaster to another, the residents have habituated to the perennial condition and exposure they have on flooding. As a result of the wealth of people’s social memory on disaster,

119 over the years they have learned and unlearned a lot of things to be able to become more resilient.

From the individual narratives as shared both by the riverfront dwellers and community leaders in Hagonoy and Calumpit, the following are the general lessons they have learned from their memory of previous flooding events that happened in their respective communities.

First, disaster preparedness is extremely important. According to Josephine

Atenta, 40 years old and resident of San Miguel, Hagonoy, people need to always be ready against calamities and that people should always have something stored in times of emergency. On the other hand, Elena Balatbat, 57 years old and also a resident of San Miguel, Hagonoy, said that resident should have stock of gas, water, and food. Based on the narratives above, a lot of residents were unprepared when flooding came. As a result, they did not have food to eat, no portable water to drink, and many of them were very frightened due to lack of electric supply. In the same way, as shared both by residents and community leaders based on the narratives above, many houses were destroyed, damaged, and washed out because they were built using light materials. Not only that, as observed in the narratives above, a lot of residents tremendously suffered economically due to the impacts of disasters to their respective livelihoods. As a result of these appalling impacts to people, their social memory on disasters have taught them to be prepared.

Second, adapting to new realities is imperative. For Imelda Manansala, 47 years old and resident of Tampok, Hagonoy, people have to adapt because flooding that happens almost every year. She said that before the onset of the rainy season,

120 people should already keep emergency kit and supplies so that they will not be caught off guard by disasters. Lamberto Lopez, 54 years old and Barangay Kagawad of San Miguel, said that people learned the need to elevate their house in order to avoid the floodwaters. Another adaptation mechanism according to Vivian Galang,

40, of Sapang Bayan, is that people should be skilled in swimming among others.

Doubtless, given the new reality now: climate-related disasters are now the new normal, people needs to think of ways to be able to cope and adapt to these realities.

Based on the narratives above, the impacts of disasters are repeating. If this is the there is a need to innovate and at the same time tap indigenous/previous local practices related to coping and adapting to flooding.

Third, residents need to follow warnings issued by authorities. For 47-year old Val Perez, to be able not to repeat the mistake of the past, it is extremely important to listen to the warning of the authorities as well as their call for preemptive evacuation. Severino Carpio, 50 years old and the Barangay Captain of

Tampok narrated that people have to be alert and keen on listening to warnings and announcements. He added that people should stop being stubborn as the authorities are only concerned with their safety.

Generally, people are having a hard time following the orders given by authorities to evacuate before and even after the disaster. Primarily, there are two reasons why residents find it hard to follow. First, people would not want to leave their houses because they worry that others will steal their appliances. Second, people would not want to evacuate because the evacuation sites where they will be temporarily placed are not conducive and lacks the needed basic services and

121 facilities (i.e. clean toilet, portable water, confortable sleeping area among others).

As a result of this, people persist of staying in their houses. Based on the narratives of the riverfront dwellers and community leaders in Hagonoy and Calumpit, many residents opted to stay atop their roofs and just wait for relief goods to be delivered to them. However, this practice further puts people in a dangerous and vulnerable situation. That said, it is imperative to follow the warning of local authorities.

In the same way, in the age where information is readily available, people can easily get relevant updates on weather and typhoons. Also, the information as to where and the approximate time when the typhoon will landfall are already at our own disposal. Based on the narratives above, it is indispensable that people, particularly in high-risk areas to know and be informed on early warnings. That said, the high-risk communities would be able to undertaken necessary actions to prevent danger and lives being claimed.

Corollary to the third learning, the resident should make their local authorities accountable to them. The safety of the people is the primary responsibility of the government and it should protect its people as well as ensure their well-being in times of crises. Based on the narratives of Jolita Lague, 44 years old from Barangay San Miguel, officials should inform their constituents on the impending disasters and the water level in the dams. Also, officials should inform people where exactly to get the relief goods and that everybody should be able to avail the required assistance. Politicians should veer away from only helping their voters, friends and relatives in times of disasters.

122 Fourth, it is important that everybody to be an environmental steward.

Among of the interesting narratives shared by the residents about the primary reason of flooding in their area, conversion of rice field to ponds, illegal logging and ineffective waste management. Residents like Balatbat said that trees should not be cut down, rivers should be dredged, and people should refrain from throwing garbage in the river and waterways. Edgardo Lucas, 47 years old from Sapang

Bayan narrated that proper waste segregation and management need to be implemented properly by the local government units to avoid clogging of waterways and reduce the vulnerability of communities to flooding. Clearly, residents deem that the destruction and abuse of the environment exacerbates their vulnerability to flooding.

Based on the aforesaid learning on the social memory of disaster, riverfront dwellers and community leaders have developed local knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management in relation to the risk they are facing. Denkens (2007b) developed a typology of local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management.

This includes: (1) anticipate or people’s identification and monitoring of environmental indicators; (2) adjust or people’s access to assets; and, (3) communication or people’s ability to transfer knowledge among themselves and between generation. Denkens further discussed what constitute each typology. The following comprise local knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management related to anticipate: signals (i.e. interpretational knowledge of changes in animal behavior, knowledge of local weather forecasts using celestial bodies observation).

The local knowledge associated in adjust include physical assets (i.e. infrastructural

123 safety arrangements such as boats, housing, embankments) developed to cope and adapt to the risk that people face. Finally, the local knowledge associated with communication are early warning systems (i.e. use of visual signals such as markers, fire or audio signals like drums; having dreams of natural hazards in advance) to share information on disaster.

Based on these typologies, the following provides the local knowledge of riverfront dwellers in Angat in relation to disaster risk reduction and management documented during the conduct of the research.

6.3.1 Anticipate: Local Knowledge on People’s Identification and Monitoring of Environmental Indicators

Knowledge on hazards can be communicated in various ways. At present, there are new inventions and state-of-the-art technologies developed to predict and generate data on weather behaviors. However, most of the times, these technologies are costly and very difficult to be understood and operate by communities not because they are uneducated, but perhaps due to lack of familiarity on those things.

On the other hand, Velasquez (2008) argues that even before the introduction of modern technology in risk communication, a lot of communicates susceptible to natural hazards have operate in communicating risks by relying on what they observe in their own surroundings.

In relation to this, the research attempted to document riverfront dwellers’ local knowledge to anticipate the impending disasters such as animal behaviors and characteristics of celestial bodies. The primary goal of this was to identify if disaster

124 anticipation by reliance to the surrounding is prevalent in the case of the Angat

Riverfront dwellers.

Interestingly, based on the narratives of the respondents during the conduct of the research, it was revealed that animals are great risk communicators. The interviews with the residents underscored that people in Calumpit and Hagonoy believe that behaviors of animals serve as a warning whenever there is an impending disaster. Riverfront dwellers specifically mentioned the following animals, which enable them to predict if a disaster is coming: dogs, ants, cockroaches, birds, and earthworms.

Based on the narratives of the riverfront residents, they believe that when dogs are restless and noisy, a typhoon that will lead to flooding will come. This is the same case with the ants and cockroaches. Based on the narratives, the appearance of ants forewarns flooding in the community. On the other hand, ants and cockroaches come up of their mounds and hiding places and climb up anywhere higher. It is also believed the when chickens are noisy; there is a coming calamity. In the same way, difference in the flight of birds is also used as a warning when there is a looming disaster. Finally, once earthworms started to surface, an impending typhoon is coming.

In the same way, based on the narratives of Angat riverfront dwellers, celestial bodies warn people of an impending calamity. The local knowledge of people in relation to celestial bodies is linked particularly to the behavior and characteristics of clouds, sun, stars, and thunders. The following provides a

125 compilation of observed behaviors of celestial bodies and their relation to calamity as narrated of the riverfront dwellers.

Clouds . If the clouds are yellowish, there will be thunder and lightning. . If the clouds are dark, it will rain. . If the clouds are so close, it will rain. . If there are wide dark clouds, there is a coming twister. . If the clouds are dark and the air is cold, the clouds are trying to collect rainwater.

Sun . If it is humid and there is not much moving air, it will rain in the night. . Even if the heat is high, it will still rain. There will be sudden heavy rain.

Stars . If it is already 7 o’clock in the evening and there is no star, it will definitely rain.

Thunder and lightning . If a thunder comes from the north and the east responds, floodwater in coming. . If there is thunder, there will be heavy rain.

In hindsight, a lot of the ideas shared by the riverfront dwellers are also what physical scientist believes. More pointedly, it has been proven time and again that animals communicate risks. For instance, in the context of volcanic region, the moment the deer and other forest-animals started going down means that the they

126 could no longer contain the heat at the peak of the volcano. That said, the animal behavior shows that there is irregularity in the activity of the volcano, so there is a likelihood that it would erupt. Also, it is scientifically proven that when multitudes of ants started to surface, it is an indicator that a strong typhoon would come.

In the same way, physical scientists have proven that behavior of celestial bodies foretells the next weather. For instance, the humidity can indicate that it would rain afterwards. Also, the presence and absence of clouds and the stars indicate the upcoming weather.

These things imply that Angat riverfront dwellers have developed local knowledge in relation to anticipating disasters by looking at and observing their environment. These forms of knowledge influence they way people perceive and respond to the risk they are facing. They influence the daily activities of the people, particularly those at the rivers. Finally, they are viable source of grounded policies in relation to disaster risk reduction and management.

6.3.2 Adjust: Local Knowledge on People’s Coping and Adaptation Practices

As a result of previous experiences in flooding, the riverfront dwellers have developed coping mechanism and adaptation practices in relation to the risk they are facing. Based on the narratives Rolando Tolentino, 44 years old and Barangay

Captain of San Miguel, as a result of memory on disasters, residents started elevating their houses. Other residents transferred their household materials and equipment to safer areas within their houses to avoid being flooded. On the other hand, Elisa Quinto, 46 years old and Barangay Kagawad of San Miguel noticed that

127 almost all of their things inside the house of residents of her community are now made of plastic (e.g. chairs, tables, etc.). So when the flooding come, they will not be destroyed as compared to materials made of other elements. Plates 16, 17, and 18 provide mechanisms in which riverfront dwellers and community leaders have coped and adapted to the disaster risk they are facing.

Plate 16: The Entrance. This house in Barangay Tampok exhibits a coping mechanism used by residents to counter adverse effects of high tide. The Entrance is seen elevated to prevent tidewater from entering the house. (Source: Author)

128

Plate 17: Barangay Hall near the River. A view of Sta. Monica’s Barangay Hall situated beside the river (Source: Author).

Plate 18: Road Improvements in Hagonoy, Bulacan (Source: Author).

129 Concurrently, as narrated by Lamberto Lopez, 54 years old and Barangay

Kagawad of San Miguel, they store food in the house as much as they can. They also use a calendar where they can see dates of high tides. In the same way, Kagawad

Lamberto see to it that they have gas and candles for lighting and their basic needs before they are hit by floodwaters. They also use sandbags around the area as their pathway when water level rises. On the other hand, Fabiano Anicete, 53 years old also from San Miguel, when flood warnings have been issued, they just prepare themselves. They fix their things inside the house, store food, and prepare emergency kits. Also, they renovated their kitchen to avoid being reached by seawaters during high tide.

Concurrently, for Imelda Manansala, 47 years old and resident of Barangay

Tampok, they raised their house from the ground. They also stockpile food and have ready flashlights or candles in the event of blackout. Another resident, Arnel

Crisostomo, 51 years old also from Tampok, shared that he sends money to his sibling in Manila for him to buy basic needs in the event of flooding. They also started building the second floor of their house and added soil below the house to raise it from ground level. He also added that once the Municipal Government has issued a flood warning, the barangay council relays it to the residents right away.

Residents then surround their houses with numerous sandbags so that the water will not reach their houses, which usually results to a shortage of sacks.

The above narratives show some of the ways in which riverfront dwellers have cope and adapted to the risks they are facing. The coping mechanism of the riverfront dwellers and the community leaders debunk the idea that people do not

130 learn from disasters. It further deconstruct the idea the people are passive and not proactive citizens. Concretely, as a result of perennial flooding in their respective communities, riverfront dwellers and community leaders have proven that they have indeed learned from disasters as exemplified in the way they adjusted their means of living.

Provided in Table 9 are some other respondents’ narration in relation on own their coping mechanisms and adaptation strategies as a result of their memory of previous disasters.

131 Table 9: Adjust: Local Knowledge on People’s Coping and Adaptation Practices

Disaster prevention and mitigation Disaster preparedness Family level “Tinatalian ang mga bubong ng bahay para hindi “Naghahanda ng pagkain at tubig. Laging handa, liparin ng malakas na hangin.” – Herminia del kaunting tubig lamang, lumikas na.”- Asuncion de Rosario, 48, Barangay Sapang Bayan Leon, 66, Barangay Caniogan

“Maagang pagpapalikas.” – Helen Castillo, 45, “Naghahanda ng tubig at kandila.” – Herminia del Barangay Sapang Bayan Rosario, 48, Barangay Sapang Bayan

“Segregation ng basura at pagtatanim ng “Inihahanda ang mga importanteng kagamitan.” – halaman.” – Belinda Cruz-Galang, 30, Sapang Belinda Cruz-Galang, 30, Sapang Bayan Bayan “Naghahanda ng medical kit, damit, flash lights… “Tinataasan ang bahay.” –Evangeline Peralta, 52, lilikas agad kapag sinabihan ng gobyerno.” – Cristina Barangay Caniogan Galang, 32, Sapang Bayan

“Itinataas ang mga kagamitan sa mas safe na lugar “Naghahanda ng bigas, panggatong, at ulam… upang hindi abutin ng baha.” –Amanda nangungutang ng puhunan.” – Edgardo Lucas, 47, Deogracias, 48, Barangay Corazon Barangay Sapang Bayan

“Nagpapagawa kami ng second floor. Sinasama “Nagtatabi ng delata.” –Amanda Deogracias, 48, ang buong pamilya sa maagang paglikas.” Barangay Corazon

“Tulong-tulong sa paglilinis.” – Florentina Reyes “Naglilinis sa lugar namin. Nag-aayos ng mga gamit Espiritu, 69, Barangay Caniogan para madaling mailipat sa mataas na lugar. Nag-iipon ng pagkain, tapos kapag tumaas na ang tubig, lilikas “Nagtaas na agad kami. Katulad noong Ondoy, agad.” – Levita Deogracias, 68, Barangay Corazon wala naman talaga kaming napinsala. Eh naitaas “Eh nagaayos na ako ng mga gamit namin,

132 Disaster prevention and mitigation Disaster preparedness namin lahat. Kahit biglaan yung ano. Talagang nagbabalot-balot na. Para pag lumaki, eh pupunta na naghahanda na kami.” – Rosario Alejo, 50, lang kami sa mataas na lugar.”- Herminia Anicete, 40, Barangay San Miguel Barangay San Miguel

“Ang unang unang ginagawa ay yung pagtataas ng gamit. Pangalawa, yung pagbili ng mga kakainin. Pangatlo, yung paghanda ng mga ilaw. Dahil tsak na magbrobrownout.” – Len Marie Manansala, 36, Barangay Tampok

Barangay “Pinapataasan ang mga kalsada. Naghahanda ng “Nagsasagawa ng mga simulation drill at nagbibigay Level pang-rescue at waterpump para mabawasan ang ng impormasyon kung saan dapat mag-eevacuate.” – tubig kapag bumaha.” – Levita Deogracias, 68, Hernando Gregorio, 50, Barangay Caniogan Barangay Corazon “May mga nakahandang banga at life jacket.” Evangeline Peralta, 52, Barangay Caniogan

“May mga nakahandang bangkang pang-rescue. May mga relief goods na naka-imbak.” – Jojo Roque, 34 Barangay Corazon

133 6.3.3 Communication: Local Knowledge on People’s Ability to Transfer Knowledge among Themselves and between Generation

Plate 19: Modern Ruler: This is measuring device below the Barangay Tampok council hall. It is used for water level in the barangay. (Source: Author)

134 Aside from communicating disasters through animal behavior and celestial bodies observation, the community officials have developed mechanisms in which they are going to communicate the impending disaster to their residents. One of which is installing early warning communications such as flood makers. Plate 19 shows one of the devices installed in the community to communicate disasters. The concept of flood marker may not be inherent to the community, but the areas where they put the flood markers and the corresponding actions to be undertaken when the floodwater reaches a certain level, all are dependent on the people’s social memory on the disasters they face before. This kind of signal is crucial, particularly for families near the river.

Based on the narratives of Arnel Crisostomo, 51 years old from Barangay

Tampok, “… when there is an incoming flood or calamity, the barangay council quickly announces a warning to the whole community. Sometimes, they provide sacks of sands for mitigation. If there is already floodwater in the baranggay, they would put a rope in the middle of the road as a form of guide for travelling because the floodwater here is taller than a man’s height. Residents of Hagonoy all knows how to swim.” On the other hand, Raquel del Rosario, 28, years old from Sapang

Bayan said that. “nagkoko-ordinasyon ng Kapitan at Munisipyo para mabigyan ng maagang babala ang mga residente.” While for Cristina Galang, 32 years old of

Sapang Bayan, “Nag-iikot sa barangay and mga opisyales upang bigyan ng impormasyon ang mga tao. Binabantayan ang flood markers. Binabantayan din ang waterlevel sa dam at tinitingnan kung tumataas. Kinakausapan agad ang mga residente sa tabi ng ilog upang mag-evacuate.” Dennis Adriano Gripol, 50 years old

135 from Barangay Corazon said, “consistent communication sa MDRRMC.

Minomonitor ang level ng tubig at inaanounce sa mga tao ang taas ng tubig ang ginagawa ng mga opisyales ng barangay.”

Asuncion de Leon, 66 years old, narrated, “Nagbibigay ng impormasyon ang local na pamahalaan sa mga residente kung may paparating na bagyo.” Jojo

Roque, 34 years old from Barangay Corazon shared that, “nagmomonitor sa radio at telebisyon ang mga tao patungkol sa anong kalagayan ng panahon at ng mga lebel ng tubig sa mga dams.” For Helen Castillo, 45 years old from Barangay Sapang

Bayan, “maagang pagpapalikas ang isinasagawa ng lokal na pamahaalaan matapos malaman ang kundisyon at klima.”

In hindsight, the narratives and examples above show that people have developed ways of communicating the risk they are facing to each other, particularly to the high risk residents near the rivers as a result of their previous memory on disaster events. These communication strategies are forms of local knowledge.

Another form of providing disaster information is through pagkwekwento. As pointed out in the narratives on social memory, many of the current residents and leaders of different communities now in Calumpit and Hagonoy were very young then when the Great Flood of 1972 came about. However, through storytelling and constant sharing of experience of the elders to the young generation, the social memory of disasters and the lessons generated from them have been effectively transferred between generation and from generation to another. Needless to say, all of these are examples of people’s ability to transfer knowledge among themselves

136 and between generation, which is a form of local knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management.

*****

In conclusion, the case of Calumpit and Hagonoy show that people have rich social memory on disasters as a result of being perennially flooded. However, instead of continuously being victimized by disaster events, the people have turned their vulnerabilities to capacities. More so, they used their social memory on previous disasters to develop local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management toward their resiliency in the form of anticipating, adjusting to, and communicating the risk they are facing. Figure 5 provides the summary of social memory on disaster and local knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management by riverfront dwellers of Calumpit and Hagonoy In the next chapter, it will be examined how are these local knowledge and social memory on disasters integrated in the local level disaster risk reduction and management plans and programs of the municipalities of Calumpit and Hagonoy.

137 Figure 5: Summary of Social Memory on Disaster and Local Knowledge on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management by Riverfront Dwellers of Calumpit and Hagonoy

138 Chapter 7

HOW ARE LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIAL MEMORY ON DISASTERS INTEGRATED IN LOCAL LEVEL POLICY AND PLANS ON FLOODING? THE CASE OF CALUMPIT AND HAGONOY

7.1 Introduction

The previous chapter presented the social memory on disasters and the local knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management that the Angat riverfront dwellers have developed overtime as a result of the perennial flooding in their respective communities. This chapter examines how are these social memory and local knowledge integrated in the local level policies on flooding in the

Municipalities of Calumpit and Hagonoy, specifically the Barangay–level disaster plans.

This will be approached in two ways. First, the process that should be undertaken in developing local-level disaster plans as mandated by the Office of

Civil Defense (OCD), and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), agencies in the Philippines assigned in making local government units accountable in disaster risk reduction and management will be presented. Second, it will look into how are local knowledge and social memory are significantly integrated in the local level policy and programs by addressing the following questions:

1) Do the existing Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

Plans and/or Contingency Plans address the vulnerability of the

communities based on the social memory of riverfront dwellers and the

larger community on disasters? Do the plans provide solutions to the

139 effects of previous disaster events remembered by that the riverfront

dwellers? and,

2) Do the existing Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

Plans and/or Contingency Plans take into consideration the local

knowledge developed by the riverfront dwellers in anticipating,

adjusting, and communicating disasters?

7.2 Disaster Risk Reduction and Management/Contingency Planning Process in the Philippines

The Republic Act (RA) 10121 or the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and

Management (DRRM) Law mandates each local government unit to develop its corresponding Local DRRM Plans (LDRRMP). Rather than viewing it as a form of compliance, the Local DRRM Plan signifies the program of action of a particular local government unit in relation to the risk they are facing.

The Section 12 of RA 10121 defines LDRRMP as the document that will guide the implementation of DRRM at the local level. The plan will have to be formulated by the LDRRM Council and the Barangay DRRM Committee with the help of the Municipal Development Councils (RA 10121, 2010). On top of the

LDRRMP, RA 10121 mandates each local government unit in the Philippines to develop a hazard-specific Contingency Plan. The LDRRMP and the Contingency

Plan are two different things: the LDRRMP serves as the mother plan in which the

Contingency Plan is a part. The LDRRMP should contain the objectives/goals of the plan, city/municipality profile, risk profile, legal basis of DRRM at the local level

(city or municipality ordinance), contingency plan, and the disaster program in each

140 of the thematic area of DRRM: disaster preparedness, disaster prevention and mitigation, disaster response, and disaster recovery and rehabilitation (Derafera,

2014). On the other hand, the Contingency Plan, as defined by Basilio (2014) is “a forward planning process, in a state of uncertainty, in which scenarios and objectives are agreed, managerial and technical actions defined, and potential response systems put in place in order to prevent, or better respond to an emergency or critical situation.” Therefore, the Contingency Plan underscores the specific plan of action the local government will undertake in times of disasters. Basilio (2014) further noted that the plan “addresses specific circumstances and specific actions to be taken should the scenario occur,” and therefore, should be hazard-specific. This means that each hazard that the locality is prone to (e.g. flooding, fire, earthquake, etc.) should have its corresponding Contingency Plan. In Contingency Plan, the bad, worse, and worst-case scenarios are taken into account (Basilio, 2014). Figure 6 provides the required process that each local government unit should follow in developing their plans. This process was designed by the Office of Civil Defense

(OCD) and disseminated by the Department Interior and Local Government (DILG) to all local governments in the country.

In Figure 6, it highlighted that the initial step in coming up with the plan is through scanning the environment. This step entails a critical assessment of the hazards, vulnerabilities, elements are at-risk, capacities, and the most-at-risk in the locality. In carrying out this important step, it is imperative to look into and consider the past disaster events that happened in the community. More specifically, it is

141

Figure 6: Planning Process (Basilio 2014) Modified by the researcher for the purpose of the study

indispensable to take into consideration what are the disaster events, when it happened, and where it happened. Basilio (2014) holds that it is essential to recover the memory of past disaster events because doing so will generate the potential hazards and risks that may come in the community in the future. With this, recovering social memory of previous disaster events that hit the community is key in determining what public policy and specific programs should be ratified. In the same way, Derafera (2014) said that aside from looking at the current vulnerability

142 based from previous disaster events, it is also paramount to take into account the existing capacities and strengths the communities have because these will contribute to desired condition of the community. The researcher considers these existing capacities and strengths as local knowledge in disaster risk reduction. In the previous chapter, the researcher outlined and discussed the existing capacities and strengths that communities have developed in relation to the risk they are facing. What were highlighted in the previous chapter are capacities in relation to the following:

. anticipate or local knowledge related to people’s identification and

monitoring of environmental indicators;

. adjust or local knowledge related to people’s access to assets; and,

. communication or local knowledge to people’s ability to transfer

knowledge among themselves and between generation.

In hindsight, the researcher argues that at the first stage of the planning process, social memory and local knowledge are of vital importance because they serve as the foundational bases of what should be and needed to capitalize in the plan to be developed.

7.3 Integrating Local Knowledge and Social Memory on Disasters in Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management/Contingency Plans

In public policy, disasters serve as focusing events or policy windows. In the

1997 book entitled, After disaster: Agenda setting, public policy, and focusing events, Thomas Birkland argues that catastrophes gain greatest attention since they provide prima facie evidence for a policy failure. He called the policies ratified after a disaster as a policy failure-inspired learning. Thirteen years after, in 2010, he

143 published the second edition of the book with a new title, Lessons of disaster: Policy change after catastrophic events. In the new edition, Birkland used the 9/11

Terrorist Attack as one of the case studies to drive his point that catastrophes gain attention, thus it triggers policy change. He then coined the term event-related policy change in relation to the link of disasters and public policies. In the Lessons of disaster, Birkland provided three (3) key arguments, namely: (1) catastrophes could lead to policy change (2010: 4); (2) the larger the disaster in terms of loss, lives claimed, property damaged, the larger the potential for policy change (2010: 5); and,

(3) disasters do in an instant what policy advocates have failed to do – bringing to the fore an issue which policymakers will take more seriously and urgently (2010:

6). Without a doubt, disasters do serve as policy windows. Cuny (1983: 12) holds that social change as a result of disaster events happen because disaster generates an environment acceptable to change.

Following the premise of Birkland, a Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and

Management/Contingency Plan serve as a bible that will guide the DRRM work in the communities. It is expected that the community plans will be fed into the

LDRRMP of the municipality/city up to the provincial and regional levels.

According to Rolando Tolentino, 44 years old and Barangay Captain of San

Miguel, Hagonoy, “the flooding over the years such as Typhoon Ondoy, Pedring, and Habagat had led to the creation of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and

Management Plan as well as the Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and

Management Plan.” He further shared that because of their social memory of previous disaster events, they tried to really improve the disaster management

144 practice in their locality through remembering which areas were badly hit by flooding before. Additionally, given they tried to identify where people should evacuate in event of emergencies. In each street, they also made it a point to really understand and know the vulnerability of the people living there. Lamberto Lopez,

54 years old and Barangay Kagawad of San Miguel, also narrated that, “because of the occurrence of deep flooding in our barangay before like Typhoon Ondoy,

Pedring and Habagat, we (Barangay Council) have planned and eventually bought life vests and rescue boats to be used in times of severe calamities. Also, the

Municipal Government developed a DRRM Plan, which they relayed to the

Barangay Captains and were eventually implemented. Additionally, disaster preparedness was incorporated in our community plan. Land acquisition for evacuation also happened. Hazard maps were made and distributed to residents.

The council conducted seminars about disasters preparedness. Also, information campaign launched in the several communities.” Concurrently, Josephine Atenta, 40 years old and a riverfront dweller shared that, “due to our memory on previous disaster events like Typhoon Ondoy, Pedring and Habagat, the Barangay Council also implemented a policy regarding waste segregation. It is also good that we have an existing Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan because it helps the people become ready in the event of disasters.”

The narratives of Barangay Captain Tolentino, Barangay Kagawad Lopez, and Josephine Atenta are powerful accounts shared by community officials and riverfront dwellers, which implored that the communities in the Angat Watershed and River Basin Region have developed their plans. But what is equally important to

145 note is, the plans were made as a result of social memory of the people on the disaster events that happened in their respective communities.

7.3.1 Key Features of Calumpit and Hagonoy Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plans

The following provides the key features of the existing Barangay DRRM

Plans of the communities in Calumpit and Hagonoy in relation to flooding hazard. It will be noted that the stipulations in the plans provide strong evidences that the social memory on previous disaster events propelled the development of the plans.

Furthermore, the social memory serves as the foundation basis in the plans. In the same way, the local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management, particularly on anticipating, adjusting, and communicating in disasters are apparent in the plans.

Among the 29 Barangays in Calumpit, Caniogan is the most prone to the overflow of water from Pampanga and Angat Rivers. The Barangay was badly ravaged by Typhoon Ondoy in 2009, Typhoon Pedring in 2011, and the habagat in

2012. Learning from these disaster events, the community had formulated a

Barangay DRRM Plan covering climate-related hazards such as typhoon and flooding as well as other hazards such as fire and earthquake. The Barangay was also able to set up a Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council

(BDRRMC) and the structure for an Incident Command System that will be activated should a disaster strikes. In its Barangay DRRM Plan, the activities to be undertaken before, during, and after a calamity were identified. The following

146 highlights the plan of action to be carried out in times of disasters (Barangay

Caniogan BDRRMP, 2013):

Before the disaster:

. Setting up of the BDRRMC by organizing the Special Action Team to prepare for disasters; . Preparing for disasters by developing plans to lessen the impacts of disasters; . Meeting the BDRRMC every quarter; . Identifying of disaster operation center, evacuation center, equipment needed, and setting up of early warning system; and, . Strengthening of Barangay Volunteer Brigades such as the medical brigade, food brigade, shelter brigade, and the rescue and clean up drive. . During the disaster:

. Activate other operation center and early warning communication system; . Do pre-emptive evacuation; . Identify of elements at risks; . Identify and prepare evacuation centers; . Set up toilets, water system, and First Aid Station; . Procure and pack of relief items; . Carry out relief distribution; . Safely evacuate people; . Conduct damage needs assessment; and, . Submit report to the council

After the disaster:

. Provide relief assistance to victims; . Clean up drive; and, . Carry out post-disaster assessment

Given that the community has a long history of being hit by typhoons, which lead to flooding, it is clearly stated in its Barangay DRRM, Plan what specific actions council will have to carry out. For instance, due to their memory of strong typhoon before, four specific actions concerning typhoons will be undertaken, namely: (1) monitor river water level and inform the Municipal Disaster Risk

147 Reduction and Management Council; (2) close the gate valve going to the river canal if necessary; (3) inform the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

Council about the water level; and, (4) inform the riverfront dwellers of the water level, so they could take necessary actions (Caniogan BDRRM Plan 2014). In case of flooding, three things will be carried out by the council, namely: (1) monitor river water level every time and inform the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and

Management Council; (2) gather and ask for assistance; and, (3) evacuate all residents affected by flood to a higher place.

Learning from the previous disaster events, Barangay Caniogan also invested in equipment that can be used in the event of calamities such as fire extinguishers, sound system to announce the impending hazards, generator to be used during blackouts, and life vests.

Like Barangay Caniogan, Barangay Corazon in Calumpit had also remembered the wrath of Typhoon Ondoy in 2009, Typhoon Pedring in 2011, and the habagat in 2012. With this, the Barangay Council developed Barangay Disaster

Risk Reduction and Management Plan. The following are the plan of actions as stated in the existing plan of Barangay Corazon:

Before the disaster:

. Pagbabagong tatag ng Sangguniang Barangay sa paguugnayan ng pang- kalamidad o Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council; . Pagbubuo ng BDRRMC; . Pagsasanay ukol sa kahandaang pangkalamidad; . Alamin at itakda ang mga sumusunod: (a) alamin ang lugar ng operation center; (b) lugar ng paglilikasan; (c) kakailanganing kagamitan; at, (d) paraan ng maagang pagbibigay ng babala; at, . Pagtatatag ng Barangay Volunteer Brigades tulad ng Medical Brigade, Food Brigade, Shelter Brigade, Rescue and Clean-up Brigade.

148 During the disaster:

. Pagsasakatuparan ng Operation Center Activation; . Pagsasakatuparan ng Early Warning Communication System; . Maagang pagpapakilos sa mga lugar na daratnan ng sakuna/kalamidad; . Alamin at itala ang mga napinsalang pamilya; . Paghahanda sa itinakdang evacuation center; . Paglalagay sa pangunahing kagamitan (kasilya, tubig, at iba pa); . Pagtatayo ng first aid station; . Pagbili at pag-empake ng relief goods at iba pang pangangailangan; . Pagsasagawa ng pagliligtas, paglilikas, at pag-aaruga sa evacuees; . Pag-alam sa kapinsalaang naganap sa kalamidad; . Pangingibabaw ng katarungan at pananatili ng kaayusan sa lugar na napinsala ng kalamidad at evacuation center; at, . Pagsusumite ng ulat sa kalamidad sa mataas na Disaster Coordinating Council.

After the disaster:

. Pagbibigay ng kaloob tulong sa mga nasiraan at nabiktima ng kalamidad; . Pagsasagawa ng pag-aayos at paglilinis; . Pagsasagawa ng pagsusuri sa naganap na kalamidad at pagtatabi ng kasulatan upang mapag-aralan at mapagbantayan; at, . Suriin at muling magplano para mapabuti ang kailangan gampanin batay sa karanasan.

Concurrently, in 2013, Barangay Sapang Bayan, Calumpit submitted their three-year Barangay DRRM Plan. According to the Plan, its vision is, “ang progresibong pagbabago sa Barangay Sapang Bayan, Calumpit, Bulacan tungo sa ika-uunlad ng mga mamamayan.” An important section of its existing plan is the

History of Calamities and Disasters in Barangay Sapang Bayan. In this section, it was highlighted that the community and its people suffered from Typhoon Ondoy in

2009, Typhoon Pedring in 2011, Typhoon Quiel, and the habagat in 2012. The said disasters inundated the Sapang Bayan and affected the livelihoods of the people (i.e.

149 the rice fields submerged to floodwaters). As a result of this, the plan was formulated that will guide the DRRM work in the community.

Based on its plan, the Barangay Officials shall attend disaster risk reduction and management seminars to further increase their capacity in disaster preparedness.

Also, the Barangay Council had procured first aid kits, blood pressure apparatus, life vest, drum for fire protection, boat equipment for rescue operation, fire extinguishers, and life saver to be used in times of emergencies.

Similar to the communities of Calumpit, barangays in Hagonoy were able to developed their respective BDRRM Plans. For instance, Barangay San Miguel,

Hagonoy was able to pass a Barangay Ordinance creating the Barangay Disaster

Risk Reduction and Management Council and its corresponding plan on 25 March

2014. Table 10 provides the duties and responsibilities of BDRRMC members as written in the existing Barangay DRRM Plan.

In San Miguel, Barangay Captain Tolentino observed that flooding over the years has led to the creation of the Contingency Plan and BDRRMP. Kagawads

Quinton and Lamberto shared that they were able to purchase a lifeboat and life vests, which was aimed to be used in for search and rescue and evacuation in times of flooding. Quinton also added that the roads in their community are being elevated. In the same way, a canal clean-up is carried out twice a month.

150 Table 106: Barangay San Miguel, Hagonoy DRRM Council Task Force (Barangay San Miguel, Hagonoy, 2014)

Units Roles Punong Barangay/Chairman Gives final order for rescue and evacuation.

Responsible for the proper implementation of the plan. Kagawad, Committee on Peace and Acts a team leader for rescue and evacuation. Order and Safety/Assistance Chairman Takes over in the absence of the Chairman of the Action Officer of the BDRRMC.

Warning and Communication Unit Provides timely information on warning signals.

Makes communication and warning facilities available.

Rescue and Evacuation Unit Ensures the availability of all needed transport services.

Taps locally available transport facilities for the operation.

Responsible for the dispatch, movement and maintenance of vehicles in affected areas to the destination of the affected population.

Engineering and Transportation Ensures the availability of all needed transport services. Initially taps locally available transport facilities for the operation.

Responsible for the dispatch, movement and maintenance of vehicles in affected areas to the destination of the affected population.

6 The researcher designed the table for the purposes of the presentation.

151 Units Roles Relief and Shelter Accepts evacuees in designated areas and act on their immediate needs.

Provides victim with basic needs when necessary.

In charge in the proper distribution of relief goods to the survivors.

Medical Unit Provides medicine and medical services/assistance to the evacuees as well as the rescuers when needed.

Monitors from time to time the health atmosphere in evacuation centers and prevent the spread of epidemic. Security Unit Secure the abandoned homes of the evacuees as well as that of the movement of those affected in evacuation centers.

Provide security elements to evacuation centers.

152 In Barangay San Miguel, hazard maps were also plotted and distributed to the barangay. Barangay council also holds seminars on disaster preparedness and information dissemination campaigns were launched to increase awareness regarding risks among the residents. Tarpaulins showing high risk and evacuation areas were put up in puroks of the barangays. Josephine Atenta, 40 years old and resident of San Miguel said that the Barangay Council implemented a waste segregation program. The BDRRM council also provides owners of damaged houses a certain amount to help in the repair of their homes. Rosario Alejo, 50 years old, meanwhile, related that the Barangay issues announcements and warnings whenever a weather disturbance which might trigger flooding is identified. Oplan Linis drive is also conducted every time the floodwaters have subsided. Figures 7 shows the reconstructed versions of the Barangay DRRM structures of San Miguel in

Hagonoy.

Figures 7: The reconstructed version of the Barangay DRRM structures of San Miguel in Hagonoy (Barangay San Miguel, Hagonoy, 2014)

153 Finally, in Barangay Tampok, Barangay Clerk Imelda Manansala, 47 years old, said that the BDRRM council is currently undertaking road elevation project.

The barangay also provide seminars on disaster preparedness to the constituents.

Val Perez, said that aside from disaster preparedness seminars, the council also holds clean up and repair to improve the barangay’s drainage, rivers, and roads. In 2014, the barangay council had designated houses in every purok where residents may evacuate during flooding. A plan of constructing a dike along the riverbanks of the barangay is also being deliberated in the council. Also, a system of early warning communication was established. Eco-check program, which bans the throwing in the river and burning of garbage, was implemented. With this, Rogelio Del Rosario, 47 years old and Barangay Kagawad, narrated that after the flood the barangay and residents became more organized in relation to DRRM. Figure 8 provides the

Barangay DRRM Council, Tampok, Hagonoy (Barangay Tampok, Hagonoy, 2013).

Figure 8. The reconstructed version of the Barangay DRRM Structure, Sta. Monica, Hagonoy (Barangay Sta. Monica, Hagonoy, 2013

154 As stated above, the barangays developed their DRRM Plans as a result of their social memory of disaster events. However, it is important to note that compared to the Local DRRM Plan produced by the Municipal, Provincial, and

Regional levels, the Barangay Plans of are not comprehensive. Nonetheless, it is praiseworthy that each community made efforts to develop plans, set up mechanisms and structures that would address the flooding problem in their respective areas.

Also, it should be acknowledged that the exiting Barangay DRRM Plans may not be as exhaustive as what is expected of them by RA 10121, but it is commendable that communities have plans. The presence of Barangay DRRM plans that would guide the risk reduction efforts at the community level is already a form of capacity.

In comparison to other communities in the Philippines, the communities in

Calumpit (Sapang Bayan, Caniogan, and Corazon) and Hagonoy (Tampok and San

Miguel) are advanced than many other communities because of the mere availability of the Barangay DRRM plans. That said, the efforts of the community as well as the

Barangay officials are already a form of good governance, which is also a form of capacity in risk reduction. Additionally, perhaps, because of the lack of technical knowledge and skills in writing extensive public policies, the exiting Barangay disaster plans of the said communities may not be that very detailed. However, in actual practice, there maybe good and inspiring stories and practices that the communities and the barangay officials have in relation to how they respond to disasters. These responses may not be written in the Barangay disaster plans, but they are local capacities, local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management, for that matter.

155 7.3.2 Local Knowledge in the Existing Barangay DRRM Plans: Anticipating, Adjusting, and Communicating

In the chapter highlighting the narratives on local knowledge and social memory on disasters, it was pointed out that previous disasters greatly affected the communities. More concretely, among the effects of the previous disasters events were the impassable roads as a result drainage problem. As a result of this, it became difficult for residents to go to work and schools. In addition, it became tremendously hard for the Municipal Government and other groups to deliver relief goods. In the same way, it was narrated above that there was a lack of equipment to be used in search and rescue. As a result of the problems encountered, the Barangay Officials tried to improve their response to disasters. More concretely, Elisa Quinton, 46 years old and Barangay Kagawad Hagonoy, shared that, “in the Barangay DRRM Plan and the corresponding activities of the Barangay, we were able to invest to buy a lifeboat to be used during calamities. Also, the roads are being uplifted. We are also holding a twice-a-month clean up drive in the Barangay where we clean the roads and the drainage canals.” Imelda Manansala, 47 years old, narrated the same initiative. She noted that, “as a result of the memory of previous disasters, the

Barangay Council are now cleaning the drainage. The existence of the Barangay

Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan and its corresponding Council is good because there is a way now of informing the community and there is already a group in the Barangay thinking about solutions in preparation for calamities.”

Concurrently, Val Perez, 47 years old and Barangay Secretary, maintained that,

“because of the Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan, the

Barangay becomes more ready against calamities.”

156 In the narratives of Elisa and Imelda, it is evident how the riverfront dwellers and the Barangay Officials have developed ways of anticipating, adjusting, and communicating disasters, which are forms of local knowledge in disaster risk reduction and management. These form of local knowledge are mainly drawn on the learning from their social memory of previous disasters.

Furthermore, it was pointed out in the narratives of riverfront dwellers and the community leaders that information dissemination on the weather and water level update was one of the key concerns in the flooding events remembered. In relation to this, Arturo Magtalas, 57 years old and Barangay Captain of Caniogan,

Calumpit, shared that there is now an information dissemination mechanism of the water level. For instance, flood markers, which are means of communicating disasters, are now present in different areas of the Municipalities that are historically most susceptible to flooding. The flood makers have been installed in communities in Hagonoy and Calumpit not in a haphazardly manner or just for the sake of installing them. However, they were installed in a certain local that has historical significance to the people based on their social memory of previous disasters events.

Flood makers are painted in the walls near the river, beside high-risk houses, in electrical posts, Barangay Halls, and other areas in the communities with high- susceptibility to flooding.

In the same way, different activities were undertaken in relation to flooding and earthquake that may lead to Angat Dam Break (such as drills and orientation seminars) were carried out in different communities. For instance, in September and

October 2012, the residents of Barangay Caniogan attended series of seminars to

157 increase their preparedness level. Moises Manalo Villena, 49 years old and

Barangay Official of Caniogan, shared that as a result of their memory of disaster events in the past, they are proving capacity building activities to their residents on disaster preparedness. Also, they procured equipment that are lacking and they deemed necessary when they experienced flooding before. This includes: life jacket, motorboat, and generator among others. The Barangay Officials of Sapang Bayan and Corazon have invested in training seminars to increase their capacity in disaster preparedness. In the same way, they invested in equipment to increase their level of preparedness. Barangay Captain Romeo Talucod of Corazon, Calumpit, shared that,

“we procured rescue boats, generator, and other relief items needed by our residents in times of calamity.” Concurrently, Barangay Sapang Bayan invested in first aid kits, simple medical apparatus (i.e. Stethoscope), life vests, drum for fire protection, boat equipment to be used for rescue operation, fire extinguishers, and lifesaver. In hindsight, these initiatives are forms of local knowledge because these are living testaments of community mechanisms of adjusting to the risk they are facing. These are also strategies of the high-risk communities to prepare for the incoming disasters.

Of the local knowledge identified in the previous chapter, it is the anticipation type of knowledge that is not really pronounced in the exiting

Barangay DRRM Plans, but are practiced individually. Romeo Talucod, 61 years old and Barangay Captain of Corazon, Calumpit, narrated, “these (animal behavior and celestial bodies observations) are signs if we fisher folks should pursue fishing or not because they forewarns heavy rain or flooding. They provide indications, and

158 then we make actions and prepare ourselves.” Arturo Magtalas, 57 years old and

Barangay Captain of Caniogan, Calumpit, narrated, “these provided us information to be ready for impending calamities.” As to the reason why these are not particularly integrated in the plans, Mar Angelo Villalobos, 34 years old and

Barangay Kagawad of Corazon, shared, “the times had change, people became too modern.” On the other hand, Evangeline Peralta, 52 years old and resident of

Barangay Corazon, said, “these beliefs are important too, and there is no wrong to believe in them”. In hindsight, based on the different stands of people on this type of local knowledge in disaster risk reduction, it is not explicitly written in the existing

Barangay DRRM Plans.

Figure 9 provides summary of integration of Social Memory on Disaster and

Local Knowledge on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management of Riverfront

Dwellers of Calumpit and Hagonoy in Barangay DRRM Plans.

159 Figure 9: Summary of Integration of Social Memory on Disaster and Local Knowledge on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management of Riverfront Dwellers of Calumpit and Hagonoy in Barangay DRRM Plans

160

*****

In conclusion, the cases of the communities in Calumpit and Hagonoy exemplifed that policy on disaster risk reduction and management were developed as a result of their memory on the significant impacts of disaster events that came about in their respective communities. The policies developed in the communities address the vulnerabilities of the people based on their memory of disaster events. Also, the plans provide solutions to the effects of previous disaster events remembered and experienced by that the riverfront dwellers. Moreover, it is evident in the key features of the existing Barangay DRRM Plans and the local level practices in disaster risk reduction and management of the communities of Calumpit and

Hagonoy that they have integrated their local knowledge on developed as a result of previous disasters. That said, it is concluded that recovering social memory and local knowledge on disasters improved local level policy on disaster risk reduction and management in the context of the Angat watershed and river basin region.

161

PART THREE

CONCLUDING CHAPTERS

Chapter 8: Where are we in the Plans? Toward a Local Knowledge and Social Memory-Driven DRRM Plans

Chapter 9: Conclusions and Recommendations

162 Chapter 8

WHERE ARE WE IN THE PLANS? TOWARD A LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND SOCIAL MEMORY-DRIVEN DRRM PLANS

8.1 Introduction

The previous chapter discussed how the high-risk communities of Calumpit and Hagonoy address their vulnerability to flooding by integrating social memory and local knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management in their BDRRM

Plan/Contingency Plans. In this chapter, the general scenario, reflection and analysis on the space provided to local knowledge and social memory of communities in

DRRM policies and program on risk reduction in the country will be discussed. In the same way, this chapter will discuss the governance implications of the best practices of Hagonoy and Calumpit in relation to the mainstreaming of their social memory and local knowledge on disaster risk reduction and management. Finally, how the experiences of Hagonoy and Calumpit can be further improved and replicated in other areas in the country and elsewhere will be discussed.

The chapter is organized into three parts. First, the culture and DRRM practice in the Philippines will be discussed. Corollary to this, it will examine the space of local knowledge and social memory in DRRM Plans. Second, the cases of

Calumpit and Hagonoy on how the plans have been improved through the integration of local knowledge and social memory will be reviewed and summarized. Also, the governance implications of the integration of social memory and local knowledge will be presented. Finally, looking at the cases of Calumpit and

163 Hagonoy, the recommendations on how can the integration of social memory and local knowledge be further enhanced will be presented.

8.2 Culture of DRRM in the Philippines and the Space of Local Knowledge and Social Memory in DRRM Plans

This section takes into consideration the “culture” of disaster risk reduction and management in the Philippines that sets the context as to the space provided to local knowledge and social memory in plans. The discussions were drawn mainly from the immersion of the researcher in the field of disaster risk reduction and management in the country and the region for almost ten years now.

The existing policies and frameworks of the country on disaster risk reduction and management are commitments to the international strategies on risk reduction such as the Hyogo Framework for Action and other internationally legally binding agreements on risk and exposure reduction. The replacement of the decades- old PD 1566 with RA 10121 is a big step that the national government has taken in addressing risk reduction and management. The severity, magnitude of damages and losses, and the social impacts of disasters in the country need a strong national policy to reduce the exposure, vulnerability and risk of the country and its people.

The onslaught of typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) in 2009 served as a focal point in the swift enactment of RA 10121 and RA 9729.

RA 10121 revolutionized the prevailing disaster management practices in the country. The RA 10121 is significantly different from PD 1566 because of its emphasis on proactive approach to risk reduction rather than the reactive paradigm.

164 The law was signed in 2010 before the end of the term of former President Gloria

Macapagal-Arroyo. In 2015, the law was subjected to a sunset review to assess the gains and to determine whether another one is needed to replace it or which specific provisions needed to be replaced, discontinued, and prevail.

RA 10121 has had significant milestones such as the capitalization on disaster prevention, mitigation, and preparedness rather than emergency response.

Government agencies were mandated to take part and carry out responsibilities in implementing DRRM measures. Furthermore, civil society organizations took part in the national and local DRRMCs. So far, RA 10121 has set the prevailing standard in DRRM in the country. The following discuss the pointers and observations about the current DRRM culture in the Philippines:

First, while there is awareness that risk reduction requires proactive approach, RA 10121 is not completely understood by the concerned government offices (JICA DRRM CEP, 2013). This can be observed in how local government officials view DRRM as well as he heavy investment and expenditure on emergency response rather than on prevention and mitigation.

Second, the prescribed allotted fund for DRRM is 5% of the internal revenue allotment of a local government unit. This is mainly used to procure search and rescue equipment. These funds are also prone to misuse and corrupt practices especially with the purchase of equipment. On the contrary, minimal amounts are channeled into community-based DRRM projects such as disaster preparedness seminars and livelihood assistance for residents. Most high risk barangays are poor and/or far-flung. With the economic and logistic constraints, facilitating risk

165 reduction initiatives is a challenge. Local governments need to augment funds and lead the initiative for these vulnerable communities. However, as pointed out earlier, most of the funds have been used in the procurement of equipment.

Third, RA 10121 mandates the creation of local DRRM offices with specified need for substantial plantilla positions for competent individuals.

However, many LGUs have not complied with this. In Calumpit and Hagonoy, physical offices have been set up but the respective municipal ordinances creating the LDRRMOs have not yet been signed for implementation. In lieu, officers, acting as consultants, have been temporarily assigned due to the urgent need for structure and organization during flooding. In the case of Calumpit, the current DRRM and

CCA consultant is the previous Municipal Administrator. Other positions are filled with staff from other branches of the LGU. These staff members are carrying out responsibilities of their original positions and only step in the DRRM role in times of disasters. The rest of the positions are filled with contractual workers and volunteers.

The term of these positions are usually co-terminus with the local executives who appointed them to office. In addition, based on the JICA DRRM CEP 2013 study, , only heads of these offices are able to attend DRRM seminars. The other staff members have limited participation in capacity development activities, which hinders them from optimizing their potentials as DRRM officers. The generic

DRRM plans of LGUs are not comprehensive and holistic as these are only developed for compliance purposes only as well as to be able to access the DRRM

Funds.

166 The researcher’s review of the Municipal DRRM Plans and the Barangay

DRRMPs through a World Bank project revealed three observations. First, softcopies of Municipal DRRM Plans were provided and it was noticed that some texts in the documents contained hyperlinks, which directed to the original online sources of the information/action plans. This was done without proper citation or modification to consider the local setting. The absence of specificity with regards to practiced culture and prevailing setting and conditions (economical, physical, social, etc.) underscores their importance in the effectiveness of the DRRMPs.

Second, the Department of Interior and Local Government provides the

LGUs with forms to fill out and templates to use for their DRRMPs. The compliance with the submission of the required documents allows the LGUs to access their

DRRM Funds. With the amount of technical information needed to be addressed in the preparation of documents and the lack of training of local DRRM personnel, the risk reduction plans were not evaluated properly in terms of feasibility, long-term effectiveness, and sustainability.

Finally, basing on the conducted interviews, it was observed that only the local executives and community officials seem to be aware that a DRRMP is in place. The residents are not informed or involved in the drafting of the DRRMP and their participation in its realization is underscored.

In the final analysis, it can be argued that the local knowledge and social memory of disasters are not integrated in the DRRM plans and policies mainly because the participation of the residents in its creation is not taken into consideration. Moreover, policymakers perceive that disasters are mere results of

167 extreme events and that citizens are not capable of collective participation in DRRM planning.

8.3 How did Recovered Local Knowledge and Social Memory Improve the DRRM Plans?

Public policies will not serve its purpose if it fails to gather support from the citizens. Policy implementation is a collaborative work being the legislative and the constituency. Based on interviews and personal observations, communities have vast social memory and local knowledge have been developed as a result of previous disasters. This study revealed that communities have a gold mine of lessons learned from previous disasters. They shared the impacts of disasters to their individual and community lives – economically, socially, and ecologically. They also narrated stories of failures of political system and hope and how they want their respective communities to become safer, prepared, and resilient. In the conceptual framework of the study (see again Figure 1), it is emphasized that social memory feeds into local knowledge that can improve policies on DRRM. The local level actions can then feed into and improve the national, regional, and global risk reduction frameworks. The following outlines how social memory on disasters in Calumpit and Hagonoy has been integrated in the residents’ knowledge systems and practices as well as how it improved DRRM culture at the local level (See again Figure 9).

First, the learning is apparent in how residents have tried to improve and enhance their preparedness and responses to disaster. Due to the perennial flooding in the areas, people have developed means of coping and adaptation. Houses have been elevated and foods and basic needs are stored prior to flooding.

168

Figure 1. Conceptual framework of the study

Second, barangays have developed strategies and mechanisms to communicate impending disasters to the constituents. The installation of communication devices to provide early warning to the residents, especially to the riverbank dwellers, best manifest this. The learning is shown in the prioritization and allocation of funds to purchase equipment needed in times of emergency, including search and rescue vehicles and life vests, among others. Also it is embodied in the establishment of an office by the municipal government catering to the DRRM needs of residents.

The third, learning is the apparent is how riverfront dwellers now view the importance of following early warnings to ensure their safety.

169 Figure 9: Summary of Integration of Social Memory on Disaster and Local Knowledge on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management of Riverfront Dwellers of Calumpit and Hagonoy in Barangay DRRM Plans

170 Lastly, the learning is also exhibited in how riverfront dwellers deem that they should be good stewards of the environment, particularly of the river that has been an important part of their life.

Looking at the cases of Calumpit and Hagonoy, the flowing are the governance implications and how the do social memory and local knowledge improved the DRRM Plans of high-risk communities:

1) the recovery of local knowledge and social memory brought to the fore the

inherent capacities of the communities at the heart of public policies;

2) the recovery of local knowledge and social memory and its integration to

disaster risk reduction and management policy gave the community a sense

of ownership of the policy which in turn made such policy more effective in

its implementation; and,

3) the recovery of local knowledge and social memory made the policy context-

specific which better suited the needs, situation, vulnerability, and strengths

of the community.

In the final analysis, solutions to disasters are local-specific. The commitment and willingness of local governments to address flooding problems is crucial. This is especially true in a country where the power and resources lie in the hands of political institutions. If the local government will not commit to a participatory process in risk reduction, it would be very difficult to ease the risk and vulnerability of people to disasters. Furthermore, development projects that do not encourage active participation and capacity building of the stakeholders will not lead to community resilience. Collective involvement of the constituents in policymaking

171 process is crucial in driving implementation and effectiveness. Finally, involving constituents in capacity building ensure accountability of the individual to the community.

8.4 Bringing Local Knowledge and Social Memory in the Plans: Toward a Local Knowledge and Social Memory-Driven DRRM Plans

How can we then further bring in local knowledge and social memory in local level plans? How can the local knowledge and social memory-improved local level plans on disaster risk reduction and management be replicated at the municipal, national and global level?

Schmuck (2012) noted that “reducing flood vulnerability requires a balance of bottom-up approaches based on local knowledge and top-down measures and outside specialist knowledge. Flood risk reduction requires working with communities to understand their needs in a participatory manner, which will cover vulnerabilities, existing capabilities, and capacities that are desired but that require improvement. Working hand-in-hand will assist in returning flooding to being natural, normal and accepted part of the life of rivers and of river communities, rather than being surprising and disastrous events.” As stated by Schmuck, it is of vital importance to involve high-risk communities in developing and formulating plans and measures on risk reduction. Involving these is of great importance because of three particular reasons: First, the plans that policymakers and community leaders are going to develop are for the community. Second, given that the plans to be developed are for the community, it is essential that they are actively involved every step of the way of the planning process. This means from the assessment of the

172 situation, formulation, testing, finalizatin, and updating the plans. Third, in relation to the second reason, the community has a wealth of knowledge and capacity such local knowledge and social memory, that are substantial and ground level inputs to the plans to be developed.

Figure 10 shows the proposed Local Knowledge and Social Memory

Integration to Barangay DRRM Plan Model. The following are the process in the proposed integration model:

1) carry out assessment of the disaster risk, exposure, vulnerabilities, and

capacities of the community. Prior to developing any plan of action, it is

imperative to have a comprehensive understanding and assessment of the

situation in the community. In carrying out the assessment activity, it is also

indispensable that community members actively involve. In cases where

there is a budget limitation; thus, a big number of community members

cannot be engaged, representatives of the community in the assessment phase

would do. For instance, representatives of People’s Organizations, Home-

Owner’s Association, and vulnerable groups (i.e. women, elderly, children)

among others should be involved in the assessment phase.

In the assessment phase, participatory tools should be used. There do

exist participatory tools being used by different non-government

organizations in the planning process at the community level. For instance,

the Center for Disaster Preparedness, a nongovernment organization working

on Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, uses ten

(10) participatory tools called Community Risk Assessment tools to study

173 Figure 10: Local Knowledge and Social Memory Integration to Barangay DRRM Plan Model

174 and assess the risk, vulnerability, and capacity of a particular community.

The tools are: disaster timeline, hazard and resource mapping; hazard

assessment matrix, seasonal calendar, elements-at-risk, social Venn diagram,

attitudinal matrix, evacuation matrix, DRRM experience and coping

strategies, and before, now and tomorrow. The said tools take into

consideration to local capacities, local knowledge, and social memory of

communities in disasters. Similarly, the said tools look into the different

ways by which the community and other stakeholders (i.e. Barangay

Officals, Municipal/City Government, nongovernment organizations, faith-

based organizations, and the international community among others) respond

to the risk that the community had experienced and are currently facing. The

objectives of and data, which can be generated from the tools, are shown in

Appendix 2.

2) After the assessment phase, the drafting of the Barangay DRRM Plan can

now proceed. In hindsight, the outputs in carrying out the abovementioned

tools are the sound bases for Barangay DRRM planning.

3) Once the draft Barangay DRRM Plan is available, it is important to

undertake an actual validation and testing of the plan through simulation

drills. For instance, the system and mechanism for early warning

communicatin, disaster response, evacuation and other components of the

draft plan should be tested and simulated to assess its feasibility. This is also

an opportunity to gather insights and reflections from the larger community,

175 particularly those who were not involved in the planning process. The inputs

from the simulation and validation will further strengthen the plan.

4) After the draft plan has been simulated, it can now be finalized.

Subsequently, the plan can be implemented in the community.

5) The developed local level plans, which take into consideration the recovered

local knowledge and social memory of the communities are substantial input

to the municipal/city, national, and global planning on DRRM.

Situations and vulnerabilities change over time, as a result, there is a need to update the existing plans. The Barangay DRRM Plan should also be regularly updated. A certain local government unit can develop a year, two-year, and/or three- year Barangay DRRM Plan. Whichever track the local government unit chooses, it is imperative to better and improve the existing plan. Corollary to this, in the proposed integration model, there is always a need to assess and refer to social memory and local knowledge of communities. As mentioned earlier, social memory on disaster are event specific. That said, people learn every after disaster. The learning can improve the exisiting plan. In the same way, the local knowledge in

DRRM should always be considered even in the improvement of the existing plan because they reflect how the community perceive and respond to the risk they are facing.

Finally, one of the implications of the proposed integration model is that global solutions to the disaster risk are local. This entails that instead of being repositories of international frameworks and policies, communities and their local

176 level practices can serve as a model that will improve, strengthen, and be fed into international policies and framework on disaster risk reduction and management.

177 Chapter 9

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

9.1 Conclusions

Over the years, the Philippines has witnessed both small- and large-scale disasters that had tremendously affected lives, infrastructure, livelihood, and environment, especially of those living in high-risk areas. Accordingly, disasters are becoming the new normal and one of the key defining development issues of our time.

The way disasters are understood has evolved over the decades. The dominant mindset views disasters as a function of hazard, that is that they result from natural geophysical, climatological or biological activities. However, over the last thirty years, social scientists and scholars have argued for the need to factor in the concepts of vulnerability (i.e. unfavourable the social conditions) in understanding why disasters occur. Likewise, the same scholars advocate capitalizing on local capacities (i.e.community resources and inherent strengths) in lessening the impact of calamities. Without a doubt, a disaster is likely to happen to a community that is vulnerable to hazards such as the riverfront dwellers of

Calumpit and Hagonoy. On the other hand, the risk could be reduced if a community is capacitated. More importantly, in order to understand what makes communities both vulnerable and resilient to disasters, there is a need to extensively examine why these communities respond to disasters the way they do. Thus, a communitiy’s social memory on how they coped with disasters over time as embodied in their local

178 knowledge on DRRM should be taken into consideration in the formulation of policy.

The following are the conclusions of the study were drawn from the narratives of the participants and reflections of the researcher:

First, the riverfront dwellers of Angat watershed and river basin region have a rich social memory of the disaster events that had occured in their respective communities. For instance, they have have recovered their memory on the Great

Flood of 1972 as a result of Typhoon Edeng, Typhoon Ondoy (2009), Typhoon

Pedring (2011), and Habagat (2012). Since then, they have learned from these calamities that hit their localities. More pointedly, learning is evident in the following:

. Riverfront dwellers view that disaster preparedness (i.e. knowing what to

do before, during, and after disasters) is important to ensure their safety

in times of calamities;

. Riverfront dwellers learned the significance of early warning

communication as well as following orders from community and

municipality officials to evacuate if necessary to effectively reduce the

damage;

. Riverfront dwellers learned the value of stewardship and caring for the

environment. They have memory of the impact to them and their

community of having no proper solid waste management system. As a

result, they initiated Angat River clean up activities and repairing their

179 drainage canals. The communities have also developed waste

management mechanism in their respective localities.

Second, as a result of their social memory of the significant disaster events that happened in their communities, the riverfront dwellers have developed local knowledge in relation to disaster risk reduction and management. The said local knowledge influence the way people perceive and respond to the risk they are facing. The local knowledge or the so-called capacities that they developed overtime are:

. For anticipate or local knowledge related to people’s identification and

monitoring of environmental indicators, the riverfront dwellers take into

consideration the behaviors of animals (ants, dogs, cockroaches, birds,

and earthworms) and celestial bodies (clouds, sun, stars, thunder and

lightning) to forewarn them of the weather conditions and if a typhoon is

coming. From the observations, they will then take action. As riverfront

dwellers who mainly rely on the river for their livelihood, the animal

behaviors and celestial bodies observation are important as they indicate

if they will pursue fishing and/or there is enough fish in the river.

. For adjust or local knowledge related to people’s access to assets, the

riverfront dwellers have coped and adapted by improving and enhancing

their responses and preparedness to disaster. More pointedly, the people

have developed means of coping and adaptation such as elevating houses,

bringing house equipment to a higher place, and preparing survival/first

aid kits, foods, clothes, and important documents among others.

180 . For communication or local knowledge to people’s ability to transfer

knowledge among them and between generation, the riverfront dwellers

have developed communication strategies to inform people about

impending disasters. Early warning communication devices such as

radios and flood markers have been installed. Although the said

equipment are foreign to the community, they have used them taking into

consideration their own community context (i.e. which areas the flood

markers should be installed based on memory of previous disaster

events). In the same way, storytelling is also being used to transfer

knowledge on previous disaster events from the generation who actually

experienced them to the generation now.

Third, the extent of the disaster impacts had led to the development and formulation of Municipal and Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

Plans and hazard-specific Contingency Plan. There is an acknowledgment from the

Municipal and Barangay Officials that the plans were produced as a response to their memory of previous disaster events, particularly the most recent flooding the inundated the municipalities of Calumpit and Hagonoy: Typhoon Ondoy (2009),

Typhoon Pedring (2011), and Habagat (2012). The plans and the corresponding

DRRM committees in each community were established officially in 2013 onwards.

Fourth, in connection to the third, it is argued that the social memory and learning from the previous disaster events, particularly the most recent ones (i.e.

Typhoon Ondoy in 2009, Typhoon Pedring in 2011, and Habagat in 2012), have

181 been integrated in the current Municipal and Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and

Management Plans and hazard-specific Contingency Plan.

Fifth, it is likewise concluded that local knowledge in disaster risk reduction that the riverfront dwellers have developed overtime have been integrated in the community responses and Barangay Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

Plan/hazard-specific Contingency Plan. This is evident particularly the local knowledge pertaining to adjusting and communicating disasters. On the other hand, the local knowledge in relation to anticipating using animal and celestial bodies observations are not pronounced in the existing plans. However, the local knowledge in anticipating disasters is practiced at the individual level. The following are the evidences how local knowledge of riverfront dwellers have been integrated in the plas:

. For adjust or local knowledge related to people’s access to assets, the

Barangay have coped and adapted by improving and enhancing its

responses and preparedness to disaster. More specificially, it is apparent

in elevating barangay properties (halls), incorporating community

preparedness activities in the plans such as simulation drills and disaster

preparedness trainings, procurement of materials (life vest, motor boats,

rescue equipment, medicines, mats, and relief items among other),

drainage and road improvement.

. For communication or local knowledge to people’s ability to transfer

knowledge among them and between generation, the Barangay Officials

182 have set up early warning devices (i.e. flood markers, tarpaulins,

signages) and carried out information dissemination campaigns.

In the same way, the Barangay Councils had set up mechanisms and structures that will be activated in times of emergency. Also, they had delineated clearly the roles and responsibilities of Barangay officials when disaster strikes

Finally, returning to the research’s main objective, the study on the Angat watershed and river basin region provides a compelling case for the advantages of integrating both local knowledge and social memory in local-level plans and responses to disasters. This is corroborated by the findings from Calumpit and

Hagonoy in three specific ways:

. the recovery of local knowledge and social memory brought to the fore

the inherent capacities of the communities at the heart of local-level

public policy;

. the recovery of local knowledge and social memory and its integration to

disaster risk reduction and management policy gave the community a

sense of ownership of the policy imbuing it with more clout; and,

. the recovery of local knowledge and social memory made the policy

context-specific which better suited the needs, situation, vulnerability,

and strengths of the community.

183 9.2 Recommendations

The following are the recommendations for future research based on the findings of the study:

First, local practices and capacities are inspiring global solutions to the dilemma of environmental disasters. The municipalities of Calumpit and Hagonoy are only two of the high-risk areas in the Angat watershed and river basin region.

There are still a lot of other municipalities and communities around it. Also, being archipelagic in nature, the country has been blessed with major river basins, which include: Basin, Mindanao River Basin, Agusin River Basin,

Pampanga River, Basin, Agno River Basin, -Laguna River Basin,

Bicol River Basin, Abulug River Basin, Saug-Libuganon River Basin, Ilog-

Hilabangan River Basin, River Basin, Basin,

Basin, Basin, Cagayan de Oro River Basin, Basin, and

Buayan-Malungon River Basin. Only the Angat River Basin had been highlighted in this study. That said, the ground is fertile to further document social memory and local knowledge in disaster risk reduction in other river basins in the country.

Needless to say, there is still a wealth of social memory and local knowledge as well as good practices on risk reduction in the river basin regions of the country that remains unrecovered. If this remains to be the case, the social memory and local knowledge will be forgotten and will flow together with the water current.

Second, at the level of public policy, the research and its findings demonstrate that substantial and comprehensive research on social memory and local knowledge is extremetly important. The social memory and local knowledge are

184 reflections of what influences perception and response to disasters. That said, they reflect the culture of a particular group of people. The study of social memory and local knowledge is indispensable because these knowledge serves as a significant foundation to public policy in disaster risk reduction and management. It is important to bear in mind that public policies, like modern technology, no matter how brilliantly crafted are, if not embraced and owned by the people they are supposed to protect are useless.

Finally, the study and its findings open up research opportunities on integrating local knowledge and the scientific knowledge (as understood by the physical scientists and policy makers) in public policy. It cannot be doubted that the scientific knowledge predominantly informs DRRM policies in the Philippines.

Because of this, local knowledge is often discounted and is almost never integrated in public policy. The research and its findings offer a window to merge, marry, and melt the two forms of knowledge for it is the case that the local knowledge aids in making its scientific counterpart more context and culture-specific.

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194 APPENDIX 1: Respondents in the Study

Name Gender Age Barangay Years of stay Place of origin if from other in the House area Arturo Magtalas (Barangay Captain) M 57 Caniogan 57

Norberto G. Candelaria (Barangay M 52 Caniogan 52 Kagawad) Moises Manalo Villena M 49 Caniogan 49

Asuncion De Leon F 66 Caniogan 57 Kapitana

Florentina Reyes Espiritu F 69 Caniogan Hagonoy

Adriano Feliciano M 65 Caniogan 65

Herardo Gregorio M 50 Caniogan 50

Cherryl C. Manio F 36 Caniogan 36

Mercedita Mano

Romeo M. Talucud (Barangay Captain) M 61 Corazon 61

Dennis Adriano Gripol (Barangay M 50 Corazon 50 Kagawad) Mar Angelo Villalobos (Barangay M 34 Corazon 17 Kagawad)

195 Name Gender Age Barangay Years of stay Place of origin if from other in the House area Amado Deo Gracias M 48 Corazon 30 Meycauayan

Levita Deo Gracias F 68 Corazon 46 Gatbuka

Evangeline Peralta F 52 Corazon 52

Jojo Roque M 34 Corazon 14 Meycauayan

Violeta Sungha F 49 Corazon 24 Leyte

Mario C. Tranquillo M 46 Corazon 24 Bicol

Teresita Tranquillo F 59 Corazon 59

Ramil Santiago M 45 Sapang Bayan 45

Luis Galang M 38 Sapang Bayan 38

Milagros Robles F 59 Sapang Bayan 33 Bulusan

Helen Castillo F 45 Sapang Bayan 45

Herminia del Rosario F 48 Sapang Bayan 48

Racquel del Rosario F 29 Sapang Bayan 11 Gatdula

196 Name Gender Age Barangay Years of stay Place of origin if from other in the House area Belinda Cruz-Galang F 30 Sapang Bayan 11 Gatudula

Cristina Galang F 32 Sapang Bayan 32

Edgardo Lucas M 47 Sapang Bayan 47

Vivian Galang F 40 Sapang Bayan 40

Rolando Tolentino (Barangay Captain) M 44 San Miguel 44

Elisa Quiton (Barangay Kagawad) F 46 San Miguel 20+ Brgy. San Miguel,

Lamberto Lopez (Barangay Kagawad) M 54 San Miguel 54

Josephine Atenta F 40 San Miguel 10+ Brgy. San Miguel,

Herminia Anicete F 52 San Miguel 27 Pasig City

Fabiano Anicete M 53 San Miguel 33 Brgy. San Isidro, San Miguel

Levy Felipe F 56 San Miguel 22 Mandaluyong

Elena Balatbat F 57 San Miguel 30 Rizal

Rosario Alejo F 50 San Miguel 50

197 Name Gender Age Barangay Years of stay Place of origin if from other in the House area Jolita Lugue F 44 San Miguel 20+ Brgy. San Miguel, Hagonoy

Severino Carpio (Barangay Captain) M 50 Tampok 50

Imelda Manansala (Barangay Clerk) F 47 Tampok 47

Val Perez (Barangay Secretary) M 47 Tampok 22 Calumpit, Bulacan

Rogelio del Rosario (Barangay M 50 Tampok 50 Kagawad) Len Marie Manansala F 36 Tampok 12 Brgy. Tampok, Hagonoy

Arnel Crisostomo M 51 Tampok 51

Feliz Balatbat M 58 Tampok 58

Rogelio Carpio M 58 Tampok 58

Engracia Crisostomo F 53 Tampok 20+ Brgy. San Miguel, Hagonoy

Anecito Alipio M 69 Tampok 1985 Manila

Leopoldo Medina (Barangay Captain) M 60 Sta. Monica 60 City

Ernesto del Rosario (Barangay 38 Sta. Monica 35 Secretary)

198 Name Gender Age Barangay Years of stay Place of origin if from other in the House area Eduardo Pagtalunan (Barangay Clerk) M 53 Sta. Monica 53

Ronaldo Nunez (Barangay Kagawad) M 40 Sta. Monica 40

Ildefonso Villanueva M 58 Sta. Monica 58

Bienvenido Villanueva M 56 Sta. Monica 56

Eduardo Francisco M 48 Sta. Monica 48

Nilo Clemente M 45 Sta. Monica 45

Ronaldo del Rosario M 34 Sta. Monica 34

Jojo Tomas M (DRRM and CCA Consultant) MDRRMC Calumpit

Rosalie Graida F MDRRMC Calumpit

Robert M MDRRMC Calumpit

Rodolfo Manumbas M Municipal Administrator – Calumpit

Gia Santiago F MDRRMC Hagonoy

Edgardo Montases M MDRRMC Hagonoy

199 APPENDIX 2: Community Risk Assessment Tools

Data to be generated Tool Objective Actors H Hazard C V Frequency Disaster timeline To learn what are the significant disaster events that occur in the barangay X X X X To identify the impacts and lessons learnt from the disaster events Hazard and To identify areas at risk from specific hazards and the resource mapping vulnerable members of the barangay X X X X To identify available resources that could be used by the barangay people in disaster risk reduction and management Hazard To identify and understand the nature and behavior of hazards assessment affecting the barangay X X X matrix Seasonal calendar To learn about hazards, disasters, weather, livelihood, health condition , seasonal events and other relevant activities X X X X X throughout the annual cycle Elements at risk To assess how many people within the community are at risk X X X from different hazards Social Venn To describe various organizations which operate in the Diagram barangay X X To identify the organizations that can potentially help advance or hinder the development of the barangay in terms of DRRM Health, livelihood To identify the positive and negative characteristics, practices X X X

200 Data to be generated Tool Objective Actors H Hazard C V Frequency and attitude and beliefs/norms of the people in the barangay before, during matrix and after a disaster Evacuation To learn the process of evacuation that people in the barangay matrix do in times of disaster events

X X X X

To identify challenges and issues that need to be addressed to facilitate proper and timely evacuation DRRM To lay down the existing DRRM activities of the families, experiences and Barangay Council/ BDRRMC, NGOs and Municipal coping strategies Government/ MDRRMC X X X X X

To identify if there are present activities which are geared toward adaptation Before, Now, and To describe the image of the barangay in the past in terms of tomorrow the environment, landscape and resources

To identify the changes in the environment, landscape and resources that have affected the barangay over time because of X X X disasters and human activities

To illustrate the people's vision of their barangay in the future

201