Why couples in the Philippines keep getting married in flooded churches

It was a scene you’d expect to see at any wedding.

Jamaica Aguilar walked down the aisle, clutching her father’s arm, dressed in a white gown and cathedral-length veil worthy of the baroque-style church she was in.

Except for the fact that she, as well as all her guests, were almost knee-deep in water: the church was completely flooded due to heavy rains brought in by both a seasonal monsoon and a typhoon.

But the couple didn’t let that stop them – saying it was “challenging, but we focused on what’s important”.

The scenes from the Barasoain Church north of the Philippine capital Manila soon went viral on social media and made the rounds as another example of Filipino resilience in the face of calamity.

But amazingly, this wasn’t the first time something like this had occurred. Two years ago, another Filipino couple walked down the flooded aisle of the same church, at the same time of the year. And in 2018, a couple tied the knot at a flooded church in Bulacan province, just north of Manila.

The submerged weddings aren’t just a tale of determination – they are the latest example of a festering flood problem that continues to bring misery to millions, a problem exacerbated by decaying sewage systems, poor urban planning, and extreme weather events that are growing more intense and frequent.

For the 27-year-old bride, the hardest part of the wedding was the night before, when she was deciding whether or not to go ahead with the ceremony.

The wedding planners had warned them that the rains would get worse.

“It was the most critical time for us — should we cancel and reschedule it? It was 50/50 for me — I was considering cancelling,” she told the BBC.

But in the end they decided to press on.

“It was challenging but we focused on what’s really important – our relationship and the people who love us,” 27-year-old groom Jade Rick Verdillo said, adding that they were both “overjoyed” after the ceremony.

One of the first things they did as husband and wife was to take doxycycline pills from their local health centre.

It’s an antibiotic to prevent flood-borne diseases such as leptospirosis, which attacks the liver.

And just hours after the wedding, the still flooded Barasoain church hosted a funeral, where a white casket was placed on stilts at the foot of the altar.

Typhoon Wipha, known locally as Crising, is the third storm the Philippines has seen this year.

The Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to tropical cyclones, due to its location on the Pacific Ocean where such weather systems form.

About 20 tropical cyclones form in that region every year, half of which impact the country directly.

Six people have been reportedly killed since the rains started last weekend, while tens of thousands have been displaced.

And there appears to be no respite from the stormy weather as two more cyclones are predicted to develop or enter the Philippines later this month. Historically, the strongest and deadliest storms hit towards the end of the year, just before Christmas.

The deluge comes days ahead of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s annual State of the Nation Address to Congress next Monday, which will be closely watched for his plans to address the perennial flooding.

During the height of torrential rains earlier this week, Marcos suspended preparations for his speech after photos of government personnel putting up his portraits on Manila lamp posts went viral and stoked anger online.

Critics said government resources should be focused on disaster response, rather than preparations for a political spectacle.

Marcos, who is in Washington to negotiate a trade deal with US President Donald Trump, said he had ensured the preparedness of disaster response agencies before he left the country.

Much of the flooding has been concentrated in Metro Manila, which is home to more than 13 million people.

It is one of the world’s most densely populated mega cities and its rubbish disposal is a major challenge. Uncollected and improperly disposed waste pollutes waterways and clogs drain systems.

The floods are caused by Metro Manila’s “very old” and “inadequate” sewage system, according to Manuel Bonoan, Marcos’ public works minister. It dates back to the early 1900s.

The system is also 70% silted or clogged after over a century of use, Mr Bonoan told news outlet ABS-CBN News.

Dr Mahar Lagmay, a geologist at the University of the Philippines and an expert in disaster response, said on social media that the floods were in part caused by roads built over natural waterways.

Solving the flood problem would need to take into account several factors, including the tides on Manila Bay, potential storm surges, and the possible failure of nearby dams, Dr Lagmay said in an earlier opinion piece.

But Mr Bonoan says a master plan to tackle the floods is being put together with help from the World Bank, adding that Manila has allocated billions of pesos to the problem.

One immediate solution involves repairing 32 water pumping stations in the capital to reduce the strain on the drainage system, he said.

“We have to sit down once and for all, at the soonest possible time, to find a solution,” he said.

The newly wed Mr Verdillo thinks it is a problem that can one day be solved, so couples no longer have to wade through waters to get to the altar.

“We have seas and rivers here in the Philippines, so we have so much water. The government should invest in flood gates, pumping stations and wider canals,” he said.

“Improvements cannot be done in a day, but could be done in years… I’m positive about it, as long as we all focus on the mitigation.”