Hagonoy Municipality After the Flood > Chocolate Around the World ...

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SOCIAL WELFARE COMMITTEE
Hagonoy Municipality after the flood
As the NewsFlash shared with you in the last edition,
the Social Welfare Committee had an emergency
donation of 20,000 pesos worth in food to Hagonoy
Municipality, which was affected in last October's
typhoon. On Tuesday, 29th November, Colin
Campbell, chairperson for the SWC, went up to
Hagonoy to meet with Mayor Angel Cruz. The ADBSA
News Flash was there to cover the story.
Puso, the mini mall that served as a shelter
Hagonoy (Filipino: Bayan ng Hagonoy) is a first class
urban municipality situated at the southwest corner of
Organigram, of the distribution
the province of Bulacan. According to the 2007 NSO
census, it has a population of 126,329 inhabitants
distributed in 25,900 households. With its abundant
water resources and the coastal nature of the town,
the majority of the population is dependent on the
fishing industry. Hagonoy has 7,837.65 hectares
devoted to fish farming or about three-fourths of its
total land area. It is home to about 1,423 fishpond
operators and 55 registered consignations – a venue
for trading aquaculture products. The town offers a
variety of harvest which includes prawns, shrimps,
milkfish, tilapia, crabs, mussels and oysters. Even the
municipal government has its own fishpond locally
known as "Propyus", situated in Pugad and Tibaguin,
two coastal barangays of Hagonoy along the coast of
Manila Bay. The coastal barrios work virtually 24 hours
a day/7 days a week, as fishermen go out to the sea at
The Mayor showing the level of water during
the flood
night for hours.
Also, because of its coastal nature, the town is prone
to periodic tidal surges from Manila Bay and to flooding
from the riverside courses that have been rendered
shallow by accelerated siltation. The town also serves
as catch basin from the almost annual overspill of
Pampanga and Angat rivers due to excessive rainfall
during typhoon season. This flood normally occurs
every two to three years. Major Angel Cruz has lived in
this zone for 15 years and has experienced six floods.
But, even if they cause some damage, the population
is somehow prepared for those floods that, according
to the Major, never rise above one inch of water.
Several factors aggravated the situation during the last
typhoon: the flooding of the sea at the same time of the
storm and also the flooding of Pampanga River.
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