KAPAMPANGANS UNFORTUNATELY live in towns that sit on ancient lakes and swamps: the PINAC DE CANDABA where Candaba, San Luis, San Simon, Baliuag, San Miguel de Mayumu, San Ildefonso, San Rafael and Cabiao are located; the PINAC DE HAGONOY where Apalit, Calumpit, Hagonoy, Pulilan, Plaridel, Malolos and Paombong are found, and where the Angat River joins the Pampanga River via the Bagbag River; and the PINAC DE SAN ANTONIO, located north of Mount Arayat in Nueva Ecija.
These swamps–the Hagonoy Swamp, the Candaba Swamp, and the San Antonio Swamp–are located in a depressed corridor that runs from Nueva Vizcaya all the way down to Manila Bay. It’s called the PAMPANGA RIVER BASIN. It’s where the rivers and streams coming from all directions in Central Luzon collect and become the mighty Pampanga River before exiting to the sea. This monsoon season, the deforested Sierra Madre, Caraballo and Zambales mountains will literally melt into muddy rivers that collect in Central Luzon. Imagine Central Luzon as a sink, and Pampanga as the sinkhole.
The direction of floods is mostly towards Bulacan because the hundred-year-old Arnedo Dike, built on the Pampanga side of the Pampanga River, keeps the overflow water from spreading towards San Fernando and the rest of our province.
But the floods that Kapampangans get are mostly in another place, the GUAGUA RIVER BASIN, a depressed area where all the rivers emanating from Mount Pinatubo collect and form another great river, the Guagua-Pasak River, which also drains into the Manila Bay.
The Abacan River, for example, flows from Angeles to Mexico and is supposed to merge with Pampanga River, but it turns at the last minute towards Sto. Tomas and Minalin towns, which are part of the Guagua River Basin.
The Pasig-Potrero River and the Porac-Gumain River also swerve when they reach a certain point and head towards the Guagua River Basin.
People who see this wide river in downtown Guagua think it’s the Pampanga River but it’s actually the Guagua-Pasak River, which is fed by tributaries such as the Sapang Matulid (from Mexico) which is also known by various names like San Fernando River and Betis River depending on where it passes.
Long ago, Guagua-Pasak River was known as Dalan Bapor, because ships from Manila did pass here on their way to pick up passengers in Mexico and to transport canned goods from a large cannery in Guagua.
During the British Occupation in 1762-64, the Spaniards escaped from Manila to Bacolor through the same Guagua-Pasak River. The British fleets in hot pursuit had to turn back because the townspeople had planted stakes in the river’s Sasmuan section.
In 1899, the Spaniards retreating from Aguinaldo’s Revolutionary Army sought refuge in Macabebe where they boarded ships which took them to Manila via the Guagua-Pasak River.
Today, the Guagua-Pasak River has been connected to Pampanga River by means of a man-made channel that’s supposed to regulate the ebb and flow of floodwater between the two rivers.
While government has spent millions, maybe billions, to dredge the volcanic silt out of the Guagua-Pasak River, it has allowed the fishponds to stay. These fishponds, built and protected by businessmen and politicians, make the river sluggish where it should be rushing to the sea.
Once upon a time, Pampanga was blessed with an intricate web of rivers and canals that efficiently drained all floodwater from the province. We can still trace them by looking at old maps and reading the clues provided by old names of places. For example, there’s a place in Macabebe called Palapawan which means “place where water overflows.” Another village is called “Tacasan” which means a “place where water escapes.” The town’s poblacion is actually a barrio called Sapang Pari, which means “the priest’s creek.” There are many places like these all over Pampanga and Bulacan, which should give the Department of Public Works and Highways a clue on why they are always flooded.
Our ancestors were actually smarter than us because they built their houses on stilts and they avoided the floodplains. Today fools rush in to build subdivisions on old lake beds and one-story bungalows in areas known to always flood.
Of all people living in the archipelago, we Kapampangans should be the wisest and best prepared when it comes to floods because, after all, we are called Kapampangans, “the people from the riverbanks.”