Flooded graves, fading traditions: Undas in Hagonoy

MANILA, Philippines — The water reaches past the ankles, swallowing the narrow paths between tombs at the Hagonoy Catholic Cemetery in Bulacan.

Into it, families step carefully in rubber boots, carrying candles and flowers for loved ones they have come to remember.

It is a scene far removed from the Undas gatherings residents once knew — when relatives spread carpets beside graves, shared meals and stayed until dusk. For the past three years, persistent flooding has reshaped that tradition, turning an annual reunion into a difficult journey through floodwaters.

Article continues after this advertisement

Drowned Undas tradition

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

From the City of Malolos, Bulacan, Tefani Esguerra, 58, and her son, John, 32, traveled to the Hagonoy Catholic Cemetery in Barangay San Sebastian, Hagonoy, to visit the graves of five departed family members.

They came wearing boots to protect themselves from the floodwaters.

In an interview with the Inquirer, John said the flooding had disrupted what had long been a peaceful family reunion during Undas.

He recalled how relatives would gather at the cemetery every year, laying out a carpet beside the tombstones, sharing food and stories, and spending the day remembering their departed loved ones.

Article continues after this advertisement

“Parang may reunion—nagkakainan, may dadating na kamag-anak, ganoon po yung nangyayari sa amin. Doon po kami nag-i-stay nang maghapon,” John said.

(It’s like a reunion — we eat, relatives come over, and that’s what happens with us. We stay there all day.)

Article continues after this advertisement

He also remembered a time when the cemetery was crowded with families visiting their deceased relatives.

Vendors moved around the grounds, drawing children who bought treats such as ice cream and iced drops.

John said that when he was a child, he and his cousins would collect leftover candles stuck on tombstones and mold the wax into new ones.

“Nag-iikot-ikot po kami noon. Parang yun na yung bonding naming magpipinsan. Iipunin namin yung kandila,” he recalled.

(We used to go around. That was our way of bonding as cousins. We would collect the candles.)

“Kaya lang, wala na,” John lamented. “Kapag makikita mo ‘yong sitwasyon ngayon talagang, ibang iba na talaga.”

(But that’s gone now. When you see the situation today, it’s really very different.)

Tefani echoed her son’s sentiment.

“Masaya noon, ‘yong maghihiwalay na lang kapag medyo madilim na, kapag mag-uuwian na,” she said.

(It was fun then. We would only part ways when it started getting dark and it was time to go home.)

She said the family had considered transferring the remains of their relatives to another cemetery, but the cost was too high.

For now, they are left with two choices: light candles at home and pray for their departed relatives, or put on boots and wade through the floodwaters to visit their graves.

This year, they chose to wade in.

READ: PAWS Pet Memorial Wall brings comfort to grievers of departed pets

Dying livelihood

The floodwaters have affected more than family traditions.

They have also eroded the livelihood of people who once depended on the steady stream of cemetery visitors during Undas.

Randy Bartolome, 46, told the Inquirer that before the flooding, he earned as much as P20,000 a year painting and cleaning tombs and assisting visitors at the cemetery.

But as the flooding worsened, the number of visitors declined. Some families also transferred their loved ones’ remains to other cemeteries.

His annual earnings from cemetery work had fallen to about P5,000 at most.

The loss of income forced him to seek other work, taking jobs as a construction worker, electrician, carpenter or mason to support his wife and three children.

“Dati sundan mo lang sila (mga bisita), lalo’t kakilala mo, na alam mong suki mo sila, binibigyan ka nila ng pera para pang-maintenance ba. Parang pinaka-maintenance mo sa kanila na sa paglilinis,” Bartolome said.

(Before, you would just follow the visitors, especially those you knew and who were regular customers. They would give you money for maintenance, such as cleaning their loved ones’ graves.)

“Dati, nakokontrata naming mga nitso diyan, marami. Ngayon, wala na. Kasi nag-aalisan na, lumipat na sa iba,” he said.

(Before, we had many contracts to maintain graves there. Now, there are none because people are leaving and transferring elsewhere.)

According to Doi Santos, sacristan mayor of the National Shrine and Parish of St. Anne, which has jurisdiction over the Hagonoy Catholic Cemetery, around 2,000 to 4,000 remains had been buried there since the cemetery was established in the 1700s.

Santos said the cemetery now has only 1,000 to 1,500 tombs because some residents have decided to transfer their relatives’ remains to private memorial parks in Hagonoy or to cemeteries in other towns.

“Ginawan naman namin ng paraan ‘yan. Nilagyan namin ng mga flood walls ‘yong sementeryo, pero mas mataas sa flood walls yung mga naging tubig,” Santos said, adding that efforts to elevate the area were ongoing.

(We tried to address it. We put flood walls around the cemetery, but the water rose higher than the flood walls.)

‘High-level flooding issues’

Santos said conditions at the cemetery had worsened over time, particularly since construction began on the New Manila International Airport reclamation project in Barangay Taliptip, Bulakan, Bulacan.

“Ang Bulakan, Bulacan, ay tinatawag na ‘natural flood control’ ng lalawigan, sapagka’t sinasabi nila na ang lugar na iyon ay parte ng katubigan. So, iyon ay nang tambakan, nang ni-reclamate ay parang bumagal ang pagbaba ng mga baha na galing sa taas. Kaya, malaking epekto ang Bulacan airport na yan,” he said.

(Bulakan, Bulacan, is called the province’s “natural flood control” because they say the area is part of a body of water. When it was filled in and reclaimed, the flow of floodwaters coming from upstream seemed to slow down. That is why the Bulacan airport has had a major impact.)

The Inquirer reached out to San Miguel Corp. for comment but had yet to receive a response as of this writing.

Meanwhile, discussing flood control, Santos recalled the corruption scandal that put Bulacan’s first district in the headlines, specifically involving former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineer Henry Alcantara and former assistant district engineers Brice Ericson Hernandez and Jaypee Mendoza.

READ: Bulacan residents wade through floods to protest flood-control corruption

“Ang panawagan ng simbahan palagi ay maging tapat sa kanilang mga tungkulin. Sana isakatuparan nila yung mga dapat na ibigay sa bawat mamamayan na mga plano, mga proyekto upang ang lahat ay makinabang at hindi na maapektuhan,” Santos said.

(The church’s call is always for them to be faithful to their duties. I hope they carry out the plans and projects intended for the people so that everyone can benefit and no longer be affected.)

The former DPWH officials were sacked in 2025 following revelations that they had pocketed public funds intended for flood-control projects in the district, which includes Hagonoy.

Secretary Vince Dizon, speaking at a news conference before formally turning over the DPWH leadership to Secretary Giovanni Lopez on Tuesday, said the new head of the Bulacan First District Engineering Office was “slowly but surely” fixing flood-control projects recently tagged as “ghost” or “substandard.”

“‘Yong mga tinengga nila, ‘yong mga pinagnanakawan nilang mga proyekto doon, slowly but surely naayos na ni DE Kenneth (Fernando). It’s not there yet. Wala pa siyang isang taon diyan. Pero umaandar na,” Dizon said.

(The projects they left idle, the projects where money was stolen, District Engineer Kenneth [Fernando] has slowly but surely been fixing. It’s not there yet. He hasn’t even been there for a year. But things are moving.)

As residents mark this year’s Undas, the cemetery remains submerged, and the traditions once associated with the observance have become harder to sustain.

For families like the Esguerras, remembering the dead now comes with an added ritual: pulling on a pair of boots and stepping into the water.

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.

They hope that by next year, the floodwaters will have receded and Undas at the Hagonoy Catholic Cemetery can once again be observed the way they remember it — with families gathering beside the graves of their loved ones, sharing stories and staying until dusk.  /dm