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From drought to floods: Filipino farmers face another crop disaster as typhoons swamp fields
The Philippine weather agency said the country may get only a brief respite from torrential rains battering the country in the past 10 days as four weather systems remain active in Western Pacific
- PUBLISHED: Tue 11 Aug 2026, 11:23 AM
Filipino corn farmer Domingo Balisi prayed for rain last July to save his failing second cropping. His first cropping earlier this year failed due to insufficient rains. He was unable to pay the landowner and recoup his expenses.
August finally brought heavy clouds as the Philippines’ monsoon and typhoon seasons began. As his thirsty corn drank in the first rains and the once-wilting leaves began to turn deep green, Domingo thought he was spared from another financial ruin.
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But the rains that came poured heavily over the last 10 days as typhoons Luis and Maymay came in close succession. They drenched the parched soil too much and started to swell the Cagayan River, which may soon breach its banks and inundate Domingo’s farm. He prayed for the rains to stop.
He would have to pray harder, it seems.
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The Philippine weather agency has reported that the country may only enjoy a brief respite from torrential rains battering the country in the past 10 days. As of Tuesday, August 11, there remain four active weather systems in the Western Pacific, including Tropical Storm Dolphin that slammed into southeastern China over the weekend.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said three more weather systems are influencing the movement of the southwest monsoon over much of the country. These are Tropical Storm Chan-hom east of Japan, Tropical Storm Peilou, and Tropical Depression 15W active far out in the open Pacific Ocean.
All are actively pulling monsoon clouds from mainland Indochina towards the Philippines, causing ongoing thunderstorms over areas that are already over-saturated by days of heavy rains.
Wet soil conditions
PAGASA said majority of the Philippines have wet soil conditions that could use some respite from the rains. Many of them are even flooded.
Aside from Domingo’s Isabela Province, the following regions have soggy soil: Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Central Luzon, National Capital Region, Calabarzon, Mimaropa, majority of Panay Island, parts of Eastern Visayas, Negros Occidental Province and majority of Mindanao Island.
Several Luzon dams have also either overflowed or have preemptively released water in anticipation for more rains as the three Pacific tropical weather systems travel nearer the country.
Impact on overseas Filipinos
There are no specific data on how many of the two million overseas Filipinos in the Middle East come from farming families. Statistics firm Grant Thornton-Philippines, however, said that the number could be roughly estimated from which highly-agricultural regions the migrant workers are originally from.
A massive portion of Middle East-bound Filipino workers originate from highly agricultural regions outside Metro Manila, such as Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Ilocos, and Western Visayas, various academic research show. Their remittances help fund their family’s cropping season.
“Because roughly 20 per cent of the entire Philippine workforce relies on agriculture, and poverty rates are disproportionately high among rural farmers, academic studies generally conclude that a very substantial—though unmeasured—percentage of rural-origin OFWs are trying to support underfunded family farms back home,” Grant Thornton’s Ben Punongbayan wrote in March this year.