It had been a tough couple of weeks for Filipinos, particularly those from Luzon and the Visayas. In all news programs, the features were about floods, floods and even more floods.

I was truly grateful that I am on elevated ground and didn’t have to worry about flooding. But I remembered the late Pilita Corrales who used to live at the other end of the community. She was a pioneer in our place and yet she chose the lowest point in the area — the catch basin.

Her property straddled three streets. One side directly faced a rivulet called Ermitano, which is one of the tributaries of the San Juan River. She used to have a small boat that was used by her household staff whenever they had to run errands during floods.

After “Ondoy” in 2009, Pilita just threw in the towel. She had enough of floods and sold the property to the homeowners’ association. Her former residence is now our clubhouse.

Pilita moved to Jackielou Ville in Paranaque — in one of the still unsold properties of her late husband, Gonzalo Blanco. That was where she breathed her last — on 12 April 2025. She was unhappy there because it was far from her work. Blame those pesky floods that drove her out of her happy place in Quezon City.

Yes — those floods. But flooding is not exactly new to Manila. As early as the Spanish era, Intramuros and Binondo were already getting inundated during the rainy season.

But trust our filmmakers to see flooding as an inspiration for movies. Below are four local films that were based on actual events about flooding in the metropolis and nearby provinces:

28 De Mayo

Boomers will never forget this date: 28 May 1960. Lilibeth Vera-Perez (now Nakpil), whose family owned Sampaguita Pictures, vividly remembers the flooding that day which submerged the Greater Manila Area, today’s Metro Manila.

Heavy rains were being dumped on the city by Typhoon “Lucille” (the weather bureau used the name of American girls then to identify typhoons). Lilibeth was safe at home in their Valencia residence in Quezon City. But it was water world around her.

When she looked out the window of her bedroom on the second floor, the images she saw were like scenes from a disaster movie. First, there was a whole roof made of nipa being carried away by floodwaters.

Next, Lilibeth saw a pregnant woman floating belly up. The poor woman was dead and could no longer be saved.

Not far from the Vera-Perez residence — over at San Juan (then still Rizal) — were the Nebrida sisters. One of them was Baby Nebrida, who later became a FAMAS winner for best screenplay.

Baby’s brother, Vicente “Ting” Nebrida, who was one of the creative minds behind the historical film, Heneral Luna, had this interesting tale to share about his sisters. According to him, the Nebrida girls were just on vacation at a relative’s house in San Juan that time when the 28 de Mayo flood happened. The Nebrida sisters thought that was the end of them.

They prayed fervently to God and vowed to become nuns if they didn’t drown. Although they made it through, no one entered the nunnery. Baby Nebrida though became a rabid Marian devotee and would arrange fluvial processions even in New York.

The New York Times later reported that the 28 de Mayo flooding left 108 dead and 150 missing. That was in 1960 — when the country’s population wasn’t still that big.

After the tragedy that was 28 De Mayo, Lilibeth’s father, the producer Dr. Jose Perez, was inspired to make a movie about the great flood. He gathered Amalia Fuentes, Romeo Vasquez, Rosa Mia, Van de Leon and Bella Flores and cast them in a film called — but what else? — 28 De Mayo. The movie was exhibited at Dalisay Theater from 28 July to 6 August 1960.