SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Governor Lilia “Nanay” Pineda made a direct appeal to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. during his visit here Monday to fast-track long-delayed flood control projects as widespread flooding across the province has affected more than one million residents.

Marcos arrived in Pampanga Monday morning, conducting an aerial survey of submerged areas in Bulacan and Pampanga before proceeding to the Provincial Capitol for an emergency situation briefing with national agencies and local officials.

Pineda emphasized that floodwaters continue to pour in from neighboring provinces — Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Bulacan — compounding the crisis on the ground.

She urged the national government to immediately approve flood mitigation projects proposed by the National Irrigation Administration to address the province’s decades-long flooding crisis.

Pampanga has been under a state of calamity since 12 August. As of 6 a.m. Monday, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council confirmed that 253 barangays across 16 towns and cities remained underwater, affecting 314,945 families or 1,009,257 individuals. Thousands of displaced residents remain in evacuation centers across the province.

Marcos acknowledged the unprecedented scale of the flooding, saying the sheer volume of rainfall, worsened by climate change, had overwhelmed existing flood control infrastructure.

He emphasized that future projects must be built to withstand stronger and more frequent storms.

“This is the heaviest rainfall we have seen in our history — and it is the result of climate change,” the President said. “We need immediate, medium-term, and long-term solutions. Whatever we build now must be designed to withstand the next flood — otherwise, we will keep rebuilding the same thing over and over.”

Key long-term measures discussed included the proposed construction of five Sabo River Dams in Nueva Ecija, intended to slow upstream water flow and reduce siltation, as well as infrastructure projects that could help manage water levels toward Manila Bay.

Earlier, Marcos visited the Bacolor Integrated School Evacuation Center, where he checked on 216 displaced families and personally distributed cash assistance, food packs and hot meals.

Relief efforts continue, with the Department of Social Welfare and Development having released more than P243 million in assistance to affected families, while additional food packs and resources remain on standby across Central Luzon.