SAN MARCELINO, Zambales-President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. dropped by at the lahar-stricken village of Sta. Fe here on Wednesday, September 2, buoying residents’ hope for continuous government assistance on their fourth week of isolation due to lahar and mudflows that inundated the barangay.
Marcos flew into Zambales after conducting an aerial inspection of flood-hit areas in Tarlac with Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon.
The President was joined by Dizon, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian, Education Secretary Sonny Angara, Governor Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., Zambales congressional representatives Jay Khonghun and Doris Maniquiz, and San Marcelino Mayor Elvis Soria.
Meanwhile, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) ordered the immediate inspection of every national bridge in the country, directing engineers to impose traffic restrictions or carry out emergency works on any span found at risk of failing under the continuous rains of the southwest monsoon.
The directive, contained in a memorandum dated September 1, 2026 and signed by Secretary Dizon, was issued to all regional directors and district engineers days after two bridges in Tarlac City gave way to swollen river currents.
Field offices were told to prioritize structures showing significant scouring, exposed or undermined foundations, affected abutments, and ‘other signs of distress that may compromise structural stability or lead to possible collapse,’ according to the memorandum.
District engineers were also instructed to undertake ‘immediate and appropriate measures on bridges found to be at risk,’ including traffic restrictions, emergency protection works, repairs and other interventions ‘as may be warranted, to ensure public safety and prevent further deterioration or damage.’
Results must be submitted electronically within 15 days of issuance-or by September 16-through a centralized link, using a prescribed template the order lands amid one of the most damaging monsoon seasons in recent years. A portion of the Aquino Bridge in Tarlac City collapsed on August 28, followed the next night by the Agana Bridge in Barangay Tibag, prompting the provincial board to place Tarlac under a state of calamity through Resolution No. 416-2026.
The Philippine Coast Guard has recovered the body of one of five people aboard a vehicle that plunged into the Tarlac River when the Agana Bridge partially gave way. As of August 30, the combined effects of successive weather disturbances and the enhanced habagat had left 31 dead, with infrastructure damage estimated at no less than P6 billion and agricultural losses at P2.3 billion. At least 117 cities and towns were under a state of calamity.
Dizon said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. had ordered the agency to restore connectivity in the worst-hit provinces. The DPWH has begun assembling a temporary Bailey bridge at the Agana site.
Isolated in Zambales
In Sta. Fe, Zambales, around 1,000 families were isolated after strong river current from the Sto. Tomas-Marella River swept away the bridge leading to the barangay on August 9. They received family food packs from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) during the President’s Wednesday visit.
The food packs were flown into Sta. Fe from Clark Air Base in Pampanga by the Philippine Air Force the day before.
DSWD Secretary Gatchalian, who arrived in Sta. Fe prior to the President’s visit, assured the community of continuous resupply of food items and other basic needs from the government and said qualified residents may receive financial help under the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) program.
Sta. Fe, located along the Sto. Tomas lahar field, has borne the brunt of lahar and mudflows from the slopes of Mount Pinatubo, which flooded homes, schoolhouses and public facilities in the barangay.
Mayor Soria said the local government unit had to ferry food and other basic items across the swollen river via backhoes before a temporary wooden footbridge was built to access the village.
Gov. Ebdane said the provincial government is coordinating with the DPWH in surveying alternative routes to the isolated community, citing the possibility of connecting Sta. Fe to the neighboring barangay of Omaya in San Narciso town.
As of August 31, at least eight houses in Sta. Fe were damaged beyond repair, while the barangay hall and multipurpose center and the Sta. Fe National High School remained flooded following the lahar onslaught, the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) reported.
Eighteen families in the nearby village of Aglao have also preemptively evacuated on August 28 amid heavy rains and rising river water, the MDRRMO added. With Samuel P. Medenilla