Filipino couple marries in a flooded church after refusing to postpone

Leian Lieza Galang and Gilbert Chico married late on the morning of Tuesday, 1 September 2026, inside the flooded Saint John the Baptist Parish church in Hagonoy, Bulacan, north of Manila. Updated: 7 September 2026. Agence France-Presse reported that a priest pronounced the couple husband and wife during an abbreviated ceremony conducted in water reaching as high as the hips of some participants.

The parish had recommended postponing the wedding because water flowing from upstream was still rising, wedding photographer Mikko Rey Alfonso told AFP. The couple decided to continue for personal reasons. Alfonso said the church had already been partly submerged for nearly a month and fewer than 15 people attended.

According to AFP, Galang shortened the train of her white gown so that she could move through the brown water. She and Chico reached the church in a rickshaw with an elevated chassis, while a portable speaker replaced the building’s unusable sound system, the parish told Interaksyon. Photographs showed a young ring bearer wading through water near his waist.

Chico told AFP that the wedding had originally been planned for December. An ankle injury sustained while playing basketball brought him home earlier than expected from his job in the Middle East, and the couple used his visit to hold the ceremony before his return. “Nothing could stop their union,” Alfonso told the agency.

The images are striking, but the flooding extends well beyond one wedding. GMA News reported on 17 August that 5,200 residents affected by southwest-monsoon flooding in Hagonoy received food assistance. One resident told the broadcaster that rain and high tide together had recently pushed water to knee level inside his home. In June, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said Hagonoy floods readily during rain or high tide and acknowledged that lasting repairs would take time, according to GMA News.

Entering floodwater also carries real hazards. The World Health Organization advises people to avoid walking through it because of hidden holes, currents, contaminated wounds and diseases including leptospirosis. No illness or injury connected with the ceremony has been reported by the cited news organisations.

The episode has no identified direct impact on Belgium; for Belgian readers, it is an international human-interest story set against prolonged disruption in a flood-prone Philippine community. Attention now returns to Hagonoy’s residents, local weather warnings and the public works intended to reduce recurring floods.