27/04/2026
Ang init! All throughout the initial weeks of summer, the Philippines has been dominated by consistently high temperatures and humidity. For the Filipino people this provides big challenges, both for lives and lifelihood.
Over the past few years, summer news has regularly become dominated by incidents of mass faintings and heat exhaustion, as well as deaths from heat strokes and other heat-related illnesses.
The heat index, which combines data on temperature and humidity to indicate “feels like” temperature, provides an important tool to warn us of imminent heat-related risks. In humid weather sweat evaporates slower, making it harder to cool down and worsening heat-related risks.
At the same time, the Filipino people face increased risks of devestating fires as well as droughts and other heat-related affects to lifelihood.
The 2026 early onset of the dry season and subsequent drought, together with the oil price crises and related price hikes, have already affected many farmers and there production, particularly the Cagayan Valley region. This has caused the local governments of both Isabela and Cagayan provinces to declare a state of calamity.
According to the Provincial Agriculture Office, almost 50,000 hectares of corn crops are severely affected in Isabela alone and corn farmers could lose up to 80 percent of their harvest. Estimated damages could reach at least ₱2.3 billion this cropping season.
A case study by farmers organization Danggayan Dagiti Manalon ti Cagayan Valley (Danggayan), shows how, in essence, production costs have become unsustainable.
In the previous cropping, even under more favorable rainy conditions, the farmer incurred a P575 deficit, with production costs at P35,000 against income of P34,425.
The current dry season is expected to further widen losses due to higher fuel use amidst rising costs, as weekly irrigation costs alone have increased from P9,975 to P15,400. This is next to rising costs of other farm inputs, such as fertilizer and pesticides.
Poor farmers and farmworkers are the most vulnerable and most affected. Only a few of the big landlords, wealthy farmers and corporate planters can afford to buy their own water pumps for their farms. A resulting cycle of chronic indebtness and rising interest rates push the farmers in the region, and the wider Philippines, to ever greater despair.
Although initially declared over, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) recently raised its warning status from El Niño Watch to El Niño Alert for the period of June-July-August 2026.
El Niño is a phenomenon characterized by fluctuating ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, coupled with changes in the atmosphere. It typically brings with it drier-than-usual conditions, including below-normal rainfall in several areas.
Next to this, is a forecasted Super El Niño from June to December 2026.
These warn us of more droughts and dry spells in parts of the Philippines for the rest of the year. These bring key risks to food security as well the most marginalized sectors of the nation, affecting critical sectors such as water resources, agriculture, energy supply, and overall public welfare.
All of this only further underscores the importance of a comprehensive approach to community development and climate readiness. Next to urgently supporting communities in relief and in building their own preparedness and resilience, it is important to challenge the systematic problems that the most marginalized sectors in society face. From genuine land reform to improved industrializations, a climate-proof future requires a people-centered and extensive change in our society.
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