Department of Tourism confirms flooding is now an immersive cultural experience

Visit the Philippines. Bring a Raft.

MANILA — The Department of Tourism announced Monday that the annual typhoon season, which runs from June through November and reliably submerges significant portions of the archipelago, will henceforth be marketed to international visitors as the “Surprise Water Festival,” a celebration of the nation’s “dynamic relationship with precipitation.”

Tourism Secretary Lovely Drenchado called it “an honest rebrand.” “We have always had the water,” she said. “Now we are simply charging for the experience.”

The Festival Package

Premium packages include a “floodwater kayak experience” through select Marikina barangays, a guided tour of areas that were dry as recently as Tuesday, and a commemorative umbrella that the DOT promises is “structurally aspirational.”

Budget packages consist of standing outside during a Signal No. 2 warning and taking a photo, which, the DOT notes, tourists have been doing for free for years anyway. “We are simply formalizing the transaction,” Drenchado said.

Community Response

Residents of flood-prone areas expressed complex feelings. “I am glad the government finally sees my neighborhood as a destination,” said Pasig resident Aling Nena, wringing out a mop. “Perhaps now they will fix the drainage.” Officials confirmed the drainage was not part of the festival experience and was being reviewed by a separate committee.

The Department of Tourism confirmed the festival opens June 1 and runs until the typhoons decide otherwise, a scheduling reality it described as “part of the charm.”

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com