Wading in floodwater amid a deluge, a couple in the Philippines tie the knot

The Star

4 days ago

MANILA: Their vows may as well have included 'come hell or high water'.
As large swathes of the Philippine capital of Manila suffered through days of torrential rains and massive flooding, Jade Rick Verdillo and Jamaica Aguilar pressed on with their wedding on Tuesday (July 22) – even if it meant marching down an aisle blanketed in knee-deep floodwater.
The couple were aware that it was the worst time to be getting hitched in church.
For days since Typhoon Wipha made landfall on July 19, the Philippines had been battered by incessant rain that set off floods across metropolitan Manila and ground life to a halt.
But the date had been set, invitations sent out and their guests had sent their RSVPs.
'We just mustered enough courage,' Verdillo told the Associated Press.
He said he and his bride saw the experience as 'just a test'.
They had been together for 10 years and were looking forward to a life together.
'This is just one of the struggles that we would have to overcome,' said Verdillo.
Photos of the wedding at Barasoain church, an hour's drive north of the capital, show Aguilar walking down the aisle, the hem of her floor-length ivory silk gown and wedding train dipping and floating slightly in light-brown floodwater.
Her entourage of ringbearers, flower girls, bridesmaids, groomsmen and maid of honour are also wading in the water, their pants and dresses soaking wet from the knee down.
One photo shows pairs of shoes parked on a pew.
Verdillo and Aquilar are seen sitting and kneeling in front of the altar, surrounded by floodwater, the groom's pants rolled up to his knees.
Jiggo Santos, one of the guests, remarked: 'You see love prevail because, even against weather, storm, rains, floods, the wedding continued. It's an extraordinary wedding.'
The wedding was not the only tale of love and resilience as the Philippines grappled with a torrent of misery brought on by terrible weather.
On July 22, a father in Quezon city, in northern metro Manila, leapt into a raging torrent to save his toddler son who had fallen into a gaping hole from a road under construction.
A video posted on Facebook shows the boy running after his father when he slips and falls into the hole.
Without a moment's hesitation, the father – identified in social media posts only as 'Jay' – turns and goes after his son as fast-moving floodwater and debris pour into the hole.
Bystanders then help to pull the boy and his father out of the water.
On July 23, many of metro Manila's streets remained flooded.
A new storm, meanwhile, had been spotted 105km west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, threatening to dump more rain and set off a new wave of flooding across the archipelago. - The Straits Times/ANN