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BULACAN, Philippines: On the Philippine island of Pugad, street food vendor Maria Tamayo wakes before her grandchildren to begin the backbreaking work of removing seawater from her home scoop by scoop with a plastic dustpan.
The routine has been the same ever since the rising tides of Manila Bay began swallowing the island — a seven-hectare speck of land in danger of sinking completely underwater.
“Scooping water takes a long time. That’s why my feet have started aching,” the 65-year-old said, adding that she can spend up to three hours a day at the task.
“I have to scoop out the water before my grandchildren wake up, or else they’ll slip on the floor. But it’s no use ... there’s still water.”
Tamayo is one of 2,500 people living in Pugad’s only village.
The island is not the only one at risk in coastal Bulacan. Parts of the province are sinking at a rate of almost 11 centimeters (4.3 inches) a year, the fastest in the Philippines, according to a study led by geologist Mahar Lagmay.
The gradual sinking, known as land subsidence, is an “alarming” phenomenon caused by the overextraction of groundwater, and exacerbated by rising sea levels due to global warming, Lagmay said.
“The rates of subsidence (on Pugad Island) are quite high,” he said, adding that while studies specific to the tiny island were lacking, existing data on surrounding areas told the story clearly.

With high tides flooding the streets at least three times a week, the sea already dictates the rhythm of daily life on Pugad.
Class schedules are adjusted daily based on tide charts to prevent children from contracting flood-borne diseases.
Homes have been raised on stilts to keep floors dry, while small business owners use high tables to keep their wares above murky water that can rise to 1.5 meters (five feet) on heavy flooding days.

‘Back to normal’ impossible

Sea levels across the Philippines are already rising three times faster than the global average of 3.6 millimeters per year, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has said this could accelerate to 13 millimeters annually.
“Sea level rise is being experienced in many parts of the country,” DENR geosciences chief Karlo Queano told AFP, warning coastal areas could disappear without large-scale intervention.
While piecemeal efforts are in place in some areas — groundwater extraction has been banned in parts of Bulacan since 2004 — a broad national strategy has yet to take shape.
A government study on the path forward was not expected until 2028, Queano said.
“I think it’s already impossible for our lives in the village to go back to normal because of climate change,” said Pugad village captain Jaime Gregorio.
Gregorio said roads were being raised every three years to keep the community viable, but leadership changes meant the implementation of long-term flood mitigation projects was rarely consistent.
For Tamayo, who has lived on the island her whole life, the constant adjustment to the tide has drained what little money her family has scraped together.
Since 2022, they have been elevating their house each year, adding more gravel and concrete to stay above water, so far spending 200,000 pesos ($3,500).
“I love this island so much, this was where my mom and dad raised me... but sometimes, I think about leaving because of the high tide,” Tamayo told AFP.

Her boatman husband, Rodolfo Tamayo, insists their livelihood depends on staying.
“We can’t go to [other places], we won’t have jobs there. We will go hungry.”
Lagmay, the geologist, said land subsidence could be reversible with effective government policies governing the over-digging of wells.
But addressing the rise of sea levels was impossible without a concerted effort by the world’s highly industrialized countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he said.
A UN climate fund established in 2023 to help countries like the Philippines address damage caused by climate change, meanwhile, remains unimplemented.
“We are talking of climate justice here. We have very little contribution to climate change, but we are very affected by its adverse effects,” said Elenida Basug, the DENR’s climate change service director.
Crouching in the doorway of her flooded home, Tamayo urged the world’s polluters to take responsibility for what she and her neighbors were experiencing.
“We are the ones who are suffering... They are rich, so we cannot do anything. Even if we speak against them, who would listen?” Tamayo said.

NUUK, Greenland: Denmark did not invite the US military to take part in Arctic Light 2025, the largest military exercise in Greenland’s modern history, as NATO allies step up defense cooperation in the Arctic amid US interest in the island.
Denmark’s Arctic commander, Soren Andersen, confirmed that, while US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been invited, no US military units were asked to participate.
“We work together with colleagues on the US Pituffik Space Base, but they were not invited with units for this exercise,” Andersen told Reuters.
The US has previously participated in Denmark-led military exercises in Greenland. A spokesperson at the US Embassy in Copenhagen said that “while we are not participating in this particular exercise, we continue our robust military cooperation with the Kingdom of Denmark and other Arctic allies.”
Independent military analyst Hans Peter Michaelsen told Reuters the exercise has “a strong political signalling” to demonstrate Denmark’s stewardship of Greenland with NATO allies.
“The exercise is basically designed to show the Americans that Denmark looks after Greenland and does so with the help of other major NATO countries,” Michaelsen said.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he seeks US jurisdiction over Greenland. He hasn’t ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich territory.
Denmark and Greenland have said the island is not for sale and condemned reports of the US gathering intelligence there. Last month, Denmark’s foreign minister summoned the top US diplomat in Copenhagen for talks after the main national broadcaster reported that at least three people with connections to Trump had been carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland.

Good ties with US military

Andersen dismissed suggestions that the drill was intended to send a message to Washington. He pointed to good relations with the American military.

“We have worked together with the US for decades, both in exercises and also operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and so on,” Andersen said on Monday. That will continue this week, because Denmark will be taking its fighter jets to the United States’ Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, he added.
“So, we will land up there, and I think the pilots will have a cup of coffee with the base commander there,” Andersen said.

Denmark has ramped up defense investment and military activity in Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory, since US President Donald Trump’s comments about acquiring the strategically located territory and criticism over Denmark’s efforts to defend it.
Ties between Copenhagen and Washington have worsened this year due to Trump’s refusal to rule out taking Greenland by force. Denmark last month summoned the top US diplomat in Copenhagen over reports alleging covert influence operations by US citizens in Greenland.

The US embassy spokesperson said that NATO allies’ efforts to ensure preparedness to defend in the Arctic were welcome.
The US, which maintained 17 bases in Greenland during the Cold War, currently has a permanent presence only at the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland.

Stronger Danish military presence
Denmark is moving to strengthen its military presence around Greenland and in the wider North Atlantic. In late January, the government announced a roughly 14.6 billion-kroner ($2.3 billion) agreement with parties including the governments of Greenland and the Faeroe Islands to “improve capabilities for surveillance and maintaining sovereignty in the region.”
Those will include three new Arctic naval vessels, two additional long-range surveillance drones and satellite capacity.

Arctic Light 2025, running from September 9 to 19, involves more than 550 soldiers, including special forces, from Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden and Norway.

Denmark is deploying the frigate, two helicopters, two F-16s and personnel from all three branches of the armed forces, including special forces. France is sending a naval ship, a tanker aircraft and mountain infantry equipped with drones.

The exercise prepares for potential scenarios involving increased Russian and Chinese activity in the Arctic, Andersen said.

Wariness toward Russia in the Arctic
This year’s Arctic Light is taking place against a backdrop of growing wariness toward Russia in the region.
“I think it’s fair to say that Russia has built up in the Arctic for the last 20 years, and Russia is a regional superpower in the Arctic,” Andersen said.
When the war in Ukraine ends, “I think most of us working in this business ... think that Russia will start building up again other places and use their resources not in Ukraine, but other places in the world,” he said.