BALER, Aurora, Philippines -- The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has started the bidding process for the upgrade of radars and purchase of equipment to improve the weather bureau's forecasting in the country.

Dr. Prisco Nilo, Pagasa director, said of the five radars laid out in the archipelago, the one in this town would be converted into a Doppler radar.

On top of processing electronic signals and relaying images that conventional radars do, a Doppler radar can also estimate wind speed and direction.

Nilo placed the cost of the upgrade at around P13 million.

The radar installed in Baguio City would also be upgraded, he said. Those in Aparri (Cagayan), Catanduanes and Guiuan (Eastern Samar) would be phased out and would be replaced by modern equipment, he added.

Nilo, who attended a disaster management workshop here on Tuesday, said the Japan International Cooperation Agency has started bids for the equipment's purchase in Japan in December. Pagasa has been targeting to install at least one of them by 2009, he said.

Biddings have been ongoing for the procurement of radars for the Subic and Tagaytay stations following President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's order to release P150 million for them, he said.

Those sites can pick up signals for typhoons that come through the South China Sea, located in the country's western border.

A radar would be installed in Cebu using an P80-million budget also ordered released by Arroyo. Two more are eyed for Surigao del Sur and South Cotabato in Mindanao.

"All should be operational by 2010. There's more hope in Pagasa, of course," he said.

To those who have been doubting the agency's weather forecasts, Nilo said: "What we do is scientific forecasting. The data are drawn through our equipment. We analyze the impact based on mathematical models. We give predictions on a 24-hour, 48-hour bases or more."

"The information we give is not a prophecy. It will always be a forecast," he said.

Pagasa, he said, has been giving updates every six hours.

"We target to give per hour to per three-hour updates. But we need to be automated to do that. It takes time to collect and transmit data. [The conventional radars] slow us down significantly," Nilo said.

On top of the technology factor, weather also acts differently in the Philippines.

"What people don't know is that our country has an erratic weather system. In cold countries, their weather behave in a highly predictable way, having only cold and warm fronts," he said.

In the Philippines, forecasters deal with the southwest (habagat) and northeast (amihan) monsoons. Tropical cyclones and thunderstorms come as well, according to Prisco.

"No matter what equipment we have, it is necessary [for people] to be constantly tracking the weather because the system is not well behaved," Nilo said.