MANILA, Philippines?Employees of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) are asking the Aquino government to give them the additional benefits they want or risk losing even more experienced weather forecasters to lucrative jobs abroad.

The Philippine Weathermen Employees Association (PWEA), the Pagasa employees union, said in a statement that the grant of additional benefits for employees should go hand in hand with the government?s avowed intention of improving the state of the weather bureau?s facilities.

PWEA president Ramon Agustin said the immediate granting of allowable benefits to Pagasa personnel may serve as a temporary incentive for the forecasters not to leave.

A recent Inquirer report showed that a total of 24 experienced Pagasa weathermen have left for high-paying jobs abroad in the past 10 years.

Agustin pointed out that the law allows the grant of a hazard pay to government employees, amounting to 30 percent of the monthly basic salary. Pagasa employees, however, only get the equivalent of 15 percent of the monthly salary.

He also noted that for the past three years, their collective negotiation agreement (CNA) grants employees a measly P5,000 signing incentive. In other government agencies, however, employees usually receive an average of P20,000 and higher every year, he said.

?These disparities are factors for personnel to contemplate seeking greener pastures abroad,? he said.

?We only want to get what other agencies get,? he said.

Agustin said the Pagasa management has been supportive of the union?s call for increased employee benefits. However, the management has been hampered by existing guidelines on the granting of immediate benefits, he said.

The Agham party-list group has proposed that Pagasa employees be exempted from the Salary Standardization Law, which would allow the government to grant them higher salaries.

Agham also said a course in meteorology should be established to develop a local pool of weather forecasters.

After Typhoon ?Basyang? swept through Metro Manila last week, President Aquino castigated Pagasa officials for failing to forecast the path of the storm. He asked Pagasa officials to submit a list of the equipment they needed to improve weather forecasting.

Agustin welcomed the calls to modernize the facilities of Pagasa.

?The lack of modern equipment has been partly blamed for perceived inaccurate weather forecasts and warnings,? he said.