Weathermen plead for new equipment

State weathermen have appealed to the Senate to pass the bill providing for the modernization of the 150-year-old weather bureau before Congress adjourns later this week.

After years in the legislative mill, the measure modernizing the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) finally passed in the House of Representatives in May last year.

Its counterpart bill in the Senate is still up for floor debate.

Philippine Weathermen Employees Association (PWEA) president Ramon Agustin said they were “sincerely grateful for the efforts of the lawmakers to modernize Pagasa” and urged the senators to immediately pass the law.

“Our advocacy to modernize the institution since time immemorial will soon provide fully enhanced services to our countrymen, who will be the ultimate beneficiaries of the bill because this will promote professionalism and foster intense commitment to our noble mandate,” Agustin said.

“Likewise, this will hopefully address the brain drain issue at Pagasa,” he said, referring to the exodus of the bureau’s experienced meteorologists for abroad lured by better pay and opportunities.

The proposed law provides for Pagasa’s modernization over a period of three years with funds coming from the national budget, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), grants and donations.

Aside from upgrading bureau equipment and operational techniques and boosting research, the law would also raise the staff’s base pay, allowances and other benefits.

Sen. Ralph Recto, one of the bill’s sponsors as chair of the committee on science and technology, had urged his colleagues to pass the law in time for the weather bureau’s 150th anniversary. The anniversary, however, came and went on March 23.

Recto said the modernization program would require an initial funding of at least P3.9 billion based on the “preliminary shopping list” of state of the art equipment Pagasa submitted to Congress.–Dona Z. Pazzibugan