Pagasa cries foul over bad joke on TV

Weathermen at the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) are hurting over a joke made at their expense in a television gag show featuring children.

The Philippine Weathermen Employees Association (PWEA), which represents Pagasa employees, demanded a public apology from the producers of the ABS-CBN comedy show Goin’ Bulilit for inflicting insults on state weathermen and on the weather bureau.

“It did not only damage Pagasa’s reputation but also put public safety at risk as it sends the wrong signal that the agency’s forecasts are not reliable therefore not worth believing,” PWEA president Ramon Agustin said on Monday.

In a segment of the Goin’ Bulilit episode last Nov. 13, the child actors gave their versions of what the acronyms of some government agencies, including Pagasa, stood for.

One child actor said Pagasa stood for “Palaging Guess At ‘Lang Saktong Announcement,” which loosely translates to wild guesses and wrong announcements.

Agustin said among the government agencies mentioned in the segment, the punchline on Pagasa was the most damaging.

“The ‘palaging guess’ line broke the hearts of my fellow weathermen as it implied that weather forecasts are simply wild guesses or a hit-or-miss job,” Agustin said.

He said Pagasa in fact was cited by the Makati Business Club as among the top performing government agencies in 2014 and 2015.