In Luzon areas, heat forcing habits to change

CABANATUAN CITY—It’s sizzling hot in this Nueva Ecija city these days but the worst is yet to come, a weather bureau official said.

Dominador Campo, chief meteorological officer of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) in Cabanatuan, said the sky is clear and no rain is expected soon.

“The temperature may soar higher than the 38 degrees Celsius recorded on Tuesday (April 17),” Campo said, referring to the second highest temperature recorded in the country this year. “It’s high temperature that’s obtaining here and the sky’s clear.”

The city experienced its last rainfall on April 3, he said.

Campo said Tuesday’s temperature here was not only highest in the Philippines that day but in 15 selected Asian cities. The second highest was the 37 degrees Celsius recorded in Rangoon, Myanmar.

If it was any consolation, he said, Rangoon’s temperature shot up to 39 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, while this city’s temperature was 36.7 degrees Celsius.

The reading on April 19 here was 36.8 degrees Celsius but many residents have started complaining and finding ways to beat the heat. “I just drink cold water,” said Apolinario Tiquia, 32, a resident of San Juan Accfa here.

Mall destination

Guards at the NE Pacific Mall and Robinsons Mall here said more people were going to their establishments as the temperature soared.

“It’s cool here because of air-conditioning, unlike outside when it is as hot as an oven,” one of the guards, who asked not to be identified, said.

But swimming to beat the heat proved fatal to Mark Angelo Borja, 11, a resident of Kalikid Norte in Cabanatuan.

Merlina Borja, 32, said her son went for a swim with three friends in a ditch inside a subdivision that is being built in their village and drowned on April 16. The city recorded its second highest temperature reading, 37.2 degrees Celsius, that day. The young Borja’s body was recovered on Tuesday morning.

Cabanatuan City holds the highest temperature reading in the country since 2002. On May 11, 2002, the temperature reading here was 40.4 degrees Celsius. This reading was close to beating the highest temperature in the country, which was 42.2 degrees Celsius on Aug. 19, 1912, and on May 11, 1969, both recorded in Tuguegarao City in Cagayan.

“The temperature in this city in May may surpass the highest recorded temperature here last year, which was 39.2 degrees Celsius,” Campo said, referring to the hottest day in Cabanatuan on May 3 last year.

“It rained on April 18 and 19 last year. But now, it’s almost end of April and there’s no rain. This could be a factor why we are experiencing higher temperature here,” Campo said. He asked residents to wear hats or use umbrellas when they’re outside, or to just stay indoors.

Only in the city

Campo said Pagasa’s temperature reading covers only the city limits or an area of about 5 to 7 km radius. The reading could be higher in other areas in Nueva Ecija but Pagasa has no capability or equipment to monitor temperature outside this city, he said.

Farmers who just harvested their palay, however, enjoyed the intense heat and sunshine. “It’s faster to dry the palay,” said Wilfredo Bernardo, a farmer from the Science City of Muñoz.

Rafael Otic, provincial environment and natural resources officer, said the high temperature could be harmful, however, to fruit-bearing and forest trees planted in 1,204 hectares under the National Greening Program (NGP) last year.

Otic said personnel of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources had been conducting fire protection activities, such as clearing and fire line construction, to prevent fire from spreading to plantation areas.

Members of groups who planted trees anywhere within the NGP project areas, the biggest of which is in the mountain ranges of General Tinio town and in the Fort Magsaysay  military reservation, should also take extra measures to protect the trees from fire.

In Tuguegarao City, the rising temperature in Cagayan Valley in the past days drew complaints from many residents, who were forced to find ways to beat the heat.

Heat options

Employees in government offices now prefer to stay inside their air-conditioned offices, while several residents linger in air-conditioned establishments like restaurants, banks and grocery stores.

Fast-food outlet employee Reijohn Tumaliuan said he noticed that patrons were spending more time inside air-conditioned restaurants near the city market.

“Many of them are women who come from the market, with one or two children in tow, staying inside longer than usual. Some of them even take a nap while seated at a table,” he said.

Marjon Macababbad, 34, said he and other fellow farmers in Barangay Linao North had been taking more dips at the Pinacanauan River to cool down, wary of the risks of heat stroke.

“Even my carabao seems to have felt the severe heat because, at one point, it stopped working and went straight into a mud puddle and stayed there,” he said.

Business was brisk for halo-halo vendors, like a woman who only wanted to be identified as Violy. She runs a makeshift stall near the Cagayan police headquarters in Barangay Centro 5.

“At times like these, I no longer need to be calling out for customers because the moment people see my stall, they would likely come and buy a glass of halo-halo,” she said. With reports from Armand Galang, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Melvin Gascon, Inquirer Northern Luzon