MALAYA
‘The ability of PAGASA to tell us what we can expect from our skies is something that we badly need, living as we do in a typhoon and earthquake belt.’
WHEN so early in his term, the new president fired PAGASA Administrator Prisco Nilo, this was greeted with great relief. We thought that, henceforth, we would have something that is an absolute essential for a country that is situated in a typhoon belt – accurate forecasts. Sadly, that has not been the case.
In fact, I notice that in the last few days of heavy rains, floods and even pocket whirlwinds that took off roofs in Metro Manila and felled trees, there was never any storm signal raised. In the midst of heavy floods and evacuation along the overflowing Marikina River (thanks to Mayor Del De Guzman who was there to direct the activities), PAGASA never once issued a storm bulletin. It was so bad that no government functionay could call off the Friday classes on storm Falcon’s second day.
(The procedure for cancelling classes starts with what storm signal PAGASA raises over the area. There was apparently, we read from PAGASA’s silence lack of a raised storm signal, no storm despite enough rains to flood Metro Manila and winds that ripped roofs off houses. If that was no storm, please someone tell me what that was that created floodwaters that almost swept my car away in a six-hour trip home over just four or so kilometers of flooded streets!)
Do we actually now have a better PAGASA with the removal of just one man – Prisco Nilo — even if the same forecasters that failed us and PNoy in July 2010 are still the same forecasters today and the equipment they are using are still the same antique pieces that PAGASA has been using for the last several decades? Has the forecasting ability of PAGASA improved?
DOST head Mario Montejo, who also supervises the Weather Bureau, is apparently among the President’s favorites. Thus, he will probably not be fired in the short term; nor will PAGASA’s competence improve even slightly. While a Prisco Nilo lost his job when his forecast was a bit off, what will happen to a PAGASA that did not even attempt a forecast or a storm signal even as Metro Manila was suffering one of the worst floods and weather ever?
Yet, the ability of PAGASA to tell us what we can expect from our skies is something that we badly need living as we do in a typhoon and earthquake belt. We badly need weather forecasting skills, something that neither the DOST nor PAGASA seem able to provide at the moment.
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Recently, our president said in a speech at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH):
“Sa totoo lang ho, mayroon kasing mga ibang miyembro ng Gabinete–mga dalawa, tatlo–kada makita ko, kaagad iniisip ko, ‘Ano kayang bad news ang dala-dala nito?’ Pero si Secretary Babes Singson, si [DOST] Secretary Mario Montejo, at marami pang iba; pati na si [Budget] Secretary [Butch] Abad: pag nakikita ko, kadalasan, solusyon ang tangan-tangan. Kaya naman pag humingi ng appointment, mabilis pa sa alas-kuwatro natin ina-approve iyan,.
“Iyong iba ho, ipinipilit ko na lang po na harapin, dahil talagang, kako itong taong ito, talagang penitensya ko na yata sa mundong ito, kaya OK na lang.”
His spokeswoman said that the President was joking. Hopefully, he was. One hopes so, not because of the insult that he delivered to his unnamed Cabinet secretaries who all, by the way, serve at the “pleasure of the President” and who, therefore, have no business staying a day more if he has become a penitencia to PNoy.
What bothers is the picture PNoy projects — that of a president who is so uncurious that he seems not inclined to look closely at problems and prefers to just take at face value any good news his trusted men give him; a president who accepts and approves whatever his people tell him they have done to resolve a situation. This is not reassuring.
A president must be on top of any situation – always. A president will get to the bottom of things, take the trouble to become aware of the problems and whatever else needs his attention. He will make the effort to study, analyze and understand before acting. He will consult with the best available minds (who are all available to him, by the way) before deciding on a course of action for all of us.
Let us hope he was only joking and that he knows that he was joking and that his joke is not a reflection of how he thinks and what he thinks his job as president entails.
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Of course, the one thing going for PNoy which is never going to change is the fact that he will never take money for himself and will never use his position as president for personal gain. That is the given that convinced most of us to elect him as our president.
Hopefully, there are among the friends PNoy trusts one or several who will guide him where he needs guidance and will advise him when he needs wisdom and none who will, despite PNoy’s honesty, transparency and seeming gullibility, take advantage of PNoy’s total trust and confidence to make a little (or huge) money for himself or herself.
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Starting Monday, July 4, 2011, the 28th Asean Senior Amateur Golf Championship will tee off at both the Fonatana and Mimosa Golf Courses in Clark, Mabalacat, Pampanga,
This is a yearly gross and net competition amongst the senior clubs of the Confederation of Amateur Senior Golfers Associations (CASGA) composed of senior clubs from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. Next year the competition will be in Malaysia.
In the Philippines, the senior club that represents is the Federation of Philippine Amateur Senior Golfers, Inc. (FPASGI). Seniors who want to join the CASGA Tournament in 2012 in Malaysia should be members of a golf club that is a member of the FPASGI.
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