Overworked, underpaid

When the sizzling summer heat evaporates, the Pagasa weathermen are put on the hot seat for months on end. In this season of tropical storms, typhoons, low-pressure areas and intertropical convergence zones, they seem both all-powerful and trapped in a no-win situation as the public stays tuned to their every announcement. If they warn of thunderstorms that do not materialize, they are labeled overeager. If they predict sunny days and overnight downpours occur, they are called incompetent. After the memorable damage left by Tropical Storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” and by the recent habagat (southwest monsoon), Pagasa has never been under greater scrutiny, or wielded as much power, as now.

But last month, while the monsoon lingered and storms danced in and out of the Philippine area of responsibility, some 900 Pagasa employees pulled a surprise by holding a lunchtime protest action over money issues. Wearing black armbands, the employees called on the government to release their hazard pay and other allowances under Republic Act 8439, also known as the Magna Carta for Scientists, Engineers, Researchers and other Science and Technology Personnel in Government. The allowances had been stopped since March as a result of new budgetary controls enforced by President Aquino’s administration.

“The continuing hardship is now taking its toll on Pagasa warning services,” said Philippine Weathermen Employees Association president Ramon Agustin during the protest action on Aug. 14. “Many of our personnel, especially those working in the field, are already failing to report for duty because they have no money.”

The protest action introduced to the public such weathermen as forecaster Jori Loiz, who has been with the weather bureau for 16 years and sometimes fails to make it to work because he has run short of the wherewithal to travel from the province of Bulacan to the Pagasa offices in Quezon City. That he makes a relatively piddling P12,000 a month considering the import of his work should give high government officials pause. And then there was also the tragic case of weather observer Alex San Pedro, who died of a stroke in May when he could not afford his medication for diabetes.

Aside from training light on the dark financial plight of weathermen, the protest action also pushed the President—in a surprise move—to personally meet with the Pagasa employees along with Budget Secretary Florencio Abad. At the closed-door meeting, Mr. Aquino also admonished the weathermen to carry on with their duties despite the hardships because the nation needed them in such stormy times.

Since then, the Pagasa employees have been waiting for Mr. Aquino to come through on his promise even as they continued to track “Igme” and “Julian,” only two of the approximately 20 typhoons expected to visit the Philippines this year.

On Aug. 29, they received the news they had been hoping for. The budget department has finally authorized the release of some P39.5 million in the form of Magna Carta benefits that were withheld from the weathermen. At a budget hearing for the Department of Science and Technology—which is directly in charge of Pagasa—lawmakers approved an increase in the salaries of the weathermen and the embedding of the Pagasa benefits in the yearly budget to make sure these are released.

Together with the completion of the P500-million, bleeding-edge-technology Doppler radar in Bato, Catanduanes, in May, the release of the Magna Carta funds and the planned increase in weathermen’s pay are very welcome developments for the overworked, underpaid Pagasa employees. Their ranks already depleted by colleagues who had left for greener pastures in other countries, the meteorologists, forecasters and other employees of the weather bureau play a most crucial role in Philippine affairs. The recent moves by the Aquino administration provide a welcome climate for Pagasa, whose employees, as weatherman Loiz pointed out, have always done their best to do their jobs no matter what. “What we do is really not for the higher-ups, but for ordinary people who stand to suffer if we don’t perform our duties properly,” Loiz said.

Here’s to hopeful, brighter days ahead for Pagasa.