Monday, December 11, 2006 Seares: Weather story By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
WEATHER is usually stuff people talk about when there’s nothing else interesting. Not last weekend in Cebu, when resetting the Asean summit made the weather most gossipy-hot.
Organizers used storm Seniang as “the only reason,” not terrorism threat, for moving the summit to early January.
Seriously? Seriously, said chief organizer Jun Paynor, straight face barely showing he was nettled by a journalist who checked his credentials as weather man.
There are always true weather men to blame. Pag-asa people are mocked (“constantly wrong and yet are they ever fired?”), patronized (“never afraid of being ruined by success”), and insulted (“have more scientific aids than others in guessing wrong”).
But Pag-asa experts can’t be blamed this time. They never regarded Seniang much of a threat to the summit. They even recommended “go” for the big event. Pag-asa didn’t predict the weather that organizers held as excuse.
Prayers
Whose data did Jun Paynor use? Obviously, not the government’s own. Unless organizers took the opposite of the forecast: “Pag-asa sees little threat? Must be huge. North Cebu? It’s central Cebu.”
Look out your window. Are there heavy rains and strong winds? If the sun is out, prayers of a battalion of government publicists aren’t being heard.
Be careful with a damage-control wish: It might not come true.
