THE Senate will start its deliberations on the bill modernizing the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) once sessions resume in May, Senator Ralph Recto said Saturday.
Recto, chairman of the Senate committee on science and technology, said the bill upgrading Pagasa's equipment, staff pay, research capabilities, and communication reach will be the "best birthday gift on the weather bureau's 150th year."
Pagasa celebrated its 150th anniversary last March 23.
Recto said the "ferocious, fickle, and frequent" storms, which are caused by climate change, call for a strengthened weather agency that will warn and guide the public on how to respond to threats to lives and properties.
"A key component of climate change preparation is a well-equipped weather bureau, manned by highly-competent and well-compensated professionals," Recto said.
Modernization will also address the problem on the working environment and so-called "brain drain" in the national weather bureau, he added.
Recto said the bill will has seven modernization components: equipment and operational techniques, data center, information services, human resources, regional and field weather presence, research and global linkages.
"The idea is to adequately arm the Pagasa so it can give us adequate and up-to-date weather information to help us prepare for and to be protected from typhoons, floods, landslides, storm surges, El Niño, and extreme climatic events," the senator said.
Based on a "preliminary shopping list" Pagasa has submitted to Congress, the cost of immediately needed equipment and buildings is P3.9 billion.
To finance such amount, Recto said the bill will tap both budgetary and "off-budget" sources.
The proposed fund for the modernization will include a portion of the net income of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation to be taken from the 50 percent share of the national government, which in 2013 was P13 billion.
"If we need to get it from gaming revenues, so be it. We need the money so we don't have to roll dice in predicting if it will rain tomorrow," said Recto.
"The P4-billion fund that the Pagasa is initially asking is small compared to P116 billion funded in combined damages to property and infrastructure of four typhoons -- Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009, Yolanda in 2013 and Glenda last year," he added.
Recto said investments in Pagasa dwarf the damages caused by typhoons in the climate change-era when they come in at unexpected places, strengths, and times.
The Philippines ranks as second most disaster-prone country in the world, according to the World Risk Index 2014, a report of the UN University Institute for Environment and Human Security and the German Alliance Development Works.
Recto said the proposed measure will let the Pagasa to effectively market and disseminate information it has generated, even at pinpointed local areas.
Recto said "going local" is the principle that will drive the weather bureau's equipment modernization.
"It is specified in the bill that Pagasa has to expand its regional reach, provincial presence, and field services," he said. Currently, this need is serviced by a string of 10 Doppler radars from Aparri, Cagayan to Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur while five more are being built.
Under the bill, Recto said a new salary scale for Pagasa personnel will be drawn up. The scale will provide a "personal retention incentive," representing a portion of the base pay for meteorologists and forecasters.
Training incentives will also be provided in the form of scholarship grants.
At present, Pagasa has a total of 1,034 staff positions.
For 2015, it has a budget of P3.4 billion, P2.5 billion of which is for capital outlay.
Recto said Pagasa's mandate goes beyond hourly weather bulletins during storms.
"It is not a foul-weather friend. Its inputs are needed in policies and preparedness plans dealing with resources, management, agriculture, transportation, health, tourism, and other sectors," Recto said.
"Planting intentions, holiday plans, construction schedules are weather-dependent. To achieve this, we need a dependable weather service," he added. (Sunnex)