MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / June 19, 2013) – Philippine youth group Anakbayan has blamed the Aquino administration for the exodus of government meteorologists in the country following the resignation of a senior weather expert Nathaniel Servando.
Servando headed the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration and is reportedly heading to Qatar to work.
Anakbayan said the agency’s ranks has been decimated in the past few years as better-paying jobs abroad have enticed them to leave their posts which have low salaries.
Vencer Crisostomo, national chairperson of Anakbayan, said the low salaries in PAGASA could be traced to the chronically low funding from the government, which in turn reflects the wrong priorities of the current administration.
“You have more than P40 billion for a sham poverty reduction program like the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, yet the government can’t afford to give our weathermen decent salaries,” he said.
Crisostomo compared the entire science and technology sector to social services like education, health, and housing, which have been underfunded every year in favor of expenditures such as that of the military and debt servicing. Under the Aquino administration, another pet project – the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program – has been the recipient of billions of pesos in budgeting.
In addition, Crisostomo pointed out that the lack of funding for PAGASA highlighted the lack of sincerity on the part of government to reduce the disaster risk of Filipinos during typhoons and the rainy season.
“Any disaster preparedness program needs a reliable weather forecasting system. How can we have that when we don’t pay the human element, the forecasters themselves, enough?” he asked.
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