'Ambo' exits Phl, leaves 3 people dead

MANILA, Philippines - Typhoon “Ambo” (international name Mawar) exited the Philippine area of responsibility early yesterday morning after leaving at least three persons dead and 15 others missing, the state weather bureau said.

Nathaniel Servando, administrator of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), however, said that rains will still prevail over some parts of the country, including Metro Manila, due to the southwest monsoon.

He said the disturbance will continue to enhance the southwest monsoon and bring occasional rains over Southern Luzon, particularly the western section.

Meanwhile, Servando said the low-pressure area off Southern Mindanao is expected to bring rains over eastern Visayas and the western section of the country this weekend.

As of 4 a.m. yesterday, the low-pressure area was estimated based on satellite and surface data at 450 kms east of Mindanao.

“The low-pressure area has a 50-50 chance of becoming a cyclone,” Servando said in a phone interview.

It will be given the local name “Butchoy” once it intensifies into a tropical cyclone.

“Metro Manila will still experience cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms in the next few days which is the usual characteristic of the southwest monsoon,” Servando said.

As of 4 a.m. yesterday, the eye of Ambo was spotted at 740 kms northeast of Basco, Batanes with maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of up to 160 kph.

It was forecast to move northeast at 24 kph.

Ambo was expected to be 790 km east northeast of Taiwan yesterday afternoon.

Ambo was the first tropical cyclone to enter the country this year.

Shifting careers

Meanwhile, a former PAGASA spokesman is now the new resident meteorologist of the GMA-7 television network.

Nathaniel Cruz, popularly known as “Mang Tani,” left the country in 2010 to work as weather forecaster for Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology.

Aside from being the spokesman, Cruz also served as weather division chief of PAGASA.

Cruz provides the public comprehensive daily weather forecasts on GMA-7’s morning show “Unang Hirit” and primetime news program “24 Oras.”

“We want to make GMA-7’s weather reporting much more serious,” Cruz said in a phone interview.

Amado Pineda is a Filipino meteorologist who became the first widely recognized television weatherman in the Philippines.

Pineda began doing weather forecasts for the evening newscast of GMA network in the 1970s until the 1980s. Pineda was a former chief of the PAGASA weather forecasting section.

Asked why he decided to return to the Philippines and leave his lucrative job in Darwin, Australia, Cruz said: “It’s because of my wife.”

In February 2010, his wife Gloria visited him for his birthday. That was when she suffered a stroke before being considered brain dead and a “hopeless case” by doctors.

Gloria is the head of PAGASA’s human resource department.

“She’s okay now. She returned to work last January,” Cruz said.

“I know God gave me a second chance to be with my wife, I will not let go of this opportunity to be with her. I can let go of my high salary to be with the person I love,” he said.