P700 M needed for weather forecasters' benefits

MANILA, Philippines - Some P700 million a year is needed for the hazard pay, incentives and other allowances of weather forecasters and other personnel of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

Amid a raging typhoon last Aug. 15, the weather bureau’s personnel protested the non-payment of their benefits. President Aquino immediately motored to the agency’s offices to look into the concerns of its personnel.

Undersecretary Fortunato de la Peña of the Department of Science and Technology told a House budget hearing yesterday that Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has already released funds for the payment of the allowances mandated under the law, the Magna Carta for Science and Technology Workers in Government.

He said the funds were enough for the benefits for the first half of this year.

“We will have to realize savings or await additional releases from the Department of Budget and Management (for the second half),” he said.

Abad said about P700 million a year is needed for the Magna Carta benefits.

It was Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla who raised the issue of the PAGASA personnel’s protest and their unpaid allowances.

“To the credit of the President, he attended to the protesting employees’ concerns immediately. But let us avoid a repetition of this protest because weather forecasters really should not protest in the middle of a raging typhoon,” he said.

Padilla suggested that instead of PAGASA sourcing its personnel’s allowances from savings that may not be realized, Congress should include the necessary funds in the national budget.

“That is the ideal thing to do, since these allowances are provided for under the law,” he said.

Besides, De la Peña said, it is now difficult for agencies to generate savings given the strict control of the DBM over funds.

Western Samar Rep. Mel Senen Sarmiento, who presided over the hearing as head of a House appropriations subcommittee, vowed to consider Padilla’s suggestion.

The subcommittee learned that PAGASA now has 856 personnel out of an authorized staffing of 1,034.

This means that with a P700-million funding for allowances, the agency’s officials and employees would be receiving additional emoluments averaging P818,000 a year, or P68,000 a month, on top of their salaries.