QC government: Illegal settlers affecting Pagasa forecasts

Manila, Philippines - Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista called yesterday for the speedy relocation of informal settlers living beside the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration complex after Pagasa officials said their shanties are affecting the weather bureau’s forecasts.

Bautista made the call after Pagasa’s acting administrator, Nathaniel Servando, said shanties built higher than 10 meters adversely affected its periodic meteorological readings, which are crucial in making weather forecasts.

Servando asked the city government to secure the area in front of the agency’s central office building to ensure the safety and protection of the specialized facilities and scientific equipment owned by the agency.

“Having our multi-million facilities and equipment in place, we can no longer help but to worry about the safety of these vital installations since these communities pose hazard to them,” said Servando in his letter-complaint to the city government.

Servando also said the informal settlers illegally tapped into Pagasa’s water and power supply.

He also said so many fires have occurred in the area since informal settlers started occupying it in 1984. The most recent fire, which broke out in April 11 this year, reportedly damaged Pagasa’s power lines and fiber telecommunication cabling system and paralyzed the agency’s data transmission and official transactions.

To date, 576 families along the BIR Road near Pagasa have qualified for the relocation program of the National Housing Authority (NHA) in Montalban, Rizal and at San Jose del Monte in Bulacan.    

The city Urban Poor Affairs Office (UPAO), along with the Presidential Commission on Urban Poor and the Commission on Human Rights, forms part of the beneficiary arbitration and awards committee tasked to conduct the pre-qualification process, with the NHA as lead agency.

UPAO head Ramon Asprer said the committee is very strict in screening applicants to avoid the double awarding of rights to families, who may have already benefited from previous relocation programs offered by the government.