EDITORIAL - Brain drain

At the rate senior forecasters are leaving the state weather bureau, the country may soon have to start importing experienced talent. Effective this month, Ricky Fabregas is no longer connected with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.

The Philippine Weathermen Employees Association said the 46-year-old Fabregas, who had been with PAGASA for 16 years, had accepted a job in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The principal consideration was financial: Fabregas would be earning five times more than his monthly pay of P20,000 in the Philippines, according to the PWEA.

Only last June, the administrator himself of PAGASA, Nathaniel Servando, quit to work as a professor in a university in Qatar. The optional retirements are hitting the weather bureau as the remaining employees wait for the release of their benefits provided by law. Even with the benefits, however, higher pay can still persuade them to leave their country. Unlike nursing, there is no global glut in the talent pool for this specialized skill.

The government will have to move quickly if it wants to stanch the talent hemorrhage in PAGASA. In the past years, the government has focused on upgrading weather equipment including Doppler radars for accurate rainfall forecasting. Science officials have pointed out that PAGASA has recruited more employees, but admitted that the new hires lack the experience of those who have left.

While addressing the needs of PAGASA employees, the government should also launch a program to entice more youths to pursue courses in weather forecasting and related fields. The brain drain is a downside of the exodus of Filipinos seeking employment overseas. The vacuum left behind by skilled workers in many sectors cannot be filled quickly enough.