MANILA - Despite the series of deadly storms that battered the country, the national government has cut the budget of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) for 2010.
Lillibeth Gonzales, chief of the agency’s finance, management and planning division, said they submitted a P1.7-billion budget to the Department of Budget and Management. The amount would cover personnel and maintenance expenses including capital outlays for the purchase of new equipment.
“But we were told to stay within the ceiling of P614 million,” Gonzales said.
A big chunk of the budget, she said, is devoted to the salaries of some 900 employees.
The 2010 national budget has been passed by the House of Representatives and is pending in the Senate.
In 2009, PAGASA got a P757-million budget that included an amount for capital outlays, Gonzales said.
Director Prisco Nilo, PAGASA head, said that in 2009, the agency was also able to get a P1.6-billion grant from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and a $3-billion grant from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) to upgrade PAGASA’s weather forecasting equipment.
JICA also gave another P300 million to upgrade the agency’s flood forecasting system.
Not only does PAGASA need new equipment, it also needs new blood.
Catalino Davis, PAGASA deputy administrator for administration and engineering, told reporters during a recent media seminar in San Manuel, Pangasinan, that 40 percent of the agency’s 900 employees were between the ages of 41 and 50.
On the other hand, only 1.4 percent of employees were between the ages of 21 and 30.
“We are an aging agency. We need new blood and we need to attract new personnel,” Davis said.
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