EDITORIAL - A finger to the wind

Senator Ralph Recto is alarmed by the exodus of Philippine weather forecasters to better paying jobs abroad. If everybody leaves, who will warn us of impending weather disturbances, he lamented, in words to that effect.

Recto should not fret, however. Filipinos have never been known to take the weather as seriously as it is being taken overseas. Proof of that is the latest forecaster to leave -- he left a job that paid him only P20,000 a month for the same job that pays him P100,000 in, of all places, the Congo.

It would have been easier to understand if the country that can pay our forecasters five times more than what they are currently earning is a major economic power like the United States, Britain, or Australia. But the Congo?

Clearly there must be something wrong with our appreciation of the kind of work that weather experts are doing. In fact, there must be something wrong with our appreciation of the weather itself. Just take a look at our newspapers.

In other countries, newspapers devote entire sections made up of several pages to the weather. Here in the Philippines, unless there is a storm, ordinary weather forecasts are given no more than one column inch and are buried deep in the inside pages.

And in these times when the weather seems to be freaking out, it would take a declaration of war to remove people who are living in the path of nature's wrath. When people take chances with their lives when it comes to the weather, that means they are not giving weather the seriousness it deserves.

So why should Recto be worried when it is not in the Filipino's character to give the weather the importance and attention it deserves. The sloppy regard we have for the weather is shown in the meager salaries we pay forecasters, the lack of training and equipment we give them, and the risks we take with nature.

The cavalier attitude with which we regard the weather is best summed up by the attitude exhibited by no less than our country's leader, the president, who actually believes he can order “zero casualties” during storms? So Recto shouldn't fret. If worse comes to worst, just raise a finger to the wind.