In an interview with Palace reporters, the President said he had asked the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which has jurisdiction over the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), and the Malaca帽ang Communications Group to come up with simpler ways of explaining the weather.
In particular, he wanted the government to better explain not just the effects of storm signals, but also rainfall levels.
He noted that although the people had a 鈥渃lear understanding鈥� of the impacts of storm signals, 鈥渨hen it comes to rainfall, the effects of heavy, moderate or light rainfall are not that clear.鈥�
鈥淪o they must develop better communication skills to explain to the people [the heavy downpour] that occurred the other day鈥�7 to 10 millimeters of rain; The 7.5 millimeters [of rain] is considered heavy,鈥� said Mr. Aquino.
However, he pointed out that there had been heavy rainfall before that, referring to the rains brought by Typhoon 鈥淕ener.鈥�
He wondered whether the low pressure area 鈥渟urge,鈥� high tide and southwest monsoon (habagat) 鈥渆nhanced鈥� the ferocity of Gener and accounted for the unexpected heavy rains that flooded low-lying parts of the metropolis and other nearby provinces.
鈥淪o we must have an efficient transmission of information,鈥� said Mr. Aquino, noting that the hourly weather bulletins of Pagasa appeared 鈥渢horough, but the problem is that there are pieces of information that are not really relevant.鈥�
He cited terms such as 鈥渞elative humidity鈥� and 鈥渓uminosity of the moon鈥� which could only complicate things.
He also asked the public works department to make a thorough assessment of flood-prone areas and look into the possibility of adding to the seawalls at Manila Bay.
Mr. Aquino also said the sewage system of the National Capital Region was not interconnected.
Only Manila and parts of Makati have sewage systems, he said. Mike Ubac