By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay (PNA)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — A state of the art weather station that could provide local forecast will soon be put up in Barangay Pangpang, Sibalom by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), a provincial official said Monday.
In an interview, Antique Provincial Agriculture Officer Nicolasito “Nick” Calawag said the PAGASA is just waiting for the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) to give the governor authority to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on behalf of the provincial government for the putting up of the weather station.
“The PAGASA is going to provide the state of the art weather station that could provide a timely local forecast,” he said.
Calawag though has no idea on the cost of the weather station and the equipment that would be provided by the PAGASA.
Meanwhile, he said the provincial government, for its counterpart, will provide the lot in Pangpang, where the weather station will be put up.
“The weather station would be very helpful not only for agriculture but also as for the airport operation,” he said.
He said the weather station will not only provide the necessary information to farmers as to the timing of their palay planting because of the rain, but also for use of the the Evelio B. Javier Airport in San Jose de Buenavista, which will soon resume operations.
Starting December 16, the Philippine Airlines will operate its Clark to Antique route twice a week on Tuesday and Sunday.
Calawag said with the weather station, PAGASA will also be assigning three to five permanent personnel, who will be complemented with a similar number of personnel from the provincial government.
“The provincial government personnel will be trained by PAGASA on weather forecasting so they could augment their personnel for a 24-hour daily operation,”Calawag said.
