Senate starts hearing effects of 'Ondoy'

The Senate on Monday started its hearing on the "lessons" that should be learned from the effects of tropical storm "Ondoy," which battered Metro Manila and nearby provinces and claimed nearly 300 lives and displaced more than half a million people. "This hearing will deal with climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. We are not here to pin blame on any agency, institution or person we are here to but to find solution," Senator Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Senate committee on climate change, said at the start of the hearing. Present in the hearing were "people who can explain what happened and what we must do in the future," Legarda said. Among those in the hearing were Dr. Rosa Perez, Manila Observatory; Dr. Jerry Velasquez, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction; Prisco Nilo, administrator of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa); Glenn Rabonza, chief of the Office of Civil Defense; and Environment Secretary Lito Atienza. Also present were officials from the departments of education, public works and highways, health, social welfare and development, and budget and management. At the start of the hearing, Legarda promptly asked Nilo if Pagasa has the capability to predict the volume of rainfall a storm can bring. Nilo replied in the negative. "We can only describe it qualitatively with the help of [a] weather satellite but not quantitatively," Nilo said. He said the release of water from the Ipo and Angat dams had no effect in Metro Manila. "The water released was confined within the province of Bulacan and will never spill over in Metro Manila," he said. Nilo added that aside from the volume of water, the incapacity of the Metro Manila’s waterways to hold such volume of rainfall was also a factor in the flooding. Nilo said Pagasa still does not have a Doppler radar that will show the amount of rainfall a storm can bring. He said the radar will be operational in December. The hearing was ongoing as of posting time. - GMANews.TV