From Rosing to Pedring: A storm by any other name

In the not-too-distant past, only women who had nicknames ending in –ng made weather headlines in the Philippines. Back then, it wasn’t surprising if your stubborn, ever-nosy lola—whether she’s Herming, Nitang, or Rosing—shared a name with a destructive typhoon. Even old Didang, the irascible spinster figure from Philippine poetry, shared a reputation with a willful storm that hit Central Luzon in 1976. But lately, it seems their male counterparts have been the ones getting the front-page treatment, with storms like Ondoy, Pepeng, and Pedring barreling through Luzon like drunken sailors in a bar. So when did the practice of naming typhoons after women end, and why did it become the convention in the first place? These days, both sexes and other nouns like Falcon have been given equal opportunity to be high and mighty—at least as far as weather disturbances go. Women storm in A British meteorologist named Clement Wragge is believed to have started the practice of giving names to typhoons during the 19th century. But it wasn’t until the Second World War when the practice became more common, after American officers realized they can communicate storm warnings better by using names of people. In an interview with Time magazine, meteorologist Tim Schott from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said hurricanes and other potentially destructive cyclones were given names “to make it easy for the public to know which particular storm warnings or news reports to follow." Thus, in 1953, Atlantic storms started getting identified with an alphabetical list of female names, following the naval habit of naming ships after women. Of course, a lot of teasing was involved, with some pundits saying female names are fitting because just like typhoons, women are supposed to have ever-changing moods. The system became popular among officers, who coined storm names after their girlfriends and wives. A hurricane in 1949 was even named after former First Lady Bess Truman. It wasn't until 1979, when political correctness started to kick in, that male names began to be used alternately with those of women's names. In the Atlantic, weather forecasters started using Spanish and French appellations as well, in recognition of the region’s cultural mix. From A to Ya Almost a century after the country recorded its first typhoon “El Baguio de Samar y Leyte" in 1897, the Philippines picked up the American practice in 1963, when the weather bureau organized four sets of Filipina nicknames ending in “-ng." Each set, which contained names for storms beginning with A to Ya, went on rotation every four years. They were accompanied by an auxiliary list of names from A to G that would be used if the number of typhoons in one year exceeded the letters in the Filipino alphabet. But this system ended just as the country was approaching the new millennium, after then Senator Ernesto Herrera called the attention of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). The legislator said the practice implies that “women are subconsciously associated with the loss of precious lives and property." Journalists who frequented the PAGASA press room raised the same concern, and the comments gave the weather agency an idea: how about asking the public to pitch in and suggest Pinoy names for a prize? Name that typhoon This was how, in 1999, PAGASA found itself launching the “Name a Bagyo" contest with the following stipulations: * must not have any derogatory meanings; * must not exceed nine letters and three syllables; and * must reflect the culture of the people. Around 18,000 entries were submitted but only 140 entries made the cut. Most of them are now listed in the revised names for storms in the Philippines, again grouped into four sets arranged from A to Z. The list, along with back-up names, will be used until 2016. Among the winners in that contest was GMA News' Tonio Magsumbol, now “24 Oras" program manager, who submitted 30 names and got six of them accepted, including “Bagwis" and “Falcon." Magsumbol told GMA News Online that he submitted unusual names to veer away from the practice of identifying typhoons with people. Even so, he acknowledged that many Pinoys, his son included, are amused by the old system. “Sabi ko sa kaniya, ‘gusto mo bang kapangalan mo ‘yung naninira saka pumapatay?’ Sagot niya, ‘ay ganu’n pala ‘yun,’" he said. Baby ‘Onday’ Young mom Joy Belmonte shared the same enthusiasm with Magsumbol’s son, but for a totally different reason—she wanted to remember a miracle during tropical storm Ondoy’s short but destructive visit in 2009. Belmonte was eight months pregnant at the time and was in labor at the Mission Hospital along Ortigas Extension at the height of the storm, but muddy, chest-high floods had entered the facility and submerged the medical supplies. Sitting in a mint green monobloc chair beside GMA-7 reporter Jiggy Manicad who was holding her dextrose bottle, Belmonte was carefully placed in an ambulance by the Philippine National Police Special Action Force and Philippine National Red Cross. She was transferred to the Medical City in Pasig, where she gave birth to a healthy baby girl she named Elisha. The family playfully nicknamed the child “Onday," to let them relive a good memory even after “Ondoy" was crossed out of the list of storm names because of the widespread damage that it caused in Metro Manila. “Hindi ko po makakalimutan siyempre ‘yung kahit parang nawalan na po ako ng pag-asa du’n sa ospital, nandu’n pa rin po si God na ibinigay niya po kayo para tulungan po kami," she said in an interview with Manicad on GMA News TV’s “State of the Nation." Names such as Frank, Loleng, Milenyo, Pepeng, and Ondoy have been “retired" after the huge damage they inflicted on the country. Unlike other nationalities who resent having typhoon namesakes, however, Magsumbol believes that Filipinos tend to look at the brighter side of things—even having weather disturbances named after them. “Tayong mga Pilipino kasi masayahin, so ‘yung kapag nakita halimbawa sa headline na kapangalan si Pedring, usually sasabihin, ‘Sikat o!’" he said. “Jolly tayo as a people, kaya rin siguro resilient tayo." – YA/HS, GMA News