Pagasa won’t name typhoons after corrupt politicians

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) is not likely to grant an online petition to name the typhoons that enter the country after corrupt politicians.

Venus Valdemoro, officer-in-charge of PAGASA’s public information office, said yesterday naming typhoons after corrupt officials would go against the agency’s policy of delisting destructive cyclones.

She said the weather bureau has a policy of delisting the names of tropical cyclones which leave at least P1 billion worth of damage or cause around 300 deaths.

“We decommission the names of destructive cyclones so that people will not recall the trauma brought by these weather disturbances,” Valdemoro told The STAR.

More than 1,500 people had signed the petition submitted by Ismael Tomelden of Marikina City in change.org (http://www.change.org/ph/mga-petisyon/pagasa-start-naming-typhoons-after-corrupt-politicians-and-grafters-2), as of Wednesday afternoon.

Tomelden said naming typhoons after corrupt politicians would “be a constant reminder of how our hard-earned money has been stolen or misspent by corrupt politicians.”

The petition was filed amid the ongoing P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Netizens said PAGASA should name the typhoon next to Maring as Napoles, in reference to Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the scam.

PAGASA had removed the name Labuyo from its list of tropical cyclone names after the typhoon caused damage estimated at more than P1.4 billion.

The other delisted names are Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009, and Sendong, Pedring, Bebeng, Mina and Juaning in 2011.

Valdemoro said PAGASA came up with a list of names of tropical cyclones after the “Name a Bagyo Contest,” conducted by the agency in 1998. A total of 140 cyclone names were listed.

Valdemoro said the new names for the deleted cyclone names are recommended by the weather forecasting section and approved by the management.