Last 06 to 07June 2018 as part of the PSA 201 Paradigm

Last 06 to 07June 2018 as part of the PSA 201 Paradigm, Principles, Institutions and Related Studies in Public Studies in Public Safety and Homeland Security, PPSC-MPSA Class 2018-08 were scheduled for an agency visit at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM); Department of Health (DOH); Philippine Atmospheric and the Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). These agencies were headed by DR. Socorro P. Lupisan, Director IV; Dr. Francisco T. Duque II, Secretary and Hon. Vincent B Malano, PhD, Acting Administrator respectively.
Let me begin my appreciation with the NPC form making the educational tour/ agency visit possible with the snappy coordination through the efforts of our MPSA Program Manager Ms. Ma. Mirasol R. Uy and off course together with all its staff and personnel. The PPSC has provided us an excellent transport service with a typically packed “Filipino Baon” snacks to be entertained with while in route. On that note, it reinforces our senses of truly being a typical student and the feeling how PPSC is taking care off its scholar students.
Being a Mariner and an Aircraft Pilot of the Philippine Coast Guard, among the above mentioned agencies we visited, one that captures my interest is our visit at the Philippine Atmospheric and the Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). I am very interested on how they were able to deliver its mandates to provide meteorological and hydrograhical data in which the mariners and pilots alike could not effectively navigate our skies and oceans without.
With that visit, I have learned that the origins of hydrography lays in the making of charts in order to aid navigation by individual mariners as they navigated into our uncharted waters. Hydrographic data were usually a private property and this was even closely held secrets by the individuals who used them for commercial or military advantage. However, as many countries transoceanic trade and exploration activities has increased, hydrographic surveys started to be carried out by these countries as an exercise in their own right, and the commissioning of surveys was increasingly done by governments just like our PAGASA and special hydrographic offices like NAMRIA. National organizations, particularly the Coast Guard and the Navies has realized that the collection, systematization and distribution of this knowledge gave it great organizational and military advantages. Thus were born dedicated national hydrographic organizations for the collection, organization, publication and distribution of hydrography are also incorporated into commercial maritime charts and sailing directions.
Further, through internet searches, I have also learned that Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences which includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics, with a major focus on weather forecasting. Meteorology studies dates back thousands of years ago, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw modest progress in the field after weather observation networks were formed across broad regions. Prior attempts at prediction of weather depended on historical data. It wasn’t until after the elucidation of the laws of physics and, more particularly, the development of the computer, allowing for the automated solution of a great many equations that models weather systems, in the latter half of the 20th century that significant breakthroughs in weather forecasting were achieved.
Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events that are explained by the science of meteorology. Meteorological phenomena are described and quantified by the variables of Earth’s atmosphere: temperature, air pressure, water vapour, mass flow, and the variations and interactions of those variables, and how they change over time. Different spatial scales are used to describe and predict weather on local, regional, and global levels. All those variables mentioned are deliberately being monitored by PAGASA having modern instruments through the help if our friends from Japan, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
It was truly a privilege to see our co-workers in the government who are hardworking and committed to do their individual task and also to see how things works in the organization mandated to give safety notices to the general public, mariners and airmen just like me. Bravo Zulu to PAGASA.