We have had already several typhoons and yet the news for the past few days have been of water shortages and emergency situations. The water in Angat dam this week fell below the record low registered in September 1998, which was an El Niño year. The worry is due to the fact that Angat supplies more than 90 percent of the water supply of Metro Manila and is used by the two water concessionaires in the area, Manila Water in the East Zone and Maynilad in the West.

Yesterday marked the turnover of the helm of government to the new president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd. There are immense challenges that he must face—from his daang matuwid to undoing the decades-long underdevelopment that our people face. How far President Aquino’s campaign for reform will reach will depend on how far he is willing to go to reverse the policies that have kept this situation in place.

As we celebrate Earth Day 2010, let us remember that the state of our environment is tied to the political and economic aspects of our society.

This link is crucial to understand why—in spite of our country’s rich natural resources—we have remained underdeveloped, our people deeper in poverty and has become more vulnerable to the backlash of a destroyed environment.

The state of calamity in Mindanao due to the El Nino that was drummed up and recently declared by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is something the government and the President could have avoided in its nine years in Malacanang.

With the May 2010 presidetial elections coming in only two months, citizens groups have raised their concerns regarding the conduct of the first nationwide automation of our elections. Groups such as the anti-fraud and election monitoring group Kontra Daya have called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to “walk the talk” regarding its claim that all systems are in place for the Automated Election System (AES) and only an earthquake can stop the May 2010 elections.

We are reissuing this statement for the 2010 elections. Bayan Muna is running under the Makabayan coalition who has Rep. Satur Ocampo and Lisa Maza running for Senate.

AGHAM: WE SUPPORT BAYAN MUNA

Scientists group say people has to be first in science and technology

Since AGHAM’s founding in 1999, we have upheld that science and technology development cannot be divorced from the overall people’s development. In our long involvement in political affairs in both the national and international arenas, the partylist group Bayan Muna has proven firm and consistent with their support for the Science and Technology Agenda formulated in 2004 along with the agenda of other sectors of Philippine society.

SINCE the run up to the end of last year, climate change has been blamed pretty much for everything. The great floods and the disasters that struck the country were attributed to climate change. This year, with climate change still a distant possibility, much of everything is now being blamed on a weather event that is right here right now—El Niño.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services (Pagasa) advised the public in January that 2010 will be an El Niño year. The El Niño, properly the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a quasi-periodic (i.e. varies on the average from three to seven years) warming of the surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean coupled with the changes in surface pressure in the tropical western Pacific. This affects precipitation patterns and temperatures. The El Niño in the Philippines typically spells less typhoons, a shorter rainy season and weak monsoon activity.

The numbers we deal with everyday can range from the simple to the staggering. When confronted with issues concerning very large numbers, images and analogies become important tools for people to grasp and understand the issue at hand.

San Roque spill blamed for floods
By Nikko Dizon
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:23:00 10/13/2009

MANILA, Philippines—Water equivalent to a billion balikbayan boxes tumbling at the rate of 5,000 cartons per second hit 10 hapless towns in Pangasinan province on Thursday when the San Roque dam spillways were opened amid a storm drenching and swirling floodwaters, scientists say.