Remarks of U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney at United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) – Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) Grant signing

Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Department of Science and Technology, Agham Road, Quezon City

As delivered

Dr. Alabastro, thank you, it’s a pleasure to be with you today - the first woman head of DOST – an important job, quite a service you give to your nation. Dr. Nilo thank you very much for a wonderful tour and, to all of your PAGASA staff, it’s a real honor to see such dedicated professionals hard at work. And it’s a real pleasure to have our colleagues and also some guests here with us today from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.

I often think that the Philippines is an extraordinarily beautiful country because it is so many islands, so many volcanoes, so many stunning sea coasts. But, you realize when you visit PAGASA and, after having lived here now for awhile, that this very great beauty - the proximity to the ocean - also makes the Philippines very vulnerable to weather and the weather systems such as tropical cyclones; which we just learned hit the Philippines more than virtually any other country in the world.

While we can’t stop this from happening, we can work together to predict the impact, and then, of course, work together to mitigate the aftermath effects. We’ve been doing that together. Our two countries and our two peoples have been working together in the face of humanitarian disasters. After the super typhoons of 2006 where we worked together, especially out in Bicol, to build houses, to restore communities, to provide relief supplies. Our two militaries have worked together - in the case of the Leyte mudslide, which was weather caused, to save lives.

But, what we’re doing now, frankly, moves us forward into really using our skills together, and our technology, to help convey the best and most accurate information possible to the professionals here at PAGASA. This is just the beginning of that process of course. We’re funding a study that will look at their telecommunications system and offer recommendations. PAGASA will then figure out which and where they want to apply that and how best to go about implementing it.

But as we’ve seen before, this isn’t merely good for PAGASA and the Philippines. Weather affects all of us. Whether you’re on a plane flying into the Philippines, whether you’re an international businessman doing business here, or whether, frankly you’re in another neighboring country where the weather system may next hit or on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, in Hawaii, where the weather may be coming to or from. We’re a very global world and nowhere is that more evident and obvious than in dealing with the weather.

I thank you all very much for letting us be a part in improving a system that will benefit all of us. I want to compliment the talented professionals who work here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so that we can have information, for that daily information of ‘should I take an umbrella?’, or much more significant information that affects life and property. We appreciate it and we’re really delighted to be a part of helping you be the very best you can be. Thank you very much, mabuhay! Good afternoon to all of you.