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Let’s face tasks at hand with urgency – DOST Usec. Yumul

Posted on August 23rd By Lyn Talingdan-Tabangcura, S&T Media Service

“I was assigned as PAGASA OIC Administrator for three months only so I would rather follow the orders of DOST Secretary Mario G. Montejo and focus on the urgent tasks assigned to me”. This was the statement of DOST Undersecretary Graciano P. Yumul after the press conference held in PAGASA, together with DOST Secretary Montejo and PAGASA Deputy Director Dr. Nathaniel Servando. It was his second day as PAGASA OIC on 10 August.

Asked about the marching orders from the DOST Secretary, Dr. Yumul said that he will look into the overall management side and not the technical side because this is the assignment of Dr. Servando. His statement clarifies issues that he is taking over as Chief Meteorologist. In taking charge of the management side, Dr. Yumul will go by the list of things to be done per order of DOST Secretary Montejo. Foremost of these is the assessment of the programs and projects currently undertaken by PAGASA particularly on the installation of additional equipment which were sourced from ODA (Official Development Assistance) funds.

Notably, since 2005, when Dr. Yumul was assigned as Supervising Undersecretary of PAGASA, he was able to shepherd 11 out of the 13 ODA programs of PAGASA which resulted in the acquisition of the much needed Doppler radars and other forecasting equipment. The equipment, including those for communications, are expected to give near real-time weather forecasts which will allow the concerned agencies and the public in general to appropriately prepare and respond to typhoons or other natural calamities.

Another urgent matter is the need to make weather forecast bulletins to be easily understood by the general public. Some activities are now directed towards this with the help of the media.

While the reassignment of Dr. Prisco Nilo under the DOST Special Projects has elicited so much flak in the past days, the DOST Secretary consistently gave his statement that before this event, all efforts were made and dialogues were conducted with Dr. Nilo on how to ease up their fundamental differences in handling matters. “It was not an overnight decision, a whim or a decision based on hearsay or the urging of some people. It was a well-thought of decision that I reached—to reassign Dr. Nilo to DOST Special Project and to designate Dr. Yumul as PAGASA OIC for three months. This I believe is for the good of the agency”, he said.

Why Dr. Graciano P. Yumul?

As early as 2004, the position was already offered to Dr. Yumul but he declined. But upon his appointment as Undersecretary for R&D, he naturally assumed the position as Supervising Undersecretary for the DOST R&D Institutes (RDIs) and Service institutes like PAGASA and PHIVOLCS. With an unqualified passion, energy, and vibrancy for science and technology innovations, Dr. Yumul wasted no time in reorganizing and making the DOST-PAGASA more responsive. From the period 2005 to present, he generated about Php3.5 billion worth of grant funds, from both local and foreign funding agencies, devoted to upgrading of PAGASA’s weather forecasting capability. Other funds generated are in the areas of disaster risk management, energy, climate change, food, transportation, construction, mining and minerals, biotechnology, metals and engineering, environment, among others. He was also instrumental in facilitating budget matters for the PAGASA personnel to get their share of benefits for S&T workers which they never received before.

As a Geologist, he is part of the team that would make PAGASA more responsive to its mandate. The PAGASA needs experts from almost all fields like meteorology, hydrology, geology, agriculture, communication and information. It cannot really survive with meteorologists alone, it must work hand in hand with all the experts in these sectors.

“Three months is not a long time to achieve the orders of my boss, but I will follow his orders and definitely within the period we will all see a better, sexier and friendlier PAGASA that rises above the storms with more accurate forecasts”, he said.

With his sense of urgency, brimming energy and fast way of thinking and doing things, so much is expected of the new PAGASA OIC within three months. At the moment, this stance is what the beleaguered agency needs.

Academician Prescillano Martinez Zamora, 77

August 3 – Dr. Prescillano Martinez Zamora, the nation’s top-notched icon on plant anatomy-morphology studies succumb to heart attack on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m.

The National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), Philippines, the country’s highest recognition and advisory body on science and technology, joins the scientific community in the mourning of the death of Dr. Zamora, who was chiefly recognized for his works on plant anatomy-morphology, pteridophyte biology, and the preservation of environment and natural resources policy studies. His work on the xylem elements of vascular plants is the basis for the formulation of the two-phase wall deposition concept now accepted worldwide. His extensive researches on the taxonomy of Philippine ferns led to the detection for additional species of the group. He has been a consistent supporter of the conservation of the environment in the Philippines and a supporter of natural resources policy research.

Dr. Zamora’s basic studies on the structure and development of xylem elements of vascular plants, which are cited on textbooks have impacted the academic segment of society especially students of biology. Moreover, his basic studies on fern biology yielded five species of plants, putting the country on the world map of science.

On July 1982, in view of his recognized expertise in the biology of lower plants in the Southeast Asia, he was selected by the Faculty of Science, University of Hong Kong as External Examiner for a Ph.D. student with the dissertation entitled “A Taxonomic Reassessment of the Hong Kong Fern Allies with Special Reference to Selaginella Beauv.”

His involvement on the field of studies on mangrove areas in the country and his own policy research studies on the nation’s mangrove resources have helped trigger the formulation of guidelines or strategies and later the issuance of two Presidential Proclamations for the conversation of said resources in which the ultimate beneficiaries include all segments of society but most especially the lowly sustenance fishermen.

Dr. Prescillano Zamora was a Rockefeller Foundation Member at Cornell University from 1961 to 1965; a National Science Foundation (NSF) Research grantee from 1962 to1965; and UP Professorial Chair holder from 1977 to 1980. He was also a recipient of the Likas Yaman Award from the Ministry of Natural Resources given in Malacañang in 1979 and was listed in the International Directory of Distinguished Leadership (8^th edition) in 1999.

He was elected Member by NAST in 1987 as recognition for his important contributions to the advancement of biological studies in the Philippines. Prior to his retirement, he served as Director of the Institute of Biology, College of Science in UPD, and was also Director of the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (CIDS).

Dr. Zamora, who hails from San Nicholas, Pangasinan completed his baccalaureate degree in Botany from the University of the Philippines, Diliman (UPD) in 1952. He obtained his M.S. degree in Botany and Ph.D. in Plant Anatomy Morphology from the Cornell University, New York in 1958 and 1996, respectively.

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