Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City
SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 2983

Introduced by Hon. Delphine Gan Lee

EXPLANATORY NOTE
Reliable and accessible information on the weather is essential for agricultural

producers. It is an important factor in crop planning and management, The type of crop to be

planted is mainly dependent on existing weather and climactic conditions. Certain types of

crops are suitable only for the wet s

on and will not thrive during the dry season,
Accurate weather information is also significant in minimizing the losses caused by
extreme changes in the weather condition, These weather disturbances usually occur
unexpectedly. Every year, agricultural crops worth millions of pesos are lost/damaged by
such unforeseen weather disturbances. These losses are caused by the lack or inadequacy of

weather information that will enable agricultural producers to take the necessary precaution

against natural calamities
This bill seeks the establishment of an Agricultural Weather Office which shall be
responsible for the collection and distribution of weather information that will address the

needs of agricultural producers,

AN LEE

Represesitative AGRI Party-List


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City
SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

First Regular Session

House Bil No. 2933

Introduced by Hon, Delphine Gan Lee

1 AN ACT
2 PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN AGRICULTURE WEATHER
3 OFFICE
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines. in
Congress assembled:
4 SECTION 1, Short Title, ~ This Act shall be known as the “National Agriculture
5 Weather Information Act of 2013.”
6 SECTION 2. Definition of Terms. ~ Por the purposes of this Act, the term:
7 (A) “Seoretary” means the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture:
8 (B) “Director” means the Director of the Agriculture Weather Office; and
9 (C)_ “Office” means the Agricultural Weather Office
10 SECTION 3, Establishment of the Agriculture Weather Office, —
" (A) Establishment Required. ~ The Seeretary of Agriculture shall establish within the

12 Department of Agriculture an Agricultural Weather Office to plan and administer the

13 National Agricultural Weather Information System. The System shall be comprised of the
14 Office established under this section and the activities of the Regional Agricultural Weather

15 Information Systems described in Section 8 of this Act.


(B) Director, ~ The Secretary shall appoint a Director to manage the activities of the
Agricultural Weather Office and to advise the Secretary on scientific and pragmatic

coordination for climate, weather, and remote sensing.

SECTION 4, Authority. ~ The Secretary, acting through the Office, may undertake

the following activities to carry out the provisions of this Act

(A) Enter into cooperative projects with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical,
and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and other related
government agencies to —

(1) Support operational weather forecasting and observation useful in
agriculture;

(2) Sponsor joint workshops to train agriculturalists about the optimum
utilization of agricultural weather and climate data;

(3) Jointly develop improved computer models and computing capacity; and

(4) Enhance the quality and availability of weather and climate information

needed by agriculturalists;

(B) Obtain standardized weather observation data collected in near real time through
regional Agricultural Weather Information Systems;

(C) Make, through the Department of Science and Technology, competitive grants

under Section 6 of this Act for research in atmospheric science and climatology;

(D) Make grants to eligible provinces under Section 8 of this Act to plan and

administer Regional Agricultural Weather Information Systems;

(BE) Coor

ite the activities of the Office with the weather and climate research

es of the Department of Science and Technology; and

(F) Encourage private sector participation in the National Agricultural Weather

Information System through mutually beneficial cooperation with the private


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sector particularly in the generation of weather and climatic data useful for site-
specific agricultural forecasting,

SEC

‘TION 5. Weather Information Collection and Distribution to Agricultural

Producers. ~ (A) As one of the cooperative projects authorized by Section 4(1), the Secretary
of Agriculture shall enter into an agreement with the Secretary of the Department of Science
and Technology (DOST) to use PAGASA’s regional offices to collect, organize, and

distribute information aimed at meeting the short-term and long-term weather and climate

information needs of agricultural produce

(B) Information Collection, ~The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of

ience and Technology shall jointly develop a system for the collection by the PAGASA of
Weather and climate information that is relevant to agricultural producers and available

through the Agricultural Weather Office and other related agencies, regional agricultural

weather information systems and other State programs, colleges and universities, and the

private weather consulting sector,

(C) Methods of Distribution. ~ Weather and climate information collected under this

© of

on shall be distributed to agricultural producers through the us

(1) Weekly publications containing weather forecasts and other information
regarding anticipated temperatures and precipitation levels;
(2) Toll-free and local telephone numbers that agricultural producers can call

to obtain immediate information to assist with specific day-to-day

production activities; and

(3) Such other methods as the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of

Science and Technology considers appropriate to distribute such weather

and climate information to agricultural producers in a timely manner.


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(D) Report. ~ Not later than one (1) year after the date of promulgation of this Act,
the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Science and Technology shall jointly submit
a report to Congress analyzing the effectiveness of the cooperative project required by
paragraph (A) of this Section, in providing relevant weather and climate information to
agricultural producers, The report shall include a description of the number of agricultural
producers who obtained weather information through the project and an estimate of whether

the project improved farm profitability for participating producers.

SECTION 6. Competitive Grants Program.

(A) Grants Authorized, ~ With funds allocated to carry out this Act, the Secretary

may make grants to State agricultural experiment stations, public/private colleges and

universities other research institutions and organizations, private organizations anc

ns, and individuals to carry out research in all aspects of atmosphere sciences and

corpors
climatology that can be shown to be important in a basic and developmental way to

understanding, forecasting and delivering agricultural weather information.

(B) Competitive Basis. = Grants made under this section shall be made on a

competitive basis

(©) Priority. ~ In selecting among applications for grants under paragraph (A) of this
Section, the Secretary shall give priority to proposals which emphasize —
(1) Techniques and processes that relate to weather-induced agricultural

losses, and to improving the advisory information on weather extremes

such as drought, floods, and storms well in advance of their actual

occurrence;

(2) The improvement of site-specific weather data collection and forecasting;

or


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(3) The impact of weather on economic and environmental costs in
agricultural production,
SECTION 7. National Advisory Board on Agricultural Weather, ~
(A) Establishment Required, ~ The Secretary of Agriculture shall establish an

section as the

Advisory Board on Agricultural Weather (herein after referred to in t

cultural Wi

“Board”) to advise the Director of the Agi ather Office with respect to carry

out the provisions of this Act,

(B) Composition, ~ The Board shall be composed of nine (9) members, to be
appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture in consultation with the Secretary of Science and
‘Technology. Four (4) members shall come from the private sector, two (2) of whom shalll be
agricultural producers, and the other two (2), agricultural or atmospheric scientists,

(C) Chairperson. ~ The Board shall elect a chairperson from among its members,

(D) Term. = Each Board member shall be appointed for a thr

-year term, except that
to ensure that members of the Board serve staggered terms, the Secretary shall appoint three
ginal members of the Board for a te

(3) of the or n of one (1) year and another three (3) of

the original members for a term of two (2) years.

(E) Meetings. ~ The Board shall meet not less than twi

innually

(F) Compensation. ~ Members of the Board shall serve without compensation, but

while away from their homes or regular places of business in the performance of services for

the Boa

'd, members of the Board shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem
allowance in lieu of subsistence, in the same manner as individuals employed in Government

service are allowed travel expenses,

SECTION 8. Regional Agricultural Weather Information Systems, —



(A) Advisory Program Grants. ~ Grants required. With funds allocated to carry out
this Act, the Secretary shall make grants to eligible provinces, each region (refers to the

twelve (12) regions of the Philippines and the autonomous regions created by law) to be

represented by one (1) province to plan and administer, in cooperation with persons described
in the next paragraph, advisory programs for regional agricultural weather information
systems

‘The persons referred to in the above paragraph are the Director of the Agricultural

Weather Office, the Director of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical

Services, and other persons as appropriate, such as the directors of the appropriate State

agricultural experiment stations and State extension programs.
(B) Consultation, ~ For purposes of selecting among applications submitted by
provinces for grants under this section, the Secretary shall take into consideration the

recommendation of the Advisory Board on Agricultural Weather and consult with the

Director,

(C) Eligibility Requirements. ~ To be eligible to receive a grant under this Section, the

chief executive officer of a province shall submit to the Secretary an application that contains
(1) Assurances that the province will expend such grant to plan and administer

a Regional Ag

ultural Weather System that will

(a) Collect observational weather data throughout the region and
provide such data to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and
Astronomical Services Administration and the Agricultural
Weather Oftice;

(b) Develop methods for packaging information received from the
national system for use by agricultural producers with the

PAGASA and the private seotor to serve as the primary conduit of


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agricultural weather forecasts and climatic information to
producers; and

(©) Develop programs to educate agi

ultural producers on how to best

use weather and climate information to improve erop planning and
management decision; and
(2) Such other assurances and information as the Secretary may require by
rule.
SECTION 9. Appropriation. ~ The amount of One Million Pesos (P1,000,000.00) is
hereby appropriated to carry out the provisions of this Act, Subsequent appropriations for the

implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations A\

SECTION 10. Separability Clause, — If any provision or part hereof is held invalid or
unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain
valid and subsisting

SECTION 11, Repealing Clause, ~ Any law, presidential decree or issuance,

fe order, letter of instruction, admi

trative order, rule or regulation contrary to or

incon:

ent with, the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed, modified, or amended
accordingly.

SECTION 12. Effectivity Clause. ~ This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after

its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation

Approved,