It’s getting hot in here! And it is just the start of the dry season. Amid the rising heat is the decline in water supply as Filipino households experience water shortages and water service interruptions. Where do we go from here? The answer would be from one boiling head to another if there are no concrete solutions to address this El Niño phenomenon. El Niño is not something new; it is not even a foreign concept even though the term means “little boy” in Spanish. We have been hearing this term over and over again, especially once the month of April enters the picture. To put it simply, El Niño is a “climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean.” For PAGASA, this condition brought by El Niño “increases the likelihood of below-normal rainfall conditions, which could bring negative impacts such as dry spells and droughts in some areas of the Philippines.” Early this month, PAGASA has already raised the warning of warmer days ahead, though the “increased likelihood for the country to transition to El Niño is projected between July to September, and may persist until 2024.” This is worth worrying about especially for industries that require water. To respond to the projected El Niño, which will be more punishing and unforgiving this year, the government needs to have a plan of action. Our authorities have to avoid the usual reactionary response as livelihoods and even lives are at stake. Again, this is not a new phenomenon and we have historical accounts and empirical data to lead us in the right direction. We don’t have to start from scratch. Speaking of this plan, the country already has a document called RAIN or “Roadmap to Address the Impact of El Niño.” This was crafted by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in 2015, which presented a whole-of-nation approach to respond to the 2015-2016 El Niño event. House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto, last April 11, 2023, did not only call on the Marcos administration to look into this roadmap, but asked if it can be “upgraded” to fit with the times and address the present challenges that were not present in the past. “We already have a blueprint for this kind of (El Niño) emergency. We just need to dust it off and brush it up, so it will be attuned to the unique characteristics of the 2023 version of El Niño,” Recto said. He added that the President’s concurrent role as agriculture secretary should be one big motivating factor for him to commission an El Niño response strategy. Recto emphasized that the agriculture sector, which is already saddled with the high cost of fuel and fertilizer, should not be burdened further by the scarcity of water. “Scarcity in water leads to scarcity in food. This is not an alarmist statement. It is a fact because, without water, you cannot grow food.” Concurring with Recto, we agree that calling attention to El Niño even at this early stage, is a practical move. It should be recalled that during the 2015 El Niño, PAGASA said that agricultural losses reached a staggering US$ 327 million. This should not happen again; and if it does, we have no one else to blame but ourselves. Again, we have historical precedent, past data, and even a comprehensive roadmap. It’s time to act before the “little boy” unfurls its fire and fury on our land.