'Weather-weather'
MEDIUM RARE
If Quezon City experienced some Baguio weather for a few days and Baguio residents had Christmas weather all over again, would those feelings amount to climate change?
In olden times, i.e., when we were young, Baguio was the No. 1 dream city for its pine trees and springtime weather, followed a close second by Davao for its orchids and gentle climate. A one-way trip from Manila to Baguio consumed a mere ₱4 worth of diesel on a Mercedes Benz, would you believe? In Davao, Nature’s gifts of soil, sun, and rain combined to make growing orchids and pomelos highly profitable businesses, if not also a tourist attraction. The past was when, in the nostalgic recollection of an official of the Office of Civil Defense, the climate in the Davao of long ago was not subject to sudden and unpredictable changes.
Times have changed, and so have people, people and their habits, lifestyles, and attitudes. The olden golden Davao City, with its flora and fauna, its almost lyrical showers in the afternoon, was the envy of Manilans, for even as it was a city it seemed shielded from the realities of urban congestion, perhaps because of its size. Being located in the South, Davao was considered “exotic” by those of us outsiders (the way we described Zamboanga with the same adjective.)
A couple generations later, we are now reading about rains that caused floods and landslides in 14 barangays in Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental, and Davao Oriental. Not too long ago, Davao was one whole Davao, not three separate Davaos. Then, nobody could’ve foreseen climate change in their future. The future arrived yesterday.
Like it or not, our meteorologists are talking as if the rainy season has begun. It used to start in May, remember? We’ve been told that the shearline – a combination of hot air from the Pacific and cold air from the monsoon – is causing the unseasonal rains, but as a former president used to explain how life happens, it’s all “weather-weather.”
Who wants floods? But without rain, where would we produce water to fill our dams and reservoirs?
The tragedy is having to release water from Angat and other reservoirs lest they overflow – all this while El Niño promises a long season of drought.