After news presenter Korina Sanchez raised hell and — sorry, we can’t help it — high water over CNN’s reportage of super typhoon Yolanda’s aftermath, now comes her on-screen partner Ted Failon, rubbing salt into the wounds of weather forecasters mourning the loss of their own.
In his radio broadcast this week, Failon took to task weather forecasters after it seemed they were not aware of what storm surges are. Just like most commentators, Failon, a native of Leyte, had observed that his townmates were caught off guard by the storm surges brought about by Yolanda, thus contributing to the growing death toll.
To prove his assertion, he pointed to the death of a weather forecaster who was on duty when Yolanda battered Tacloban on Nov. 8.
The Philippine Weathermen Employees Association (PWEA) released a statement, saying that while they respected Failon’s take on the subject, they took offense of his remark about the death of their colleague.
“Please allow us to inform our kababayans that our colleague suffered the onslaught of Yolanda because she was on duty at the weather station. It is the general rule in PAGASA that personnel on duty should not leave or abandon their posts at all cost if a locality is under threat from a tropical cyclone,” a portion of the PWEA statement read.
“Our lady colleague died not in the comfort of her own home but rather died while in the service of our country,” it added.
Failon seemingly issued a left-handed apology on his radio show, saying he was sorry if people took his comment out of the “right context.”
Photo taken from the Failon Ngayon Twitter page
