Tagbilaran City (CNN Philippines) — The team from the Bureau on Soil and Water Management (BSWM) finally pushed through with the cloud seeding on Wednesday morning (January 13), a move that brought rain in the province the whole afternoon.
The said team made one seeding flight on Wednesday, using 20 sacks or 500 kilos of vacuum dried fine salt loaded per flight.
“Seeded areas were east north-east (ENE) of Malinao Dam, ENE of Bayongan dam, Dagohoy, and Alicia agricultural areas. Rainfall occurrence was observed after two to three hours in Pilar, Dagohoy area, Antequera, Maribojoc, Cortes, Corella, Sikatuna, Tagbilaran, Dauis, Panglao, Trinidad and Talibon,” the team reported to Governor Edgar Chatto.
Larry Pamugas, officer-in-charge at the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA), said they did not conduct the cloud seeding on Tuesday (January 12) as per the advice of BSWM and the Air Force.
The wind direction on Tuesday was going east, leaving areas of interest — Malinao and Bayongan — with nothing but blue skies.
In the new protocol, the cloud seeding team utilized a two-engine aircraft manned by two Air Force pilots.
This is in accordance with the advise of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) after the incident in Isabela where the plane conducting cloud seeding crashed due to pilot error.
OPA agricultural tecnician Leon Parac has been making rounds since Wednesday in areas with downpour.
The provincial government allocated P2 million for the cloud seeding operation which was supposed to start in August.
The BSWM also set aside funds for the second phase of the operation from September to December.
However, low pressure areas and typhoons in other provinces brought rains intermittently during the second half last year, amid the El Niño phenomenon.
Based on the latest record, the OPA monitored that the dry spell already affected 55,000 hectares of ricelands in the province.
The dry spell has already started affecting the irrigated areas because the water levels in major dams have started dropping.
Bohol has four major dams: the Malinao Dam in Pilar, Bayongan Dam in San Miguel, Zamora Dam in Talibon, and Capayas Dam in Ubay.
