Manila: Four people who died in a plane crash while performing cloud seeding operations in central Luzon in the Philippines in late April have been hailed as heroes.

Ceremonies were held for pilots Philip Jubane and Christopher Evan Borja, and government scientists Melvin Simangan and Leilanie Naga of the Bureau of Soils and Water Management of the Department of Agriculture in Tagbilaran City in Bohol Province on May 10, a state news report said.

Jubane, who hails from Bohol, was piloting the propeller-driven, twin-engine Beechcraft Baron that crashed in Villa Coloma village, Bagbag town in Nueva Vizcaya province.

The aircraft had been chartered by a local energy firm, SN Aboitiz Power, to perform cloud seeding over the Magat watershed area where the Magat Hydroelectric Dam is located.

Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique that enhances the ability of clouds to produce rain by introducing a substance such as table salt either at the cloud base or cloud top.

During his short speech, provincial board member Tomas Abapo said the four deserve recognition for performing the task as a drought is expected to hit the Philippines.

The Magat Dam is already nearing its critical water level.

Power generation as well as irrigation over most of the Philippines is highly dependent on rainfall and any disruption of expected precipitation could deal serious setbacks to the economy of the region as well as the whole country.

Earlier, the Philippines Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) predicted that El Nino, which is characterised by the disruption on the wet and dry seasons, would have an adverse effect on the country’s weather.

Normally, the dry season in the Philippines start from March until May. During an El Nino episode, however, this could extend to until June or even July, thus seriously disrupting not just crop planting schedules, but power generation as well as business and private consumers have to deal with long power cuts.

Aside from the Magat Dam, the Angat Dam also provides power, water and irrigation to the northern main island of Luzon.

Angat Dam is also said to be nearing critical water levels.

Meanwhile, Agham Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (Agham) said the crash that killed two scientists and pilots “highlights the plight of government field scientists who are in constant risks while performing their jobs”.

Government scientists have long been complaining about the low pay they had been getting, causing them to look for jobs in other countries.

According to the Department of Science and Technology, there were 181 per million research and development personnel in the Philippines in 2009, way below the Unesco requirement of 380 per million.