Liwayway, Ursula, Zigzag are new tropical cyclone names – Pagasa

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has released the list of new names for tropical cyclones that will enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility this year.

They are: Amang, Betty, Chedeng, Dodong, Egay, Falcon, Goring, Hanna, Ineng, Jenny, Kabayan, Liwayway, Marilyn, Nimfa, Onyok, Perla, Quiel, Ramon, Sarah, Tisoy, Ursula, Viring, Weng, Yoyoy, and Zigzag.

PAGASA also prepared an auxiliary list of 10 names in case the number of tropical cyclones within the year exceeds 25. They are Abe, Berto, Charo, Dado, Estoy, Felion, Gening, Herman, Irma, and Jaime.

There are four sets of names that PAGASA uses every four years.

A tropical cyclone name can be decommissioned if it has caused 300 deaths and P1 billion worth of damage to agriculture and infrastructure.

It can also be dropped if it is closely associated with a prominent personality to avoid public ridicule.

Since 1963, PAGASA has independently operated its own naming scheme for tropical cyclones that occur within its own self-defined Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).

From 1963 to 2001, the naming system used Filipino women's names starting from A to Y and ending with -NG or -ING like “Auring,” and “Yayang.”

These names had been used according to the 19 letters of the Filipino alphabet until the then Department of Education, Culture, and Sports, now Department of Education, modernized it bringing it up to 26 letters, including F,J,N, Q,X, and Z. (Jaleen Ramos)