Nathaniel Cruz (Nathaniel Agustin Cruz)
Cruz, Nathaniel
Nathaniel Cruz (Nathaniel Agustin Cruz)
Nathaniel Cruz (Nathaniel Agustin Cruz), also known as Mang Tani, is a meteorologis and weather broadcaster. He was born in Manila on 22 February 1960. He is the second among five children of Ernesto de la Merced Cruz and Cecilia Sanchez Agustin of Baliuag, Bulacan. He is married to Gloria Concejo with whom he has three children. He finished his elementary education at Sabang Elementary School, 1972, and his secondary education at Mariano Ponce High School, 1976, both in Baliuag. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in agricultural engineering from La Salle–Araneta University, 1981. He enrolled in a meteorologist training course at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), 1981-82 and earned a master of science degree in meteorology from the University of the Philippines (UP), 1999, under a scholarship from PAGASA. He is pursuing a doctorate in meteorology, also at UP. He is a member of the Philippine Weathermen Employees Association, the Philippine Society of Agricultural Engineers, the Delta Phi Omicron Fraternity, the National Research Council of the Philippines, and the Philippine Meteorological Society.
He worked at PAGASA from 1982 to 2010, serving as the agency’s official spokesperson responsible for bringing weather updates to the public. In 1989, while on leave from PAGASA, he was employed as a forecaster for the Arab-American Oil Company in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia. Beginning in 2006, while with PAGASA, he provided occasional on-cam weather live feeds to GMA’s news programs. In 2008, while again on leave from PAGASA, he was a climatologist for the Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Center. In 2010, he left PAGASA and moved to Darwin, Australia, to become an aviation forecaster for the Bureau of Meteorology. After his wife recovered from a stroke in Australia, he returned to the Philippines in 2012 and accepted the invitation of GMA Network to become its resident meteorologist for its weather arm, GMA Weather. He provides the weather news for “I M Ready,” the news segment for the programs 24 Oras (24 Hours), Saksi (Witness), Unang Hirit (First Blow), GMA Weekend Report, State of the Nation with Jessica Soho, News to Go, Balitanghali (Afternoon News), and GMA’s and GMA News TV’s regular weather updates. On television, Mang Tani interprets complex weather data and simplifies technical terms, climate change issues, and disaster advocacy concerns in Filipino without the gimmickry that characterizes most broadcasters who only read scripts about the weather. He hosted Hamon ng Kalikasan (Challenge of Nature), 2012, the first broadcast meteorology program in the Philippines, with science and weather consultant Karen Cardenas.
At PAGASA, Mang Tani was awarded four times as the agency’s model employee. The Baliuag municipal government awarded him the Dangal ng Lahi Award in 2006 and the Bulacan provincial government awarded him the Dangal ng Lipi Award in 2009. He received the Most Reliable Weatherperson Award from Media Newser Philippines in 2013 and was tagged the Most Understood and Appreciated TV Weather Presenter/Forecaster in the Philippines by the Philippine Public Safety and Order Support Group in 2014.
