AN environmental group chided Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya for saying the monstrous traffic jam in Metro Manila “is not fatal.”
Leo Olarte, a medical doctor and the chairman of the Coalition of Clean Air Advocates of the Philippines, said on Friday the vehicle gridlock worsens all the deadly effects of unabated motor-vehicle emissions on the health and lives of our people in the metropolis.
“The fatal effects of air pollution, from the millions of motor vehicles plying daily our streets, includes life threatening human diseases, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, particularly hypertension, heart attack and even sudden death,” Olarte said.
Olarte issued his statements after Abaya, a Cornell University alumnus, was quoted in news reports as saying the worsening traffic problem in Metro Manila “may be ruining the day for thousands daily, but at least it’s not fatal.”
According to Olarte, motor-vehicle traffic aggravates all the risk factors in dangerous diseases.
“If you’re a patient with cardiovascular ailments [or predisposed to it] the intensive particulate matter [PM] or soot exposure that you can be subjected to, when caught in monstrous traffic jams for several hours, can possibly trigger life threatening episodes of heart attack, stroke and even sudden death right there and then even when your inside your air-conditioned cars,” he explained in a statement on Friday.
Olarte added that 80 percent of the deadly air pollution in the National Capital Region can be directly traced to unabated emissions of motor vehicles and definitely stagnant traffic multiplies exponentially the dangerous effects of these air pollutants on our people. He cited data from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, an agency parallel to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).
Olarte blamed rampant corruption, particularly in the no show or nonappearance emission testing process both in public utility and private motor vehicles under the control of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), which is under the DOTC, as a major reason Metro Manila is plagued with smoke-belching motor vehicles that pollutes the air.
“We are continuously appealing to the good secretary to act decisively on this crucial public health concern on traffic and air pollution (that continuously threatens us all in the metropolis) by ordering LTO Chief Alfonso V. Tan Jr. to do his job and put an immediate stop to the nonappearance or no show motor-vehicle emission scam under his nose. Lets all join hands and seriously work for clean air in the Philippines” Olarte said.
In the House of Representatives, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino Rep. Rufus B. Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and party-list Rep. Maximo B. Rodriguez Jr. of Abante Mindanao have filed House Bill 4299, requiring vehicle owners with more than one motor vehicle to pay higher registration fees.
Under the measure, additional rates for the annual registration of a second vehicle shall be charged the amount of P5,000, a third vehicle P7,000 and P10,000 for a fourth and each subsequent vehicle.
In their explanatory note, the legislators, citing data from LTO, said that the number of vehicles increased from 5,891,272 registered vehicles in 2008 to 6,220,433 in 2009 and to 6,634,855 in 2010 for an average increase of 6.2 percent per year.
According to the lawmakers, there are too many vehicles plying the roads and there are not enough roads for them which results in heavy traffic causing numerous negative effects to all aspects of the lives of the Filipino people.
The authors, also citing World Health Organization (WHO), said all these vehicles cause too much air pollution, which harms the health of the people, adding that as much as 65 percent of the pollutants in the Philippines are from mobile sources.
“WHO statistics showed that carbon monoxide has the biggest pollution load contribution of 50 percent, mainly due to the increasing numbers of gasoline-fed vehicles, including cars comprise of 13.58 percent and motorcycles/tricycles cover 47.88 percent,” they said.
The lawmakers added that a 2004 report of the Department of Health (DOH) revealed that considerable morbidity and mortality due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases could have been prevented with better air quality in Metro Manila in 2002.
They also cited another report by the Asian Development Bank in 2005 that particulate matter caused premature death and chronic respiratory illnesses and the health cost was estimated to be US$430 million per year.
“With technology for alternative or renewable sources of energy still very inefficient and expensive, there is a need to devise new ways that could help lower the number of vehicles roaming the streets of the country,” the legislators said.