AS we celebrate the 19th anniversary of the Clean Air Act on June 23, it is worth noting its policy declaration giving “focus primarily on pollution prevention”, which is being ignored as most clean air activities and budgets are concentrated on monitoring ambient air pollution or measuring emissions during anti-smoke belching campaigns.
DENR doing well but not on clean air. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is doing well in environmental issues like the Boracay cleanup drive, solid-waste programs, waste water, greening program, Pasig River rehab, coral reef and mangrove rehabilitation, etc., but is sorely lacking in solid programs on air-pollution prevention and other tasks it is mandated to implement.
For two decades, the DENR limited itself to measuring ambient air pollution and expanding the same by purchasing air monitoring stations worth billions. And yet, it gets the same results with emissions possibly worsening with more vehicles now (415,000 four-wheeled vehicles and almost 1 million motorcycles sold last year) with no massive
intervention efforts.
Sure miss with measure? So far, we measure air pollution endlessly from all angles: 1) at ambient air through monitoring stations; 2) emission Tests at anti-smoke belching road apprehensions, 3) private Emission Testing Centers (PETCs) during car registrations 4) emissions tests at Motor Vehicle Inspection System (MVIS) centers; 5) planned emission inventories by local government units (LGUs) measuring emissions from household stoves, commercial barbecue grills, etc.
Measuring pollution in many ways may be necessary initially, but we will surely miss the point if we keep measuring endlessly. And yet data gathered cannot diagnose problems or identify solutions.
Ambient air expert Dr. Emman Anglo said that measuring ambient pollution is difficult in an archipelago subjected to sea breeze and air turbulence that dilute pollution concentrations, making measurements inaccurate, more so as most monitoring cannot read real-time pollution. It’s different in continental countries, where air is more stagnant.
Another sure miss is measuring emissions at PETCS and MVIS centers, where illegal “nonappearance” paper compliance is widespread. And conducting emissions inventory, like counting barbecue grills, stoves, etc., will require an entire army gathering data house to house. But why bother about household or smokestack factory pollution, and not focus instead on vehicle emissions, which now shares 93 percent of total air pollution in Metro Manila.
DOTr modernization is right, but needs reforms. The Department of Transportation (DOTr) transportation modernization is a program in the right direction, but needs reforms.
Modernization will reduce emissions, improve traffic and increase earnings if done properly. Vehicle replacement is fine, be it electric, Euro-4 diesel, LPG engine, etc., but whatever the transport consumer’s choice, periodic maintenance is needed. More so, as the vehicles undergo stress from passenger overload and an average of 14 hours of
operating time.
Humans need food, sleep, vitamins, exercise, etc., to remain healthy. In like manner, vehicles need periodic maintenance, otherwise they easily break down, affecting amortization payments that may possibly cause this multibillion-peso program to fail.
Unfortunately, maintenance seems missing in the program, although it’s the heart of clean fleet management, anchored on clean vehicles and clean emissions. Section 21 of the Clean Air Act states that the DOTr must implement emission standards through: 1) inspections with MVIS; and 2) maintenance policy, which doesn’t mean the DOTr does the maintenance, but requires it as a periodic habit of operators and drivers. There are many options here, but, perhaps, maintenance may be integrated into the financing equation as a built-in program per group to neutralize the financial brunt of modernization. This way, costs of modernization need not be passed on to commuters through fare hikes, while reducing air pollution as the No. 1 silent serial killer in the metropolis.
Silent killer on the loose. Deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases caused by air pollution have risen, while health costs and lost economic opportunities have ballooned from $2.2 billion in 1990 to $2.8 billion in 2013, says World Bank and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Deaths of Filipinos caused by air pollution soared from 38,676 in 1990 to 57,403 in 2013. Mortality figures are higher if we include the 85,000 Filipinos who die yearly because of respiratory diseases like bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia, etc.
World Bank’s Enviroment Monitor 2002 cited the UP Institute of Public Health’s study, saying drivers recorded the highest chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases at 32.5
percent and pulmonary tuberculosis at 17.5 percent. Although respiratory diseases and smoking are cited factors, the correlation with emissions are undeniable as street children recorded the second-highest incidence of pulmonary diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirms that cardiovascular diseases are aggravated by air pollution.
Penalties aren’t fine, education is vital. Apart from penalties slapped on smoke belchers, Clean Air Act’s Section 46 requires violators to undergo seminars on emissions reduction. After all, no amount of penalties or frequency of apprehension will reduce emissions. Not even a change of vehicle or engine will wipe out emissions.
Education is, therefore, important, which is lasting and empowering. Education implements Clean Air Act’s Section 11, mandating the government to make available all information, best practices, and technological options on pollution control. Section 3b encourages market-based instruments of consumer’s choice, but all this can only be learned if Section11 is implemented.
Cooperatives key to empowerment. Cooperative-building is key to genuine empowerment for the common good, and not corporations, wherein an individual with the majority ownership can seize control of a business. In cooperatives, the one-man-one-vote rules and no individual can dominate the group.
As roads can’t be widened, route rationalization will mean lesser jeepneys, but nobody is displaced with the consolidation of cooperatives that own vehicles or even buses with higher capacities to optimize earnings.
Benefits of cooperativism and maintenance through clean fleet management can mean P8 to P10 per liter in tax exemptions and fuel savings, and much more through consolidated marketing rebate-tie-ups with gas stations.
E-mail: mikealunan@yahoo.com