denr marks 12 years of the clean air act with multi

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DENR marks 12 years of the Clean Air Act WithMulti‐SectoralForum on cleaner transport

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), with theDepartment of Transportationand Communications (DOTC), the Climate Change Commission and thePartnership for Clean Air (PCA) isset to host on June 14‐15, 2011 at the DENR Social Hall, a multi‐stakeholderforum on climate changeand cleaner transport to mark the 12th year of implementation of thePhilippine Clean Air Act.DENR Secretary Ramon Paje reiterated the importance of having to combatair pollution, particularlyfrom mobile sources, to drive forward the implementation of Clean Air Act in

the country.“The law has been in place for twelve years now, and much as we have beenable to achieve a lot,especially in terms of the reduction of total suspended particulates (TSP)level, or the introduction of alternative fuels in the country, we still have a lot to do. Mobile source, infact, remains the top mostsource of air pollution in the country,” he said.

The forum is the third of the series of Clean Air 10 Forum that arebeing held annually since 2009 wheregovernment agencies, local government, business and the civil society

merge to exchange insights tomove forward, Clean Air Act implementation.As one of the DENR's active partners in implementing the Clean Air Act, thePartnership for Clean Air(PCA) stressed the need to strengthen partnerships and coordinated actiontoward cleaner air."Despite significant advances since the implementation of RA 8749, thechallenges we face remainformidable and will test our resolve. We need to forge more alliances not justbetween classes andamong sectors but reaching across generations, because the struggle for

clean air should represent inthe end the confluence of diverse efforts that many Filipinos today areinvolved in,” says Vicky Segovia,PCA Executive Director.

The two‐day forum, dubbed “Clean Air 10+2”, will highlight the needto strengthen partnerships towardclean air and climate change action, with focus on energy and transport. Tobe highlighted are the



initiatives of the local government units, the industries, and the privatesector on clean air and climatechange, particularly on the use of LPG as an alternative fuel for vehicles,electric, hybrid, and nonmotorizedvehicles, and clean fleet management.

Forum participants will also be able to hear the government’sresponse on the mainstreaming of environmentally sustainable transport strategy including the volume trafficreduction scheme, the antismokebelching campaign, and the Mega‐Manila Transport Study. The Clean Air 10+2 Forum is organized by the DENR, the DOTC, the ClimateChange Commission.

Air Pollution/

January 2003

WB STUDY: JEEPNEY DRIVERS ARE LEADING VICTIMS OF AIR POLLUTION. Jeepneydrivers are the leading victims of air pollution in the Philippines in 2002, a recent World Bank report showed.

The report said the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) is highest

among jeepney drivers, affecting 32.5 percent of them. Citing the study of the University of thePhilippines' College of Public Health, the World Bank said that commuters had the lowest prevalence for COPD at 14.8 percent.

The World Bank noted that jeepney drivers are highly at risk of acquiring pulmonarytuberculosis (PTB) with 17.5 percent of them affected last year. Commuters come in second atnine percent. Even bus drivers, in their air-conditioned buses, cannot escape the effects of air pollution. They ranked no. 2 among those affected by COPD at 16.4 percent.

Doctors say that COPD, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis, can be aggravated by air pollution. Those with COPD are also more susceptible to PTB, which is caused by an airborne

bacteria. Victims of COPD suffer from chronic cough with phlegm, wheezing, and shortness of breath. They also sustain irreversible damage to the lungs. PTB sufferers' lungs also develop permanent scars. At least 22 million Filipinos are suffering or exposed to various stages of TB.This means that one out of four Filipinos are exposed to the disease.

Source: Philippine Star, 24 January 2003



AIR POLLUTION KILLS 2,000 PINOYS A YEAR. How much does filthy air cost? The annual payment we make for breathing dirty air, according to the World Bank, is: 2,000 lives lost prematurely and $1.5 billion in lost wages, medical treatment in the urban sprawl of MetroManila, and the cities of Cebu, Davao and Baguio (P79.5 billion) — a figure equivalent to two percent of the country’s annual gross domestic product (GDP).

The annual death toll due to air pollution was cited by Transportation and CommunicationsSecretary Leandro Mendoza from the World Bank’s Philippines Environment Monitor 2002report. Mendoza also cited the report as showing that as many as 9,000 Filipinos in these urbanareas suffer from chronic bronchitis. After baring these alarming figures, Mendoza said theArroyo administration is firm in its resolve to immediately implement the Clean Air Act of 1999(Republic Act 8749).

The World Bank report quoted a study by the University of the Philippines’ College of PublicHealth that traced the causes of the high mortality and morbidity rates due to respiratory illnesseslike bronchitis to "the very high fine particulate emissions (PM10) generated by diesel engines,

emissions from factories and power plants and solid waste burning." These fine particulateemissions, the report said, are either emitted directly or are formed and accumulate in theatmosphere.

Health records show that deaths caused by various forms of respiratory diseases run into scoresof thousands a year, including those in far-flung barrios thought to be unaffected by air pollution,Mendoza said. Dirty air, he said, definitely contributes to the worsening of many respiratorydiseases, even if air pollution does not directly cause these deaths.

The loss of lives to filthy air is not the only price paid by the public. The World Bank report saidthe total cost of exposure to particulate matter in Metro Manila and the three other urban areas

comes to a whopping $430 million (P22.8 billion). Some 80 percent of air pollution is generated by mobile polluters: Motor vehicles.

Source: Philippine Star, 20 January 2003

TRICYCLE DRIVERS WIN REPRIEVE. Smoggy skies over Metro Manila will take a littlelonger to clear, after tricycle drivers on Monday won a one-month reprieve from the Clean Air Act that came into force at the start of the year.

Hundreds of drivers brought traffic in the National Capital Region to an even slower crawl thanusual as they took their vehicles in a procession to Malacanang to protest the new anti-pollution

law. The Clean Air Act calls for emission tests and the phasing out of two-stroke engines. Thereprieve--a suspension for one month of the Metro Manila Development Authority's resolution phasing out two-stroke tricycles--came after the drivers' prayer rally on Mendiola caused a major traffic jam on streets near the Palace.

Environment Secretary Elisea Gozun said MMDA Resolution No. 02-36 would be suspended for a month while the government conducted a review. The National Confederation of TricycleDrivers and Operators Association of the Philippines (Nactodap) said the resolution jeopardized



the livelihood of thousands of tricycle drivers. "Its implementation this January is the start of our sector's Calvary. This government continues to create laws that push our members deeper into poverty," said Ariel Lim, Nactodap national president.

But in his weekly news briefing, MMDA Chair Bayani Fernando said the drivers need not worry

about losing their source of livelihood. He said the resolution did not apply to those who alreadyhave franchises, whether they have two-stroke engines or not.

Nactodap estimated that 7,500 to 10,000 drivers converged on Mendiola on Monday, but policesaid the actual number was only a tenth of that, anywhere between 750 and 1,000. But the presence of hundreds of tricycles held up traffic on Recto, Morayta and Legarda avenues andRamon Magsaysay Boulevard. Gozun and Agrarian Reform Secretary Hernani Braganza ledgovernment negotiators who talked with Nactodap officials. At around 3 p.m., the two sidesreached an agreement after holding negotiations at an eatery on Mendiola.

Aside from the suspension, the government also agreed to set up an inter-agency committee

under the Department of Transportation and Communications, that would include representativesfrom Nactodap, non-government organizations, manufacturers and other government agencies.The committee will help ensure that tricycle drivers are consulted in the shaping of newgovernment policy affecting their sector.

The one-month reprieve may have won the day for drivers and operators, but the country of 80million people has been losing the battle against smog and its ill effects on health. In November,the World Bank warned that air pollution would cost the Philippines almost 1.5 billion dollars per year in medical treatment, lost wages and low productivity. A study by the World Bank showed fine particle emissions caused an estimated 2,000 premature deaths and 9,000 cases of chronic bronchitis each year in the nation's four largest cities.

Source: Philippines Daily Inquirer, 7 January 2003

WITHOUT LEGISLATION, GOVERNMENT HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO ENFORCECLEAN AIR ACT. Malacanang conceded yesterday that the government has no choice but toenforce the Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1999 starting this month, after Congress failed to pass a joint resolution for its temporary suspension.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye yesterday said that President Arroyo is mandated to enforce thelaw unless there is a joint resolution, which has the force and effect of an enabling law if passed by both chambers of Congress to effectively suspend its implementation. A six-month

suspension was earlier proposed because implementing the Clean Air Act would mean additionalcosts to operators of public transport utilities.

Bunye said the proposed passage of the joint resolution was first mulled during the most recentmeeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) convened byMrs. Arroyo at Malacanang with leaders of Congress. "The Clean Air Act... is a law and therewere talks, I think in one (of the) LEDAC meetings attended by congressmen and senators.There was a proposal that it might need a joint resolution to temporarily suspend the



implementation of the Clean Air Act for six months," he said. Bunye noted that "this jointresolution did not push through. So the implementation of the Clean Air Act proceeds."

He was reacting to warnings by leaders of jeepney operators’ and drivers’ associations that theywill have to file a petition for fare hikes to compensate for the additional expenses they would

incur in order to comply with the Clean Air Act. The act, which was made into law under Republic Act 8749, mandates all jeepney and public transport operators to use environment-friendly yet more expensive unleaded diesel that would require them to recondition their dieselengines, which could prove costly to them.

Bunye urged public transport groups to comply with the CAA and cooperate with thegovernment, particularly with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and theDepartment of Transportation and Communications, to help them reduce the cost of complyingwith this law.

Paje vows 30 percent reduction in Metro Manila’s air pollution by

2011

August 25, 2010 10:17 am

MANILA, Aug. 24 — Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje vowedTuesday to reduce the total suspended particulates (TSP) in Metro Manila’s air by 30 percent in2011.

Paje said this is a big effort to clean the air in Metro Manila and other urban centers. He stressedthis during a press briefing at the DENR Central Office in Quezon City.

He said announced that the DENR air pollution reduction target on TSP during a Senate briefingon the state of the environment and natural resources last Wednesday, August 18.

The Senate briefing was attended by Senators Gregorio Honasan, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., VicenteSotto III, and Juan Miguel Zubiri, chair of Senate Committee on Environment and NaturalResources.

Paje explained that as of 2009, the amount of TSP in the metropolis is 134 micrograms(ug)/normal cubic meters (Ncm), which is 48 percent beyond the normal standard of 90 ug/Ncm.

TSPs are small solid or liquid particles suspended in air. The major sources of TSP are dieselvehicles and coal-burning power plants.

Dust is also a major source of TSP especially during dry months. Dust can come from unpavedroads and construction activities.



Citing a report by World Bank in 2007, Paje said that air pollution is already a major cause of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in the country, with an annual government loss of P7.6 billion annually.

This was reinforced by a report conducted by the University of the Philippines College of

Medicine that more than 50 percent of the medicines being bought or sold by drugstore in thecountry are for respiratory illnesses.

To reverse the situation, Paje said, the DENR is closely coordinating with the LandTransportation Office (LTO) for an intensified enforcement of anti-pollution laws on vehicles,such as strict implementation of emission testing prior to registration.

According to him, the vehicles generally termed as mobile sources of air pollution, contribute asmuch as 80 percent of pollution load, while the remaining 20 percent come from industries,referred to as stationary sources.

DENR monitoring shows that more than 50 percent of vehicles are registered without actualtesting by accredited Private Emission Testing Centers (PETCs).

“There should not be a no-show emission certification,” Paje stressed, adding that if all vehiclesare tested prior to registration, the 30 percent reduction on TSP or even more can easily berealized.

The DENR chief has also proposed the installation of CCTV cameras in PETCs as a way tocheck on the malpractice of “no show” certification, and the permanent closure of erring PETCs.(PNA) V3/JCA

denr marks 12 years of the clean air act with multi

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