Poor air quality threatens health and environment
Despite concerted efforts by the government and the private sector to improve the quality of the air we breathe, air pollution continues to be a serious threat to the environment and the health of millions of Filipinos.
Pinpointed by experts as the root cause of the poor quality of air in our atmosphere is the airborne particulate matter in urban cities and population centers, where millions of pesos are lost every year due to environmental diseases.
Metro Manila ranks high among urban centers exposed to this type of air pollution commonly known as soot, which consists of complex and varying mixtures of particles suspended in the air.
Particulate matter causes numerous and serious health problems associated with respiratory and cardiovascular ailments, oftentimes leading to premature deaths, asthma attacks and other ill health effects among urban residents.
Environmentalists have identified automotive transport as the leading and direct contributor to widespread air pollution in the country.
Tagged as the biggest source of polluted air, especially in Metro Manila, are motor vehicles using diesel fuel because of its toxic substance content that proves hazardous to the environment and city inhabitants.
Among the toxic chemicals and substances emitted by diesel-powered vehicles are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur and benzene.
Their diesel exhaust produces particulate matter, a toxic air contaminant associated with lung cancer. Particulate matters are generally said to be composed of soot or carbon formed during combustion, heavy hydrocarbons condensed or absorbed on the soot, and sulfates.
No less than President Aquino has expressed deep concern on the critical level of pollution in the metropolis as he lamented about marveling at a dark, starless sky at night.
In a speech before students and the academe of St. Paul University in Manila, the President commented about how pollution had darkened the city skies and he observed that pollution around Metro Manila had reached critical level, saying that 80 percent of pollution in the metropolis came from vehicular traffic.
The Chief Executive was joined in his concern for the alarming threat of air pollution on the environment and the health of the population by Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje of the Department Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) who has earlier spearhead a campaign against it by targeting smoke-belching vehicles.
In one of his first acts as DENR chief, he issued an administrative order specifying the numerical emission limits for passenger vehicles and light-duty vehicles, and setting the limit values for vehicles fitted with direct injection type diesel engines.
Paje vowed to bring down to a healthier level the amount of smoke and dust particles suspended in the air can which, he said, can be attained by improving the emission of motor vehicles, and setting the limit values for vehicles fitted with direct injection type diesel engines.
Statistics show that at least 7,000 public utility buses ply the 30-kilometer stretch of Epifanio delos Santos Ave. Caloocan City to Baclaran daily -- which can absorb only 2,000 vehicles at any given time -- with most of them considered as colorum buses.
The program of Paje to control, if not totally eliminate, air pollution in the country’s environment conforms with the objectives of Clean Air Initiatives-Asia (CAI-Asia), a multilateral endeavor formed in 2011 by the Asian Development Bank, the US-Asia Environmental Partnership and the World Bank as a flagship initiative for improved air quality. (OSP)
Manila Bulletin