We have a Clean Air Act (RA 8749) enacted many years ago,
but why is it that air pollution is still a big problem, especially in Metro
Manila?
According to the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources' Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), the air quality
situation in the National Capital Region in the first quarter of this year is
even worse than it was at the end of last year.
The air pollutant concentration in the National Capital
Region reached 130 million micrograms per normal cubic meter (µg/Ncm) in terms
of total suspended particulates, up from 106 µg/Ncm at year's end in 2014, the
agencvy said. The maximum safe level of air pollutant concentration is 90
µg/Ncm.
Particulate matter (PM) small enough to be inhaled
include gases emitted from motor vehicles that can affect the heart and lungs
and cause serious health effects.
Pollution, particularly from PM that can find its way
deep into lungs, is largely to blame for 3.2 million preventable deaths
annually, according to the World Health Organization.
The EMB estimates that 71 percent of air pollution in the
country can be traced to 7.5 million motor vehicles on the road. This number is
even higher in the National Capital Region
where 85 percent of air pollution comes from vehicles.
Because the Clean Air Act has obviously failed to solve
air pollution, a civil society group called the Coalition of Clean Air
Advocates has filed administratuve charges against top officials of the
Department of Trade and Industry for alleged "dereliction of duty".
The complaint lodged before the Office of the Ombudsman said the DTI failed to
create the Bureau of Automotive Maintenance, which is supposed to strictly oversee the enforcement of
motor-vehicle standards.
The move by civil society to hale government officials to
court for gross dereliction of duty in so far as ensuring clean air is a step
in the right direction. This is the proper thing to do, so that these officials
are made accountable for their acts of omission. After all, air pollution kills
people, if not at once, then surely later.
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