Baguio-Benguet body to improve air quality

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY -  Air quality in the highlands, particularly along the Metro Baguio area (Baguio and the towns of La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan , Tuba and Tublay), will soon be cleaner with the 10-year old “Airshed Governing Board” springing back to life.

Resurrected by the Environment Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the airshed body aims to put together an integrated master development plan as recommended by a study done in 2004 by the European community.

The Environment Department rates Baguio’s air as “fair to good”. The Metro Baguio government has already vowed to coordinate for the effort.

Airshed refers to “a geographical area within which the air frequently is confined or channeled, with all parts of the area thus being subject to similar conditions of air pollution”.

Such, however, is undefined in the Clean Air Act (Republic Act 8749), said Ramon Dacawi, an environmental advocate and public information officer of Baguio City.

On Feb. 12, 2003,  DENR Secretary Elisea Gozun issued Administrative Order 2003-04 creating the BLISTT Airshed interim governing board.

Under RA 8749, “the designation of airsheds shall be on the basis of, but not limited to, areas with similar climate, meteorology and topology which affect the interchange and diffusion of pollutants in the atmosphere, or areas which share common interest or face similar development programs, prospects or problems”.

The governing board has already reaffirmed 10-year-old resolutions adopted including strengthening the campaign against air pollution from motor vehicle exhaust.

Environment officials recall how Baguio was portrayed in a Philippine Star report as “being the most polluted city in the country” based on the vehicle smoke emission monitoring at the foot of Session Road, the city’s main business thoroughfare. 

The EMB said, however, that the extent of air pollution at the base of the main street did not reflect that average air quality of the whole city.

With the revival of the airshed board, Baguio is now calling for the expansion of its membership, to include the jeepney and taxi associations, the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Education.

The DENR-Cordillera is calling for the strengthening of the campaign through the installation and activation of a closed circuit television system that would monitor vehicles emitting excessive exhaust, resulting in easier apprehension of violators of the Clean Air Act. 

Others are also pushing for the identification of and support to existing local clean air and environmental initiatives being undertaken with or without the sanction of the airshed board and the use of manual emission measuring gadgets far cheaper than the P10 to P12 million electronic device at the foot of Session Road which conked out last December.