The air will no longer be free

More and more people are developing some form of asthma with the worsening air pollution in Metro Manila. Even the most powerful person in this country is not exempted from this horrific situation. We are told that P-Noy’s sinusitis has gone from bad to worse not necessarily from smoking but because of air pollution. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why Environment Secretary Mon Paje gave “the dirt” about EDSA and declared this traffic chokepoint a “nonattainment area” — meaning the air quality has become so bad that the number of buses plying EDSA should be limited and that no new factories should be built along its entire stretch.
Obviously vehicles account for 80 percent of air pollution in Metro Manila, with traffic jams compounding the situation precisely because vehicle engines, no matter how clean they are, add to the pollution load when they are left idling for long periods. I was told there are now 7,000 buses plying the EDSA route when it can actually take only 2,000 at any given time. Worst, most of them are colorum buses. How in heaven’s name could this happen? Oh well, we all know the answer.

But what amazes me is why the LTO, LTFRB, MMDA and all these concerned agencies can’t seem to do anything to stop these colorum vehicles and ease the traffic congestion not only in EDSA but in C5, Commonwealth and other gridlock areas. We really need to change the way things are done in this country. For one, people should support the proposal to cut the franchise permit and limit the use of buses from the current 15 years to 10 years to rid the roads of these dilapidated “rolling coffins.”

Maybe the call of Northern Samar Congressman Emil Ong to abolish bus terminals along EDSA and transfer them elsewhere should also be considered to help improve air quality. At least we are beginning to see more and more of our elected officials and the public in general starting to realize that the air in Metro Manila is no longer free. Our friend, Senator Loren Legarda, has been at it for so many years, and for a while she seemed like the only one who cared about the environment. Loren, who chairs the Senate Committee on Climate Change, is going beyond politics and is committed to continue her advocacy long after her term as senator is over.

Other very influential people like Gina Lopez are tireless in efforts to rehabilitate Pasig River and help relocate squatter communities along the riverbanks to give renewed life to the almost dead Pasig River. Gina and her Bantay Kalikasan were instrumental in the passage of the Clean Air Act when they collected more than five million signatures supporting the bill — and that was long before being an environmentalist became the vogue, so to speak.

Media people are also keenly aware of how horrible the situation is. STAR columnist Alex Magno, looking down from Greenfields in Laguna, described how bad the air pollution is, writing in a recent column how Metro Manila was “shrouded by a dark cloud” that turned out to be smog and not a storm cloud as he initially thought. Inquirer’s Letty Magsanoc was kind enough to publish on the front page an aerial photo I took one early morning a couple of years ago showing Makati and the whole Metropolis enveloped in a black, thick blanket of smog.

A lot of statistics have been cited showing the huge costs of air pollution among Filipinos. A World Bank report says some 1.5 million Filipinos are afflicted with respiratory diseases (like pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma) every year due to air pollution, and this is costing the economy almost P1 billion in terms of lost income and productivity. An estimated 15,000 Filipinos die prematurely every year and if you really think about it — this is worse than the Maguindanao massacre. Just by the sheer number of elderly people dying including young children — it’s not far from the Auschwitz gas chambers.

We encourage media to be watchful over this issue and continue to make more people in government become aware of the serious dangers of air pollution. Those who live in high-end, gated communities and travel in nice air-conditioned cars are definitely not exempted. Everybody suffers from the ill effects of pollution that continue to hover like a menacing ghost — slowly creeping into our lungs. We have seen too many examples of irresponsible drivers with their smoke belching buses honking and driving like maniacs. We wonder, when did these jerks buy the streets? Very often you want to hang them by their toes. In fact, there have already been instances where motorists with guns go on a rampage, shooting indiscriminately at some of these buses. With more and more cars and buses added to the streets of Metro Manila, you can expect more of the same incidents to happen again and again.

Christmas no doubt is the worst time of the year when it comes to traffic and pollution. With cooler temperatures, the air becomes thicker and with it all those black carbon particles getting into our lungs faster as we gasp for more air. Clearly, the growing population in Metro Manila is a major contributing factor with jobs too concentrated in already congested areas. The only solution is to fast track the mass transport system with the end in view of moving out jobs to outlying areas. Otherwise, the time will come — and you can already see it coming — when people will need to buy oxygen simply because the air we breathe will no longer be free. –Babe Romualdez (The Philippine Star)