[sustran] Smoke Belching Programme to be Launched in Manila Monday

[Al Dizon]

A press release from the Asian Development bank

CAMPAIGN LAUNCH AGAINST SMOKE BELCHERS OF MANILA

A  campaign  against  smoke belchers, as traffic polluting vehicles
are  known  in  the Philippines, will be launched at a signing ceremony at
the  Asian  Development  Bank on 21 February. A multisectoral Memorandum of
Agreement  (MOA) will be signed by top government officials, heads of major
bus,  jeepney  and  truck  organizations  and  representatives from civil
society.

The  Bantay  Usok  (Guard Against Smoke) campaign is a crucial step in
the   ongoing   US$300  million  ADB-supported  Metro  Manila  Air  Quality
Improvement Sector Development Program.

The   government   signatories   will   include   Transportation  and
Communications  Secretary  Vicente  C. Rivera, Trade and Industry Secretary
Mar Roxas, Environment Undersecretary Mario Roño, Energy Undersecretary Ben
Hur  Salcedo, and Chairman Jejomar Binay of Metropolitan Manila Development
Authority.

In  another  important  component of the clean air drive, a Swiss NGO,
Swisscontact,  will  begin  a  program  to  help transport organizations to
improve  vehicle  maintenance. This will reduce fuel consumption as well as
emission levels.

To  heighten  awareness  of the campaign,  an official website for the
Implementing  Rules  and Regulations of the Clean Air Act ( www.hangin.org)
will be inaugurated by Congressmen Nereus Acosta and Heherson Alvarez.

At  least  70  percent of Manila's air pollution is caused by traffic.
Several  of  the  pollutants  exceed  safety  levels  of  the  World Health
Organization  and  affect  the  health  of over 10 million residents in the
capital.

By signing the agreement, government, private sector organizations and
NGOs  will  acknowledge their responsibility to eliminate smoke belching by
December 31, 2003 through a series of coordinated actions

The actions include revising motor vehicle emission standards; raising
awareness  of  the  public  and  the  transport sector of their role in the
campaign;  and promoting through the Land Transportation Office the idea of
self regulation among stakeholders.  This will be linked to the programs to
raise  standards  of  vehicle  maintenance, to acquire testing equipment to
implement  emission  standards  and  to  increase  enforcement  capacity by
establishing anti-smoke belching centers and centralizing data.