QC TO LAUNCH CLEAN AIR INITIATIVES

The Quezon City Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department (EPWMD) will hold a grand launching of Quezon City Clean Air Initiatives on Friday (July 22) at the Sky Dome of SM City North, Edsa.

Themed as “Strengthening Air Quality Management in Quezon City thru partnerships, capacity building, legislative measures and enforcement strategy,” the launch is in support of the Clean Air Act of 1999.

QC Mayor Herbert Bautista will open the program with an inspirational message, followed by messages from DENR Sec. Ramon Paje, Councilors Gian Carlo Sotto III, Dorothy Delarmente and Peter Crisologo. Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte will give the closing remarks.

Mayor Bautista strongly supports and advocates the use of eco-friendly technology and system to protect and save the environment and lessen the impact of climate change.

Bautista believes that working together to save the environment will help in the effort of reducing greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

EPWMD Head Frederika Rentoy said included in the program is the city’s 12 point clean air agenda towards air quality management, institutional partnership, closer coordination and cooperation with other national government agencies, the academe, transport sector, non-government organizations and Filipino innovators.

Rentoy said that the programs under the 12 point agenda include the review and amendment of City Ordinance no. S-1906, S-2008 or the anti-smoke belching ordinance; conducting a massive information campaign geared towards public education on health effects, policy standards, enforcement and government verified measures related to clean air; and conducting a competency and capacity building program for the transport sector;

Conducting outdoor and indoor air quality monitoring and assessment with the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources and Labor and Employment; strengthening anti-smoking enforcement with clearer identification of non-smoking areas; pursuing further landfills and market waste processing for methane capture program and greenhouse gas mitigation;

Regulating the issuance of local permits/clearances of private emission testing centers (PETCs) by the city thru the EPWMD in the light of the rampant proliferation of non-appearance emission test compliance certificates; integrating anti-smog advocacy and programs to the green building ordinance; and implementing infrastructure development/improvement for walkways, footbridges, bike lanes and for disabled.

Once all mechanisms are fully operational, the City can claim that it is the first local government unit (LGU) in the country that has comprehensibly institutionalized mechanisms for cooperation among different sectors towards air quality management. Divine/ Maureen Quiñones, PAISO