Pollution hitting the skies

Things are not getting any better as far as pollution is concerned, with our domestic and international airports plunged into utter chaos last Saturday due to thick smog which made landing risky because of poor visibility. While things could have been less muddled and messy had navigational equipment like the VOR or the ILS been working properly, the CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines) is right – the incident could happen again because of the worsening levels of air pollution in Metro Manila. The inconvenience and the apprehension caused by the delays affected both ordinary passengers and businessmen who bitterly complained about lost business opportunities due to the flight cancellations and redirections.

Before, it was just pedestrians and people on the ground who worried about the risks associated with the noxious smoke in highways and major thoroughfares like EDSA but now, even aircraft passengers are at risk because pollution has reached the skies, so to speak. In the recent Worldwide Quality of Living survey conducted by Mercer Consulting, Metro Manila scored poorly and in fact placed 128th among 221 cities in large part due to “traffic congestion and air pollution.” Hong Kong fared better at 71st place despite alarming reports of life-threatening, record breaking levels of pollution over the past few months, prompting its government to advise people – especially those with respiratory and heart problems – to stay indoors. The condition is exacerbated by the pollution in Southern China whose toxic emissions from factories and coal plants are blown into Hong Kong, and which could very well affect other parts of Asia including the Philippines as winds blow the toxic fumes over our shores.

According to a World Bank report issued in November last year, 15,000 Filipinos die prematurely due to air pollution, while more than one million get sick every year of various lung-related illnesses such as pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma. The report said that air pollution costs the Philippines billions of dollars in terms of lost manpower and productivity, lost income and health expenses annually. The same report also blamed rapid population growth as one of the factors that have led to environmental degradation in the country.

It’s interesting how such reports from Mercer and the World Bank hit it on the nose: the worsening traffic situation particularly in Metro Manila is an indicator of the rapidly growing population, and this same bad traffic situation has in turn become a major contributor to the worsening air pollution. Just how bad traffic has become can be gleaned from the fact that the president of this country ends up late for important occasions because he gets stuck in the slow-moving traffic in EDSA which he has to endure because he refuses to use the “wang-wang” to clear the path for his vehicle.

As pointed out by my STAR colleague Dick Pascual, it used to take only one mystery of the Holy Rosary to finish the commute from Makati to Monumento but now, it will take as much as four mysteries before one could reach his destination. Aside from lost hours in terms of productivity, just think of the gasoline wasted with vehicles idling for hours – which in turn contribute to air pollution. The MMDA knows thousands of colorum buses are the number one reason why we have such a tangled traffic situation in EDSA, but they have turned a blind eye to the presence of these culprits for so long – and it’s only now that they have promised to seriously go after these illegal buses. And while they’re at it, they should also get rid of very old cars that spew thick smoke and get stuck on the road which make the gridlock worse.

Seriously though, air pollution has become a pressing global problem, with major cities like London found to be one of the most polluted places in Europe. Research indicates that air pollution could be responsible for more than 50,000 premature deaths in the UK every year – a situation which has been described by a politician as “an invisible public health emergency.” Air pollution reduces human life expectancy by more than eight months on the average and by more than two years in the most polluted cities, the same politician said.

Obviously, the Philippines could not afford to be complacent knowing the high costs of pollution in terms of economic productivity and mortality and morbidity. Readers know that I have always been passionate about the issue of pollution, which is why I like what I hear that President Noy has ordered new DENR Secretary Mon Paje to do something about the situation which has gone from bad to worse especially in Metro Manila. I’m sure the poor air quality also affects the president who suffers from sinusitis, a nasal problem closely linked with allergic rhinitis, both of which can cause headaches and make life miserable.

Another issue which I have been passionate about is population management. Whether people like it or not, there is no denying the correlation between pollution and population. Just like his predecessor Esperanza Cabral, newly-appointed Health Secretary Enrique Ona realizes the need to educate couples on responsible parenthood, which means giving them informed choices about different methods of contraception.

As president, Noynoy Aquino is in a position to do something about the twin issues of pollution and overpopulation for the next six years, and for me a good start is the formulation of clear-cut policies on population management and stricter implementation of existing environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and others to combat pollution and environmental degradation.

If President Noy can start the process of cutting down two of the “Four P’s” among the main issues that afflict the country like Population and Pollution (with the other two P’s being too much Politics and Poverty), then he would have been a success as president. 

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