DENR leads observance of Clean Air Month

November is "Clean Air Month" by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 1109. This month-long celebration, dubbed "Malinis na Hangin . . . Ipamana Sa Amin" formally took-off with the ribbon cutting ceremonies led by DENR Secretary Heherson T. Alvarez, at the Children’s Library of Robinson’s Galleria, EDSA Ortigas, on Nov. 10, 2001.

The event gathered selected school children from the University of the Philippines PAUW Child Care Center, KOSTKA School Katipunan, CMLI CHEERS Quezon City and Immaculate Conception. Also there to grace the occasion were EMB Director Julian Amador, DECS NCR director Corazon Santiago, Earthwatch Philippines Foundation managing director Philip Escueta, Children’s Library executive director Ann Cheock and Elizabeth Gokongwei.

The Children’s Library, a project of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation, is where environmental stories, film shows, puppet shows, funcrafts, art exhibits, games, mazes and puzzles are accessible to children.

The celebration of Clean Air Month is a government strategy to intensify the implementation of Republic Act 8749, otherwise known as Philippine Clear Air Act of 1999. Several initiatives and activities have been undertaken by the DENR to ensure its effective implementation.

One of them is by encouraging people’s maximum cooperation through advocacy. Along this line, two batches of trainer’s training on Clean Air Act for DENR personnel were conducted the other month – one in Baguio City for Luzon participants and one in Davao for Visayas and Mindanao participants.

It is expected that the participants will conduct clean air awareness seminars/campaigns in their respective areas of assignments. To ensure that this responsibility will be undertaken, each participant was required to submit a plan of action for the next six months.

Aside form this, the EMB conducted information education and communication (IEC) campaigns in various regions in Luzon to drum up people’s action and support for clean air. — Benny Enriquez