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Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Malig: 'Shoot' smoke belchers
By Jun A. Malig
Cognition
NUMEROUS health and environment-conscious men and women are sick and tired of becoming unwilling victims of smoke belchers that have been polluting the air and people's lungs with harmful contaminants like leads and carbon monoxide. As if taking the advice of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for every individual to become involved and take concrete measures to protect the environment and promote public health, some non-government groups have decided to do something against smoke belchers.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), through its National Committee on Legal Aid and its National Environmental Action Team, launched barely three months ago the "Take-A-Pic-4-Clean Air" program, which is shooting smoke belchers not with guns but with cameras. The pro-heath and pro-environment project, being conducted in cooperation with the Association of Metro Manila Anti-Smoke Belching Units and the Partnership for Clean Air, aims to compel all private motorists and operators of public transports to comply with the country's prevailing emission standards.
Many IBP members in Metro Manila are willing to prosecute the owners of smoke belching vehicles photographed by concerned citizens. The group's Quezon City chapter alone, for instance, has 25 lawyers for the program.
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), through Assistant Secretary and concurrent Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Anneli Lontoc, has expressed its full support to the program.
Lontoc even assured the IBP that it will provide the names and addresses of vehicle owners whose smoke-belching vehicles would be caught on camera. She has also allowed the IBP to use the agency's emission testing center to test the photographed vehicles.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Metro Manila is also very supportive of the program. It may be noted that Secretary Angelo Reyes is the head of the National Anti-Environment Crime Task Force (Naectaf), which has replaced the defunct National Anti-Crime Task Force by taking over the latter's funds, assets and equipment through Executive Order (EO) 515 issued by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last March 15.
The Naectaf has an ongoing campaign against erring private emission testing centers. The task force has warned that the accreditation of private emission testing centers that issues certificate of compliance to smoke belchers would be revoked and that they would be charged in accordance with the Clean Air Act of 1999.
"Never doubt that a group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has," said Josephine Mangila of the Energy and Clean Air Project of the US Agency for International Development (Usaid) during the launch of the "Take-A-Pic-4-Clean Air" program. The agency has also expressed its support to the campaign against smoke belchers on public roads. Owners of smoke belching vehicles photographed by concerned groups and individuals have been sent Notices to Sue. They will be brought to the court for violating the Clean Air Act of 1999.
The IBP said that the program aims to encourage ordinary citizens to take action against smoke belchers pursuant to the citizen suit provision law. It said that Section 41 of the law encourages citizens to file an appropriate civil, criminal or administrative action against any person who violates or fails to comply with the provisions of the act including owners of smoke-belching vehicles.
Under the program, ordinary citizens can take pictures of smoke-belching vehicles and send the pictures to the IBP for legal action. The IBP will get the names and addresses of the owners of the vehicles caught on camera from the LTO. The IBP, on behalf of those who took the pictures of the vehicles, will send Notices to Sue to the vehicle owners.
"The Notice to Sue requires the vehicle owner to repair his/her vehicle within 30 days from receipt of the notice. The vehicle owner will also be required to present the vehicle to the Emission Testing Center at the LTO East Avenue in Quezon City on a specified date for emission testing," the IBP stated.
"If the vehicle passes the emission test, no suit will be filed against the vehicle owner. However, if the vehicles fail the test, the LTO will give the owners seven days within which to have their vehicles fixed, otherwise the IBP on behalf of the citizen who took the pictures, or the LTO, will file the appropriate cases against them. If the vehicle owner fails to present his/her vehicle for testing, the IBP, on behalf of the citizen who took the pictures, will file the necessary cases against the vehicle owner. The pictures of the smoke-belching vehicle serve as prima facie evidence of the vehicle owner's violation," the lawyers' group added.
Perhaps the IBP chapters in Pampanga, Angeles City, and other parts of Central Luzon would like to follow the exemplary example being shown by their colleagues in Metro Manila. I'm sure that lawyers and their families are also unwilling victims of irresponsible owners of smoke-belching vehicles. DENR and LTO officials and employees in Pampanga and Central Luzon should also manifest their active involvement in the crusade against smoke belchers.
(July 18, 2006 issue)
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