AN ENVIRONMENTAL advocate said they were happy to note that Davao City has better air quality than most cities in the country based on a recent survey, but warned the government against being complacent.
The 2018 Air Quality Report by the Switzerland-based IQ AirVisual and Greenpeace listed Davao City among the cities in Asia that enjoy clean air quality. Davao ranked 6th.
Other Philippine cities that made the list were Calamba, Valenzuela, Carmona, Parañaque, Makati, Manila, Mandaluyong, Balanga, Quezon, and Las Piñas.
In the same report, the Philippines ranked 48th out of the 73 countries with clean air quality.
Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) managing trustee Mary Ann Fuertes said in a phone interview Thursday, March 7, that the Dabawenyos know the “real situation” in the city.
She cautioned that the report may only cause the people to be complacent into thinking that Davao really has good air quality.
“Malipay man ta but ang amo lang pud nga concern is basin maging complacent ang mga leaders nato og kita na limpyo atong lugar even if we know the real situation (We are supposed to be happy but our concern is the possibility that the leaders will be complacent thinking we have clean air when in fact, we know the real situation),” Fuertes said.
“Dili kayo actually ingon ana ka big deal. Ang challenge pa is how to really ensure nga kita nag-enjoy sa true clean air na malanghap nato everyday (It [the report] is not a big deal. The challenge really is how to ensure clean air that we can truly enjoy everyday),” she added.
The report recorded Davao City’s air quality at 12.2 µg/m³ of PM2.5, which means it is “good” based on the United States air quality index (US IQI) standard.
Fuertes, however, questioned the report in terms of data sampling and variables.
“I have been analyzing. My concern is the sampling of the data. Where and when did they conduct the sampling? Was it for a very short duration only? This data should have a long-term monitoring which also needs to have different weather condition,” Fuertes said in the vernacular.
She urged the local government to strengthen and enforce environmental laws and policies if it wants to achieve better air quality which will not be based on the standard of outsiders, by ensuring the implementation of the “no burning” policy, strict monitoring of emission in factories and vehicles, and proper waste management, among others.
Meanwhile, Davao City Vice Mayor Bernard Al-ag said that while it is a positive development, Dabawenyos should work hand in hand with the local government to make the city a green city.
"This report is a manifestation that our policies and efforts to protect the environment are creating positive effects," Al-ag said.