BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-CAR) said the government plans to install ambient air monitoring machines in all urban centers in the country to closely monitor the air quality in the said areas.
Reynaldo S. Digamo, EMB-CAR regional director, said the installation of ambient air monitoring machines in urban centers is part of the medium-term development plan of the agency for the years 2017-2022 to help in the implementation of updated programs and interventions key to having clean air.
“We want to make sure that the agency is able to determine the quality of air in the different parts of the country so that we will know which areas will be provided with the appropriate interventions to help sustain clean air in various parts of the archipelago,” Digamo stressed.
The EMB-CAR official said it is unfortunate that the earlier P300 million allocated by the agency for the purchase of air monitoring machines to be installed nationwide has reverted to the general fund as part of the capital outlay of their central office after the lapse of two years, thus, the need for them to re-strategize how to acquire the needed machines for the urban centers.
Digamo expressed confidence that with the agency’s new road map, the air quality in key cities and urban centers nationwide can be recorded to guide local and national policy-makers in crafting policies that will strengthen the government’s existing programs and projects in improving the air quality in their areas.
He claimed the EMB-CAR is eyeing the purchase of state-of-the-art ambient air monitoring machines to be installed in urban areas in the country instead of the traditional mobile monitoring stations to be able to continuously get the actual data on the prevailing air quality in the said areas.
He explained there is a need for all sectors to be actively involved in the implementation of programs and projects necessary in improving the air quality in their own places, saying that the anti-smokebelching programs by local governments are laudable as this lessens the burden on the agency in creating an anti-smoking unit in their areas of jurisdiction.
He called on the public to cooperate with the agency and the local governments in the implementation of rules and regulations governing cleanliness in the air, water, and land to help sustain a good environment that will be inherited by future generations who will be empowered to also protect the environment that they will pass on through generations. /by Dexter A. See#
