BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-CAR) and its attached bureaus will be launching the Carless Day within the agency’s compound in Pacdal with the support of the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) Airshed Governing Board .
The launching of the Carless Day in the DENR-CAR compound is one of the activities lined up by the agency in celebration of Clean Air Month, Climate Change Consciousness Week and the Philippine Environment Awareness as well as World Environmental Health Day next month.
Regional Director Reynaldo S. Digamo of the Cordillera office of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-CAR) said that the Carless Day within the DENR compound will be done every month wherein employees and visitors will be barred from bringing their vehicles inside the compound to send a clear message to the general public on the need to support the advocacy that will contribute to efforts in reducing the pollutants in the city’s air.
The conduct of the Carless Day within the DENR compound will be done to set an example for local governments to emulate, considering that the members of the BLISTT Airshed Governing Board are currently making representations with the BLISTT local governments for the adoption of the Carless Day in their areas of jurisdiction.
Recent studies show that smoke emitted by motor vehicles is said to be one of the major pollutants in the city’s air considering the growing number of vehicles playing the streets of the BLISTT local governments year-round.
Digamo said that EMB-CAR officials will be attending one of the regular sessions of the Baguio City Council in the coming weeks to explain the implementation of Carless Day in any part of the city to help reduce the volume of travelling vehicles which emit smoke and contribute to air pollution.
He claimed the proposal to declare Carless Day along Session Road is meritorious amidst the stiff opposition of the members of the Session Road Businessmen Association, as the reduction of motor vehicles plying major roads of the city will also translate to significant reduction in the pollutants of the city’s air for at least one day.
Aside from the launching of the Carless Day within the DENR compound, other activities were lined up for the Clean Air Month celebration are the launching of the Run for Cleaner Air starting from the DENR compound to Gibraltar then back to the same area, and Zumba for the World Environmental Health Day which will start as soon as the runners shall have arrived in the said compound.
Digamo urged local officials and residents to support the various activities that were prepared by the agency in celebration of Clean Air Month to guarantee the success of the activities and to remind the people to embrace the practice of environmental preservation and protection programs for the benefit of the present and future generations.
Apart from the DENR-CAR and EMB-CAR, the Cordillera office of the Mines and Geosciences (MGB-CAR) will also play a key role in the celebration of Clean Air Month. /By Dexter A. See
