Initiatives to Improve Air Quality


President Aquino, on his speech before students and the academe of St. Paul University in Manilahas expressed deep concern on the critical level of pollution in the metropolis as he lamented about marveling at a dark, starless sky at night. Joined by Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje of the Department Environment and Natural Resources, vowed to bring down to a healthier level the amount of smoke and dust particles suspended in the air can which, he said, can be attained by improving the emission of motor vehicles, and setting the limit values for vehicles fitted with direct injection type diesel engines.

The program of Paje to control, if not totally eliminate, air pollution in the country’s environment conforms with the objectives of Clean Air Initiatives-Asia (CAI-Asia), a multilateral endeavor formed in 2011 by the Asian Development Bank, the US-Asia Environmental Partnership and the World Bank as a flagship initiative for improved air quality.


Another program of the Secretary whose ultimate aim is to cut the five million tricycles in the country to become zero-emission vehicles. Pushing the goal further is to make the most, if not all diesel-run Public Utility Jeepneys to run on electric power. These efforts and steps towards helping to achieve a cleaner air has garnered praise from other countries. The Philippines has already made a lot of progress in its efforts to clean the air since the enactment of the Clean Air Act.

Paje, also was proud to say that the Philippines' Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is exceptionally high with a rating of 71.7 points in contrast to the standard of the Asia Pacific regional coverage which is 54.3. The EPI ranks coutries or regions on 25 different performance indicators tracked across ten  policy categories. One of those categories is the impact on humans concerning public health and ecosystem vitality. Higher EPI rating means that the country or region is closer to achieving it environmental policy.

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