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Group doubts Metro Manila air as clean as MMDA chief claims


MANILA, Philippines – A militant environmental group doubts that the air quality in Metro Manila has improved as claimed by Chairman Bayani Fernando of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of the Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE), said Fernando's claim – that the air pollution level in Metro Manila has dropped by 50 percent – has no basis. "MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando's claim of cleaner air in the metropolis is just pure air," Bautista said in a statement e-mailed to GMANews.TV on Monday. "Maybe the ever-arrogant chairman is hallucinating from the polluted air he breathed in EDSA or just campaigning for 2010." Fernando announced last week his intention of running for president in the 2010 elections. Pasay, Makati, and Valenzuela are among the areas that usually exceed the standard 230 micrograms per normal cubic meter for total suspended particulates (TSP), Bautista said, citing the weekly air quality monitoring of the Environment Management Bureau (EMB). He also noted that Metro Manila has a TSP that is frequently five times higher than the World Health Organization Air Quality Guidelines, according to technical paper published by the World Bank. "Manila itself is known to be one the most polluted areas in the Philippines," Bautista said. "The areas of Pasay and EDSA, which Mr. Fernando claims to have significantly improved are still among the most polluted areas in Metro Manila in terms of amount of TSP. Now, he wants people to believe that air quality has improved because of his mechanized street sweeping? No sane person would buy that claim." Bautista cited a joint report of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and World Bank that there are nearly 5,000 premature deaths each year in Manila due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases from exposure to poor air quality. "Eighteen million people still live in cities below desired and healthy living conditions even after the Clean Air Act of 1999 has been passed and countless other development projects and programs. People have endured years of listening to lip service without witnessing actual results and improvement in the Filipino quality of life," Bautista said. Fernando was appointed by in 2002 by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to head the agency that coordinates and mointors to ensure order and development in Metro Manila in such areas as solid waste disposal and management, flood control, health and sanitation, and pollution control. "Mr. Fernando can weave all the tales that he wants but experience and facts tell us that the problem of air pollution, or any environmental issue, has not been resolved," Bautista said. "What the government is doing are only palliative measures. The policies and programs of the government do not address the root causes of pollution, much less of environmental degradation in the country." Kalikasan-PNE is a network of nongovernmental organizations and environmental advocates. - GMANews.TV
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