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DENR’S OBSOLETE VEHICLE EMISSION STANDARDS A MAJOR SET BACK TO CLEAN AIR ACT – ALVAREZ
December 1, 2003
Former Senator and Environment Secretary Heherson T. Alvarez today branded the recent
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order No. 51-2003 lowering the emission
standards for motor vehicles in the country as “a major environmental set-back.”
“These are changes that violate the Clean Air Act and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR). Our
original standards in the Clean Air Act were very close to the global standards already practiced in
most countries. The DENR’s new order brought us back to 1984 levels. The order should be recalled before we
inflict irreversible harm against the environment and human health,” he stressed.
Speaking at the Clean Air Forum attended by transport sector leaders and government representatives at the
Megatrade Hall in SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, Alvarez, who is also founding chair of the EarthSaves
Movement, said the new order was not only irregular but a grave error.
Alvarez authored the first bills on Republic Act 8749 or the “Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999” in the
Senate and subsequently co-authored the law in the House of Representatives. He was also chair of the
Senate Committee on Environment for 10 years.
Last Oct. 29, the DENR issued DAO 51-2003, lowering the allowed carbon monoxide emission of in-use
vehicles to 3.5 percent by volume from the original 0.5 of the Act, and the hydrocarbon emission to 600
parts per million from 100 ppm. Effectively, the new order negated the Euro-Level I adopted by the Clean
Air Act.
The obsolete standards adopted by DAO 51 are based on Presidential Decree No. 1181 of 1984,
which regulated emissions by vehicles with the now outmoded carburetor systems.
Euro standards are implemented in Europe and most countries in the world, including Asia—Hongkong,
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam—for purposes of harmonization.
The country’s 2003 emission standards, as set by the Clean Air Act, are Euro-Level I, based on
the presently used fuel injection catalytic converter system with oxygen sensors that reduce toxic exhaust gases.
Stricter emission standards at higher Euro Levels require sensors before and after the converter
to monitor its performance and warn of deterioration of premature failure of the interactive system.
According to the 2002 World Bank Philippine Environment Monitor Report, health costs in 2001 from
sickness brought about by air pollution in only four urban centers—Metro Manila, Baguio City,
Cebu City and Davao City—already reached US$430 million, equivalent to 0.6 percent of the country’s
national gross domestic product.
The review estimated the yearly cost of exposure to polluted air in the four cities alone as follows: over
2,000 people die prematurely—US$140 million; over 9,000 people suffer from chronic bronchitis—US$120
million; and nearly 51 million cases of respiratory ailments—US$170 million.
“Since the 1980s, we have been advocating for cleaner fuel and vehicle emissions in our fight against air
pollution and its resulting effects such as global warming. We forged the Health Air Pact with the oil
companies in 1993 to reduce lead in gasoline and sulfur in diesel. We passed the Clean Air Act and
ratified the Kyoto Protocol to address climate change. But this new DENR order moves us two steps backwards,”
Alvarez concluded.
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