BETTER VALUE FOR NUMBERS

During the inception of the process or procedures involved in the emission testing of motor vehicles, I could very well recall that the importance of what we normally refer to as “IT” or information technology component was repeated over and over again . This means that the results of the emission testing done by all the private emission test centers (PETC’s) nationwide will be uploaded to a central databank. The Land Transportation Office (LTO) and other concerned departments will have full access to this very valuable data.

In my many years of participation in advocacy work, I had developed a “love affair” with numbers. Simply because numbers are numbers and you have very little ground for quarrel about that – and numbers are significant tools in any advocacy endeavor because of the many interesting stories behind it. And the stories are varied – the degree of their value will largely depend on how we use and interpret them.

My friend, USEC Ricky Alfonso of the Dept. of Transportation and Communication used this PETC database into good use- analysis of the performance of the different emission centers and the tracking of anomalous testing transactions .

But there are more relevant stories that these numbers can tell. The LTO under ASEC Annelli Lontoc, can use this data to punish and call the attention of some LTO District officers who , until today, refused to respect the law. This database when compared with the actual vehicle registration transactions of LTO will tell ASEC Lontoc the sad story that there are still many of the offices under her, especially in less urbanized cities and provinces that thinks they are “above the law’. These are the LTO officers that allows their offices to release registration certificates even without the mandatory emission testing. I am saying this because many of the provinces and smaller cities in Mindanao are so far , far away from the “LTO of Imperial Manila “; and the numbers should be a cause of worry and alarm to all of us. Some LTO people think that they can afford to be complacent about all of these “street pollution” concerns because this is not really a serious problem in their area since the air is not as dirty as Manila due to the presence of fewer number of motor vehicles and large tracts of land. Well, this may be true for now - but, if we don’t watch out – we will become like Manila soon!

Today, increasing levels of air pollution are threatening the well-being of city dwellers, and imposing not just a direct economic cost by impacting human health but also threatening long term productivity investment.

Davao City has been classified as one of the TSP (Total Suspended Particulates) hot spots in the Philippines, having a high concentration of air pollutants in its environment.
According to the World Bank report , the estimated damage to human health in terms of impact on excess deaths, chronic bronchitis, respiratory symptoms and cost of exposure to air pollution showed that Davao City is the 2nd highest among four cities at USD 85million (Metro Manila USD392M; Cebu USD16M; Baguio USD9M).

The 2002 National Air Quality Status Report would show that in five of the seven years previous years,locations outside the Metro Manila exceeded or equaled the highest Metro Manila annual readings – Davao and Tagum in 1996 and Davao again in 1999.

This should merit our serious attention as it shows how air pollution threatens the well-being of Mindanawans.

Transport is a major source of air pollution. In 2003 there were 4.3 million registered vehicles in the country- and it keeps on increasing every year. 36% are utility vehicles ; 17% cars; 6% trucks; 1% buses; 1% trailers ; 36% motorcycles and tricycles . Of all vehicles, 70% are gasoline powered and the rest are diesel. Most of high mileage PUV’s are diesel powered and they emit a significant amount of fine particles of emission that contributes to pollution. PUV’s outnumber cars by a ratio of 2:1 .

In Mindanao , there were 5609,817 registered vehicles in 2003 and 625,047 in 2004; an annual growth rate of 11.45 %. The population of Mindanao was projected to be 20,289 M in 2005 ; growing at 2.11% annually.

Interestingly, the LTO compliance ratings when it comes to mandatory emission testing as a prerequisite to vehicle registration is a low of 40% to a high of 95%. A law is a law- so compliance must be 100% , don’t you think so? In the spirit of transparency and accountability, ASEC Lontoc should make the findings public and have it published in newspapers so that the general public will know whether LTO is doing its job well and run after the erring LTO Officers to perform their work well.

In 2001, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) conducted road side inspections and apprehensions of smoke belchers. 8,470 uility vehicles were apprehended, 4256 buses, 1334 jeepneys. Guess what? 95.6% of the utility vehicles, 91.8% buses and 98.1 % jeepneys failed !

Aside from strict compliance of the emission testing of motor vehicles; there are other equally important support mechanisms to ensure cleaner air for us in Mindanao . One of this is a locally initiated road side inspection and apprehension of smoke belchers by the LGU, LTO DOTC , media and NGO similar to what MMDA did . This, I believe, will help clean the air in our major thoroughfares.

The database found in the LTO databank should also be utilize to examine the performance of the LTO operated MVIS (Motor Vehicle Inspection System) – the entity that conducts emission testing of public utility vehicles (PUV’s). This numbers will prove to us that the MVIS is really doing a good or a lousy job of testing the jeepneys, taxis and tricycles !

Using these numbers might be our only hope to reward the good and to punish the bad . Political will is a matter of choice – it can be used for the good of the greater majority or on the other hand- for personal survival .