general information - tcdc2.undp.orgtcdc2.undp.org/gssdacademy/sie/docs/vol20/new/10.pdf · general...

GENERAL INFORMATION

Implementing Institutions:

In coordination with the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP):

• Innovative Experience No. 1: Local government units (LGUs) of Metro Manila, the Metro Manila Anti-Smoke Belching Association, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Land Transportation Office;

• Innovative Experience No. 2: LGUs of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu Cities; the University of San Carlos; Don Bosco Technology Center; the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Region VII; the Pollution Control Association of the Philippines-Region VII; and the Environmental Management Bureau-Region VII; and

• Innovative Experience No. 3: LGU of Puerto Princesa City, in cooperation with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and tricycle operators and drivers associations; the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Motorcycle Development Programme Participants Association; with support from the United States Agency for International Development and the Asian Development Bank.

Head:Hon. Edward S. HagedornFocal Mayor for the League of Cities of the Philippines Environment Unit from 2004 to 2007

Details of the Institution:Address: League of Cities of the Philippines, 7th Floor, Unit J & K, CyberOne Building, Eastwood, Brgy. BagumbayanQuezon City 1110, PhilippinesTel.: (+632) 4706837E-mail: [email protected]: www.lcp.org.ph

10Philippines

Sustainable Environmental Initiatives of Philippine Cities: Best Practices in Air Quality ManagementVoltaire L. AcostaRaquel A. NaciongayoMaricon EncaboJovenee Sagun

143

Implementation Period:Initiated in 2002 and ongoing

Costs:Innovative Experience No. 1: Expenditures from Metro Manila LGUs vary. For example, Pasig City spends $300,000 per year for hiring enforcers while it recovers approximately $100,000 in fines and penalties. The Metro Manila Anti-Smoke Belching Association partners contribute in kind.

Innovative Experience No. 2: Not available.

Innovative Experience No. 3: For preventive maintenance, USAID paid $10,000 to the Motorcycle Development Programme Participants Association to conduct the training. For microfinancing, the Asian Development Bank provided a grant of $120,000 and Puerto Princesa City provided a counterpart of $37,000. All other funding is part of the regular budget of the City.

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y

It is widely recognized that local government units (LGUs) are always at the forefront in the delivery of basic social services and the Philippine Local Government Code empowers them to perform functions that will protect the environment and welfare of their constituents. Many case studies in the Philippines demonstrate that locally de-signed initiatives on air quality management provide effective and cost-efficient ways to achieve sustainability objectives in urban settings. It is the role of the League of Cities of the Philippines, among others, to coordinate these initiatives and encourage other LGUs to replicate them.

In the light of the many environmental functions devolved to LGUs, the pres-ent case study discusses how two clusters of cities (Metro Manila and Metro Cebu) and Puerto Princesa City in the Philippines work with the issues and challenges in implementing these projects. It also presents the emerging trends in local air quality management such as public-private partnership, industry and academia collaboration, social marketing, and the use of appropriate policies, technologies and market-based instruments.

144 | VOLUME 20: SUCCESSFUL PRACTICES IN URBAN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

I N N O V A T I V E E X P E R I E N C E I N L O C A L A I R Q U A L I T Y M A N A G E M E N T N O . 1 : F O R M A T I O N O F M E T R O M A N I L A A N T I - S M O K E B E L C H I N G A S S O C I A T I O N

S U M M A R Y

Figure 2. "Take-a-Pic-4-Clean-Air" initiative.Figure 1. Roadside vehicular apprehension in Metro Manila.

B A C K G R O U N DA N D J U S T I F I C A T I O N

Increasing population and rapid urban-ization create an increasing demand for mobility. The rapid expansion of the vehi-cle fleet in the Philippines has resulted in increased traffic congestion and fuel use. In Metropolitan Manila alone, the num-ber of registered vehicles increased from

0.6 million in 1990 to 1.6 million in 2005 and 2.0 million in 2011. This constitutes around 30 per cent of the country’s total. A three-year source apportionment anal-ysis indicated that the transport sector is the most significant source of particulate matter in Metro Manila, contributing 50 to 90 per cent of air pollutants depending on sampling sites. Major pollution hot-spots are found to be concentrated along major arteries and dense traffic networks.

Metro Manila comprises 17 cities and municipalities, which makes it the larg-est urban centre in the Philippines. It also ranked as one of the world’s cities with the poorest air quality. Roadside vehicular apprehension (fig. 1) used to be highly centralized so the cities took it upon themselves to organize an

anti-smoke belching association. Many cities have passed local ordinances, successfully lobbied for deputation by the Land Transportation Office in ap-prehending smoke belchers, and co-im-plemented the “Take-a-Pic-4-Clean-Air” initiative (fig. 2) to penalize violators of the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999.

Philippines Sustainable Environmental Initiatives of Philippine Cities: Best Practices in Air Quality Management | 145

The Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 is unique in Asia with its airshed approach1 to air quality management. Airshed governing boards are created as policy and planning units to com-plement the regulatory functions of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as lead agency. These boards have a diverse membership and LGUs share the responsibility of man-aging and maintaining air quality within their territorial jurisdiction. With regard to roadside vehicular apprehension, however, the stumbling block for LGUs with respect to full enforcement is a sec-tion under the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 that limits their role to being merely “deputized” as roadside enforc-ers.

From 2000 to September 2003, the Land Transportation Office was able to test more than 67,000 vehicles. In 2003, 21,141 diesel vehicles were apprehended for smoke belching, yet in 2004, the number of apprehensions decreased to 16,250. The decline from 2003 to 2004 was primarily because of the toned-down operation of the Land Transportation Office and the Metro Manila Development Authority2 during those periods. The Metro Manila De-velopment Authority later turned over its opacimeters to LGUs.

D E S C R I P T I O N

In March 2004, the Department of En-vironment and Natural Resources con-ducted a three-day training programme for the team leaders of Metro Manila anti-smoke belching units to enhance their technical skills and to have a uni-form approach to roadside apprehen-sion. This event also marked the birth of the Metro Manila Anti-Smoke Belch-ing Association when delegates elected their set of officers from each LGU anti-smoke belching unit. The Associa-tion later in 2005 registered itself with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission, thereby becoming an in-dependent body recognized by law.

For a while, each Metro Manila anti-smoke belching unit had to clarify protocols with the Land Transportation Office. In the Philippines, the Land Trans-portation Office issues vehicle licences and plate numbers. When it apprehends a violator of the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999, it can easily confiscate the vehi-cle plates for retrieval by the owner once the fines have been settled. For deputized LGUs, the Land Transportation Office requires them to turn over the confis-cated plates, and the Office collects the fines from the violators apprehended by LGU enforcers. This posed a problem since LGUs were the ones who spent money for manpower for enforcers and

1 Philippines Country Synthesis Report on Air Quality Management prepared by the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities or CAI-Asia (Asian Development Bank, 2006) in cooperation with the Partnership for Clean Air, the Environ-mental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the League of Cities of the Philippines.

2 The Metro Manila Development Authority is a quasi-regional LGU tasked to perform specific governance functions in the Metro Manila area such as solid waste management and traffic management.


for gasoline for the vehicles that they used. For example, Pasig City spent around $210,000 in 2010 for the salaries alone of its team leader and enforcers. Improved enforcement therefore relied heavily on the financial sustainability of the Pasig City programme. Graph 1 shows the expenses and revenues of the Pasig City anti-smoke belching pro-gramme from 2007 to 2012.

One by one starting with Maka-ti City, the LGUs decided to have an office in their own city halls where vi-olators could pay the fines and retrieve their vehicle licence plates. They can do this by establishing their respective air quality management funds by virtue of their respective local ordinances. To illustrate, Makati City and Pasig City in 2010 were able to collect a total of $42,000 and $73,000, respectively, for fines and penalties. Even though the collected fines still do not enable them to recover the operational costs asso-

ciated with their anti-smoke belching programme, they simply justify the bal-ances as worthwhile expenditures owing to the positive impacts associated with health and environmental costs.

Because of its strong organization and independent character, the Metro Manila Anti-Smoke Belching Associa-tion has ventured into other pioneering projects as well. It has collaborated with the Partnership for Clean Air3 and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Na-tional Environmental Action Team to operationalize the citizen-suit provision of the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999. Under the “Take-a-Pic-4-Clean-Air” initiative (fig. 2), citizens and staff of the Metro Manila Anti-Smoke Belching Unit can take pictures of smoke belchers and record the licence plate number, date and location for referral to lawyers of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. The Integrated Bar of the Philippines then requests the vehicle owner’s name

3 The Partnership for Clean Air is a network of organizational members from government, civil society, academic in-stitutions and the private sector whose mission is to promote air quality management as a multi-stakeholder effort in the Philippines. It is a local network of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities in the country.

Graph 1. Yearly expenses and revenues of the Pasig City Anti-Smoke Belching Unit (ASBU).

300,000

250,000

200,000

150,000

100,000

50,000

0

2006 2008 2010 2012

Pasig City ASBU operating expenses

Revenues from fines and penalties


and address from the Land Transporta-tion Office and mails the owner a Notice to Sue. The notice requests the vehicle owner to fix his/her vehicle so that it will comply with the vehicle emission standards and then bring the vehicle to the Land Transportation Office emission testing centre. If the vehicle fails the test

or if the owner fails to bring the vehicle to the Land Transportation Office emis-sion testing centre, an administrative suit will be filed against the vehicle owner. The most recent statistics on the number of roadside vehicular apprehensions are shown in the table below.

Number of roadside vehicular apprehensions, by selected apprehending unit, 2009-2011.

R E P L I C A B I L I T Y

The approaches and strategies under-taken by the Metro Manila Anti-Smoke Belching Association are highly replica-ble by other regional clusters of LGUs in the Philippines because of common national policies. Currently, other Asian countries are in the process of passing their own national air legislation and the success of the Association can set an example for other cities to assert their powers amid administrative turfing or financial limitations, especially when public health and the environment are at stake.

I M P A C T

The most recent air quality data along the main thoroughfares of Metro Ma-nila have shown a slight improvement over the past several years. For example, Ayala Avenue in Makati City recorded a total suspended particulate (TSP) read-ing of 161 micrograms per normal cubic metre (µg/NCM) in 2011 as compared to 294 µg/NCM in 2010. As other new programmes are being implemented by the Government such as the Philippine Biofuels Act or mass transport systems, it may be difficult to quantify the con-tribution of Metro Manila anti-smoke belching units to air quality improve-

Apprehending unit (selected) 2009 2010 2011

Makati City 9,310 6,595 5,214

Pasig City 10,300 5,530 7,908

Muntinlupa City 4,463 509 9,035

Pasay City 491 940 ND

Quezon City No operation 3,640 18,747

City of Manila NA 739 10,143

Land Transportation Office 11,642 2,580 ND

Environmental Management Bureau-National Capital Region 856 609 2,537

Metro Manila Development Authority ND ND 3,394


ment. However, the fact remains that more vehicle owners now think twice about their air emissions before plying Metro Manila streets.

Another offshoot of the Metro Manila Anti-Smoke Belching Associ-ation was created in 2006 when the Metro Manila environment officers de-cided to form an association that would address all aspects of environmental governance: air quality management, solid waste, sanitation and wastewater management, and other environmental issues. This group was the Association of Metro Manila Environment Officers.

L E S S O N S L E A R N E D

As in many developing countries, administrative turfing, limited finan-cial resources and the challenges of decentralization are common reasons why some policies do not take off as effectively as they should. Inter-agen-cy compromises and collaboration are just some solutions. When the LGUs observed that other agencies had lim-ited capacity to enforce the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 and that the air was becoming dirtier, they asserted the powers vested in them by the Philip-pine Local Government Code and took on the responsibility. In addition, more projects and collaborative efforts were developed because other organizations acknowledged their unity and solidari-ty in solving the issues that confronted them.

F U T U R E P L A N S

At present, the Metro Manila An-ti-Smoke Belching Association works with authorities in establishing more am-bient air quality monitoring stations and in conducting regular Transport Summits. It is also an active player in the imple-mentation review of the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 where it has already sug-gested amendments to some provisions of the Act that limit LGUs in performing their functions more effectively.

I N N O V A T I V E E X P E R I E N C E I N L O C A L A I R Q U A L I T Y M A N A G E M E N T N O . 2 : T H E M E T R O C E B U L O W -C O S T A M B I E N T A I R Q U A L I T Y M O N I T O R I N G P R O J E C T

S U M M A R Y

The Metro Cebu Low-cost Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Project is a model of inter-LGU collaboration in govern-ing the common airshed of the LGUs. The LGUs partnered with local edu-cational institutions, the environmen-tal regulatory body and the pollution control association to adopt low-cost ambient air quality monitoring systems using the lead dioxide candle method for sulfur dioxide (SO2) and the trieth-anolamine method for nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The monitoring results from an initial five-month intensive study were mapped for planning purposes


and as inputs to the action plans of the then-newly-established Metro Cebu Airshed Governing Board.

B A C K G R O U N D A N D J U S T I F I C A T I O N

Metro Cebu is one of the busiest urban centres of industry, commerce and ed-ucation in the Philippines. The critical air pollutants as identified by the stake-holders were sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide from industrial facilities, delivery trucks and a major Philippine icon: the jeepney.4 Issues of acid rain, damage to property such as metals and fabrics, and public health were the main concerns of the residents. The stakeholders then tried to explore alternative, less expensive means of obtaining reliable baseline infor-mation on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen di-oxide so that the newly established Metro Cebu Airshed Governing Board could

formulate strategies to effectively abate the air pollution problems in “attainment” and “non-attainment” sub-areas within the context of the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999.


Preliminary baseline data on factors that would likely affect air quality in the three cities (Cebu City, Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City), such as industrial facil-ities, population densities and local poli-cies, were gathered. In addition, vehicular traffic and wind rose data were profiled, as shown in graphs 2 and 3.

In line with the set ambient air monitoring objectives, the project imple-menters developed site selection criteria for installing air monitoring stations. The

4 Jeepneys are public utility vehicles fabricated from imported surplus engines, which transport the public via speci-fied routes (normally over distances of about 20 to 30 kilometres). They have a capacity ranging from 6 to 24 pas-sengers depending on body length and local designs.

Graph 2. Vehicular traffic profile in Metro Cebu cities.

Graph 3. Wind rose baseline data.

2613

6

4

16

8

METRO CEBU VEHICLE TRAFFIC PROFILE

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

NO

. OF

SA

MP

LIN

G S

ITE

S

MANDAUE CITY LAPU-LAPU CITYCEBU CITY

L

M

H

10

11

8


criteria included geographic distribution, population density, topography, accessi-bility, and safety of the instruments. Fifty samplers were located in Cebu City con-sidering its area, daytime population and vehicular traffic; 29 were placed in Man-daue City with its major industries; and 23 were installed in Lapu-Lapu City with its high-population-density barangays.5

Sulfur dioxide sampling was un-dertaken using the lead dioxide candle method. The lead dioxide paste was painted on a 100-cm2 piece of cloth wrapped around a cylinder and exposed to air for one month. Monthly nitrogen dioxide sampling was conducted using a passive sampler exposed to air for 24 hours. Duly trained volunteers from Don Bosco Technology Center installed the samples while the University of San Carlos regularly performed a laboratory analysis of them.

Initial results of the monitoring of the ambient air quality revealed that sul-fur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide levels, on average, were well within the stand-ards prescribed under the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999, which designates Metro Cebu as an “attainment” area. According to this Act, existing and new air pollution sources within this type of area must comply with National Emis-sion and Ambient Air Quality Standards and should install and operate the best available control technology for regu-lated pollutants. This in effect enforces

technology-based responses to mobile, stationary or area pollutant sources to protect the airshed.

The results of the monitoring ac-tivities also enabled decision makers to map which specific sub-areas were problematic as regards sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide pollutants. The decision makers also established corre-lations between air pollutant levels and the states of industrialization and ve-hicular traffic congestion, wind patterns and topography. For example, the Met-ro Cebu Airshed Governing Board de-duced that Cebu City is an impact area of immediate concern primarily because meteorological conditions increase the risk of pollutants from Lapu-Lapu City and Mandaue City as carried away by the wind, with Cebu City as the com-mon receptor. In addition, Cebu City is susceptible to slow dispersion of air pollutants because of the mountain range, which is the airshed “back wall” to the northeast. Furthermore, the concentration maps (figs. 3 and 4) revealed that high-er pollutant levels are more noticeable along the coastal plains and the national highways, including the Mactan Channel, which separates the urban centres from the Olango Islands – a declared protected area for hosting migratory birds. Thus, ef-forts are now initially being concentrated on controlling air emissions affecting the northwest-southeast portions of the me-tropolis.

5 Barangays are the smallest political subdivisions in the Philippines. A cluster of barangays or villages comprises a municipality or city.


Figure 4. Example of nitrogen dioxide concentration map for Metro Cebu (average, 2002 data).

NO2 MAP Average, 2002

Figure 3. Example of sulfur dioxide concentration map for Metro Cebu (average, 2002 data).


P A R T N E R S H I P S

The monitoring activity is a joint effort of the city governments of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu, the Pollution Control Association of the Philip-pines-Region VII (the local association of pollution control officers), the Envi-ronmental Management Bureau-Region VII (a regional office of the national en-vironmental regulatory agency) and the Technical Education and Skills Devel-opment Authority-Region VII (a tech-nical school), in partnership with the Don Bosco Technology Center (whose students volunteered to install and col-lect the samples) and the College of Engineering of the University of San Carlos (whose researchers analysed the samples in their chemical laboratories). The project was also made possible with the support from the Kitakyushu Inter-national Techno-cooperative Associa-tion and Kitakyushu City, Japan.


The technology used in monitoring Metro Cebu ambient air quality was modified and adopted from Kitaky-ushu City, Japan, where it had been extensively used until recently when the city established its telemetric air quality monitoring system (TAQMS). The results of this low-cost monitor-ing technology came later, starting in December 2002, standardized and validated on a larger scale using the Environmental Management Bureau-Re-gion VII TAQMS. Owing to the scien-

tifically and socially acceptable results of the monitoring activity, Metro Cebu LGUs passed stricter ordinances on anti-smoke belching, had improved partnerships with industries towards self-regulation, and strengthened the command-and-control approaches in their vehicle emission testing pro-grammes. The monitoring procedure can easily be adopted by other cities in developing countries since the basic laboratory apparatus is available in most universities and research institutions. This could provide an interim solution to air quality monitoring until the time when a budget becomes available for more automated TAQMSs.

I M P A C T

The use of the technology made it pos-sible to collect reliable data from 102 sampling points all over the three adja-cent cities. These data were later plot-ted on concentration maps for improved planning, easily pinpointing the prob-lematic areas against land use and polit-ical maps for presentation to the regular policy dialogues of the Metro Cebu Air-shed Governing Board. For example, in 2005, when Mandaue City recognized that public utility vehicles were the main cause of air pollution in the major thoroughfare, it immediately introduced a preventive maintenance training pro-gramme for drivers and operators. In ad-dition, all three LGUs started amending their anti-smoke belching ordinances.

The Kitakyushu-adopted technol-ogy was initially used to monitor any im-


provement in ambient air quality because it is cost-effective and can cover more areas. The participation of volunteer stu-dents who are eager to do practical work and university faculties who extend their expertise to an area of immediate impor-tance makes it easier to implement the project. The participatory nature of the project leads to a more cohesive Metro Cebu Airshed Governing Board whose members include these stakeholders.


The Metro Cebu Airshed Governing Board is one of the few airshed governing boards in the country that are considered to be relatively more functional. The Board is spearheaded by Environmental Management Bureau regional offices and its members comprise local chief executives (politicians) and represent-atives of academia, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and professional organizations. Mayors hold office for only three years and support to the overall activities of the Board becomes a challenge during political transitions. With the initial gathering of air quality data, presented as eco-maps, progress is more easily monitored when always referred back to the baseline. The par-ticipation of each organization needs a driving force and there is no better push than acknowledging the problem based on hard scientific facts.

At present, the low-cost project to monitor ambient air quality has been discontinued in some areas owing to the availability of the Environmental

Management Bureau-Region VII tel-emetric air quality monitoring system installed around Metro Cebu. The for-mer system was more labour-intensive and time-consuming to maintain. Still, it had been a worthwhile undertaking for other cities that had wanted to start their own air quality management pro-gramme. For other interested cities, however, it is recommended that sites be properly selected and partnerships be established at the earliest stages of the planning process.


The initial extensive data gathered from the adopted technology from August to December 2002 were later standard-ized and validated using the telemetric air quality monitoring system of the Environmental Management Bureau-Re-gion VII. The results followed reliable trends when compared against those gathered using the telemetric air qual-ity monitoring system and simple data correction or interpolation enables the technical committee to establish more accurate results.

Presently, the implementers are planning to expand the geographical scope of both the low-cost and the tel-emetric air quality monitoring system projects since the recently identified airshed area extends beyond the three largest cities in Metro Cebu. Through the Environment Unit of the League of Cities of the Philippines, this practice is shared with other cities interested in gathering air quality data, given their


meagre resources. This localized tech-nology has also been presented to oth-er local stakeholders and professional engineering associations, and it is hoped that it could be further dissemi-nated to other developing countries in Asia or Africa as well.

I N N O V A T I V E E X P E R I E N C E I N L O C A L A I R Q U A L I T Y M O N I T O R I N G N O . 3 :P U E R T O P R I N C E S A C I T Y C O M P R E H E N S I V E P R O -G R A M M E T O R E D U C E T R I C Y C L E E M I S S I O N S

S U M M A R Y

The city of Puerto Princesa has been implementing various programmes to reduce air emissions from motorcycles and three-wheelers (“tricycles”) plying their thoroughfares. The city govern-ment, working closely with its active local stakeholders and NGOs, has enact-ed umbrella policies on local air quality management, conducted training in pre-ventive maintenance for vehicle engines, implemented tricycle-reduction traffic schemes, monitored air quality in terms of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, encouraged the drivers to adopt di-rect-injection technologies and sustained the initiatives through micro-financing.

The said programmes were able to re-duce carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions from tricycles by as much as 30 to 95 per cent.

B A C K G R O U N D A N D J U S T I F I C A T I O N

Aside from cars, public utility vehicles, trucks and buses, there is another socially important transportation sector recog-nized in the Philippines: motorcycles and tricycles.6 Whether in high-income private subdivisions or in isolated rural communities, motorcycles and tricycles provide a convenient mode of public transport, i.e., they are affordable and easily manoeuvrable and take passengers conveniently from the front of one’s gate to the person’s exact destination. Most of these motorcycles and tricycles are very old or operate on two-stroke engines. Critical air pollutants emitted by motor-cycles and tricycles are carbon monox-ide7 and hydrocarbons.8 The operation of these tricycles provides a livelihood to several million Filipinos and most tricycle owners and operators derive incomes far beyond the income of an average wage earner. Therefore, the tricycle problem combines environmental and social issues that LGUs need to address.

The case is no different for Puerto Princesa and far more critical. Puerto

6 A tricycle is a motorcycle fitted with a passenger carriage, with an additional wheel to support the sidecar. It is a popular and convenient mode of public conveyance in the Philippines.

7 Carbon monoxide is produced from low-efficiency combustion due either to old or ill-maintained engines.

8 Hydrocarbons are usually emitted from two-stroke motorcycles/tricycles. Two-stroke motorcycles/tricycles need a separate lubricant, i.e., 2T oil, to run. The 2T oil remains unburned during the combustion process and therefore is emitted as unburned hydrocarbons.


Figures 5a and 5b. Logo and launching of the Puerto Princesa Clean Air Program (CAP).

9 Mayor Edward S. Hagedorn is a political figure well-known for his aggressive environmental governance campaigns. He had served as mayor of Puerto Princesa City from 2005 to 2013 and was elected by his fellow city mayors to be the Focal Mayor for the Environment Unit of the League of Cities of the Philippines.

Princesa is the lone city in Palawan, which is known as the Philippine “last frontier”. Hence, the city puts agriculture and tour-ism as its only main thrusts of development. Motorcycles and tricycles are not only vital in transporting residents “from house to market and back”; selected drivers of motorcycles and tricycles were also trained by the local tourism office to serve its lo-cal and foreign tourists in lieu of taxicabs. The demand for tricycles is also likely to increase with the booming commercial and tourism activities of Puerto Princesa, es-pecially with the city’s active involvement in Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).


In 2002, the Cities for Climate Protection produced a profile and forecast of the energy sector of Puerto Princesa. It found that from 1994 to 1998, the transportation sector contributed from 54 to 57 per cent

of energy use and associated air emissions (primarily from tricycles). In November 2003, Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn9 attended a study tour in Bang-kok, Thailand, that focused on the air pol-lution abatement of their popular multi-cab called a “tuktuk”. The Mayor was inspired by some of its ideas and planned to adopt and localize the techniques. He asked for the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and local development partners to pilot a programme to reduce vehicle emissions of tricycles, and, in April 2004, the Puerto Princesa Clean Air Program (CAP) was launched (figs. 5a and 5b).

Local Legislation

The city consolidated its existing ordi-nances on “roadside smoke check”, “traffic code” and “tricycle franchising” and local-ized the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 under umbrella Ordinance No. 278: An Ordinance Establishing the City’s Clean Air Program and Appropriating Funds Therefore”.


Public Awareness Campaigns

Stakeholder consultations and discus-sions on the adverse effects of hydro-carbons and carbon monoxide were held. The city used the media to further engage public support through radio broadcasts, television features and print materials. Outreach programmes to clubs and organizations were also launched and training modules were de-veloped for intermediate and secondary students, which were later integrated into their school curricula.

Vehicular Traffic Management

The city improved the database on its 2,000 tricycle franchise holders and put a limit to the issuance of franchises. For a while, owing to political transitions, this cap was lifted and a further 2,000 franchises were granted, doubling the tricycle supply against the demand. As a result, more tricycles plied the streets with empty sidecars and burned gaso-line and emitted air pollution to no one’s benefit. In response to this situation, a 50-50 vehicle reduction scheme was adopted. Under the scheme, each tri-cycle unit was tagged and colour-coded with a “1” or a “2”. All “1s” are allowed to take passengers only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays while “2s” are allowed to do so on alternating days. No restrictions were imposed on Sun-days owing to high demand.

Inspection and Enforcement

The city’s enforcement capability was enhanced through its collaboration with national government agencies, academia, civil society and local communities. The enforcement unit is now housed in the Tricycle Regulatory Board of the city.

Preventive Maintenance Training

In partnership with the Motorcycle De-velopment Program Participants Associ-ation10 and with support from USAID, a series of “Preventive Maintenance Training Programs” were conducted. The Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association demonstrated that simple engine maintenance, the correct lube oil-gasoline ratio and/or improved driving habits can save on fuel consumption and reduce carbon mon-oxide and hydrocarbon emissions (fig. 6a). To maximize limited funds, the city initially selected a pool of trainers from each tricycle operators and drivers as-sociation who were directly trained by mechanics of the Motorcycle Develop-ment Program Participants Association (fig. 6b). The trainers would then train all the other members of their associa-tion to leverage the knowledge.

Use of More Efficient Engines and Support for a Microfinancing Scheme

With the assistance of the Asian De-velopment Bank, the city set up a mi-

10 The Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association is the outreach arm of an organization of seven major motorcycle manufacturers and distributors in the Philippines.


Figures 6a and 6b. Training of trainers and an actual demonstration of preventive maintenance of motorcycle/tricycle units.

11 A 2-stroke motorcycle costs about $400 to $700 while a 4-stroke unit costs $1,500 to $2,000.

12 Retrofitting of a 2-stroke motorcycle with EnvirofitTM costs about $450.

crofinancing programme to encourage motorcycle/tricycle drivers to either (a) replace their 2-stroke with 4-stroke11

units, (b) retrofit their 2-stroke units with a direct-injection technology such as EnvirofitTM,12 or (c) venture into al-ternative sources of livelihood during off-days. The microfinancing scheme was initially managed by the city gov-ernment but would later be transferred to the tricycle operators and drivers association cooperative. An internal self-policing scheme was developed to ensure correct and timely payments. The present 1.5 per cent interest rate is found to be highly attractive to bor-rowers and to loan administrators.

P A R T N E R S H I P S

Puerto Princesa City’s local partners are the schools, universities, media, private emission-testing centres, tricy-cle operators and drivers associations,

and various local environmental groups such as the Tagbalay Foundation. They were supported by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association, the USAID United States-Asia Environmental Part-nership Program and the Asian Devel-opment Bank “Tricycle sa Kabuhayan at Ekolohiya” Project.


The initiative is itself a benchmark pro-gramme from Bangkok, Thailand, that was duly modified to suit local needs. Similar initiatives also had already been undertaken by other cities in the Philippines. The City of San Fernando, La Union was the first to pass an ordi-nance banning 2-stroke engines while providing alternative means of liveli-hood to the drivers within a three-year grace period. Mandaue City adopted


similar preventive maintenance train-ing for its own tricycle operators and drivers associations. The city of Vigan is also in the process of institutionaliz-ing command-and-control approaches to the tricycle challenge. The city of Surigao, on learning from the Puerto Princesa story during a sharing forum organized by the Environment Unit of the League of Cities of the Philippines, studied the tricycle supply and demand in its area and opted for a “one-day-off” tricycle reduction scheme.

I M P A C T

The comprehensive air quality man-agement programme of Puerto Princesa City has realized a good number of significant and tangible impacts during the process:

■ Increase in motorcycle/tricycle driver/operator income. Most drivers/operators initially resisted the idea of a 50-50 scheme because of their perception that three days off are three days of loss of income. They now realize otherwise. Instead of plying the streets without pas-sengers half the time, they now earn two days’ worth of earnings in just one day. Household income has also been augmented since the micro-fi-nancing scheme enabled them to

set up small businesses on the side. Furthermore, those who have used direct-injection technologies have realized about 100 Philippine pesos or about $2 per day13 from fuel and oil savings.

■ Environmental benefits through reduced carbon monoxide and hy-drocarbon emissions. Based on the Puerto Princesa experience, decreases of as much as 40 per cent for hydro-carbons and 30 per cent for carbon monoxide are achievable by mere preventive maintenance, as shown in figures 7a and 7b. In addition, new adopters of direct-injection technol-ogies may see carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions reduced by 95 per cent and 96 per cent, respec-tively.14

■ Inputs to a national policy review. In 2005, the Department of Environ-ment and Natural Resources formed a technical working committee to review the existing carbon monox-ide and hydrocarbon standards for motorcycles/tricycles. The review of standards was actually based on the data generated from Puerto Princesa, among others. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is now finalizing the scheduled phase-in of more stringent standards15 for carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. The proposed standards are scien-

13 It is noteworthy that national statistics reveal that half of Filipinos survive on less than $2 a day.

14 Figures based on an independent field verification study conducted by the National Center for Transportation Studies.

15 To date, the proposed carbon monoxide standard is 4.5 per cent (compared to the existing 6.0 per cent) and the proposed unified hydrocarbon standard is 4,500 ppm (compared to the existing 7,800 ppm for urban areas and 10,000 ppm for rural areas).


Figures 7a and 7b. Carbon monoxide emission reductions and hydrocarbon emission reductions after practising preventive maintenance on 2-stroke engines.

tifically based on the premise that motorcycle/tricycle units can reduce emissions to these levels by merely practising preventive maintenance.


Puerto Princesa revealed that its success is largely based on wide stakeholder involvement and public dialogue. From the initial stages to present sustaina-bility initiatives, civil society, tricycle owners and operators, and government officials have already been involved in the project. The city also recognized the vital role of the beneficiaries. The tricycle drivers – often marginalized and without a public voice – have been in-strumental in sustaining the programme.

The programme also faced some obstacles when a different mayor as-sumed office in the middle of project implementation, scrapped the pro-gramme and lifted the tricycle franchise cap. On Mayor Hagedorn’s resumption of office, programme implementers could not easily revoke the new fran-

chises. Instead, they developed the 50-50 vehicular reduction scheme to enable every driver to earn a living while still balancing the supply and demand for tricycles.


Puerto Princesa has been actively en-couraging other LGUs to address the tricycle problem. It continues to consult the stakeholders to further improve the system and it is now trying to perfect the microfinancing system to prepare the tricycle operators and drivers as-sociation cooperative for the turnover. During the past few months, the city has also been closely monitoring the im-pacts and benefits of the direct-injection technology. It has also opened its doors to test another potentially fuel-efficient technology for tricycles: retrofitting them to run on liquefied petroleum gas.


C a s e S t u d y P r e p a r e d b y :

Voltaire L. AcostaFormer Environment Unit Program ManagerLeague of Cities of the Philippines

Raquel A. NaciongayoPresident, Metro Manila Anti-Smoke Belching Association, and Environment Officer, Pasig City

Maricon EncaboCity Planning and Development Coor-dinatorCity Government of Cebu

Jovenee SagunCity Planning and Development Coor-dinatorCity Government of Puerto Princesa


general information - tcdc2.undp.orgtcdc2.undp.org/gssdacademy/sie/docs/vol20/new/10.pdf · general...

Documents