There will always be pros and cons to any issue, like the governments transport-modernization

program, aimed mainly at jeepneys, buses, school buses and others, but allow me to focus on the
jeepneys. Defining modernization. The government is right to modernize the jeepneys, if it
follows its own definition that a modern transport is roadworthy, safe, reliable and, above all,
prevents pollution or has emissions within acceptable standards.
This definition is extended by Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB)
Resolution 2013, dated January 11, 2013, to mean a strict 15-year age limit on public-utility
vehicles, from the date of manufacture of the vehicle instead of the date of initial registration with
the Land Transportation Office [LTO].
Vehicle dealers and manufacturers, along with the vehicle financiers, will rejoice at this new
replacement market that could mean massive spurts in business, which is good for the industry.
For the jeepney sector, however, this definition is highly flawed being a non sequitor, which means
it does not necessarily follow that buying a new diesel vehicle or engine will result in cleaner
emissions.
While most jeepney groups just oppose a phaseout, the newly formed National Jeepney Federation
for Environmental Sustainable Transport (NJFEST), headed by Ronald Baroidan, also opposes a
phaseout, but seriously wants to comply with the Clean Air Act (CAA) and even names itself after
the Department of Transportations (DOTr) own program on National Environmental Sustainable
Transport (NEST). While the debate goes on over the definition of transpo modernization, NJFEST
grabs this chance as its defining moment to make its stand on why the governments definition is
also partly wrong.
Always a culprit, but not the cause. After 17 years now of the CAA, the antismoke-belching
campaign has been limited to road apprehension, often implemented with apprehension owing to
the reported corruption that is systematized and popularized with the rampant nonappearance
emission clearance certificates.
Forced to earn a living with his boundary obligation to his operator, and not knowing how to
reduce emissions, a driver goes on driving only to be caught again for smoke-belching, thus, his
only remedial solution is to bribe his way.
But no amount of penalties nor frequency of arrests will reduce his emissions, changing his vehicle
or engine as defined by transpo modernization will add more burden on the driver as he shoulders
mainly the amortizations, on top of his current boundary obligation of about P600 a day.
Unfortunately, no one is telling him the right way, he just bears the burden after burden and is
blamed as the usual culprit, although he simply just drives and has nothing to do with the
emissions.
Under Section 46 of the CAA, penalties slapped must be accompanied with education on reducing
emissions. Section 11 also mandates that, along with stricter emission standards, the government
must make available all the information on pollution-control techniques, best practices on
maintenance, technologies, etc., to allow motorists to make more intelligent choices that match
their needs. After all, pollution is caused by many factors, like poor engine design, poor lubrication,
poor air-fuel ratio and poor fuel quality, etc.
Few will know, fuel is it. As to fuel, there is increasing evidence poly-aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs), the chemical compounds heavily present in light cycle oil (LCO), which is currently blended
with diesel, is reportedly the main culprit behind emissions.
LCOs or heavy cycle oils, on the other hand, are the waste by-products from refining crude oil into
gasoline, diesel, kerosene, etc. Instead of storing them, which is costly, refiners worldwide find it
more convenient to pass on this problem to consumers by mixing them with diesel to a maximum
blend of 11 percent of total diesel weight.
For so long, few will understand this fact in the fuel we consume. But with the information
explosion
ushered in by the Internet and the surge in environmentalism, oil companies can no longer
proverbially sweep their dirt under the rug.
Oil companies may say this is a sweeping statement or accusation, but the facts are all over the
Internet, and that PAHs or LCOs are considered unwanted oils.
Whats behind, comes out behind? A study done by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
shows almost a direct correlation of the effects of PAHs or LCOs on emissions. By reducing PAH
content in diesel by 80 percent from 5-percent weight content to only 1 percent, PAH-related
emissions also dropped massively by a range to as much as 80 percent. Sweden A-1 diesel is now
down to a PAH-content of 0.02 percent with Finland at 0.2 percent owing to a tax incentive to
refiners, but average PAH content in diesel in Europe is still about 4.5 percent, with a few still high
at 10 percent. Bringing it down to 6 percent costs the industry in Europe about 312 million, and
will increase costs for every drop in PAH content to as high 2.249 billion at 1-percent content.
In short, what we do not see how diesel is produced behind the scenes, somehow comes out now
from behind from the tailpipe emissions. But science now tells us that when a vehicle farts from
behind, these can still be measured, even if many toxic fumes, like carbon monoxide, are odorless
and invisible.
Tax from polluters pay principle. For Finance Secretary Carlos D. Domingez III, perhaps, it is
easier to justify his planned carbon tax on the polluters pay principle, rather than insist on a
massive add-on excise tax on oil, now that prices are prone to increase with peso devaluation.
Another revenue-generating tax is a congestion tax on vehicles, which is captured through higher
parking fees solely on private cars, thus reducing the volume of vehicles on the road. This will help
solve traffic and reverse the trend toward the increasing share of vehicles out of total air pollution in
Metro Manila from 70 percent over two to three decades ago to 88 percent and, finally, to 92
percent as of 2015. This is due to increasing volume of vehicles and the transfer of factories to the
countryside.
Both tax-reform ideas are worth deliberating in separate discussions. Another issue worth reviewing
is the Special Vehicle Pollution Control Fund, which is a mere 7.5 percent of the road users tax,
but remains untapped and has accumulated to about P8.5 billion. This must be used to fund many
unimplemented provisions of the law, like Section 15 on Air Pollution Research, so as academic
organizations, like Researchers for Clean Air, led by Mylene Cayetano, PhD, and others, need not
spend their own personal money to fund research, and many more.
Even without enough budget, EMB-NCR Director Minda Osorio, who has lumad Manobo roots from
Mindanao, was decisive enough to approve instantly at first meeting NJFESTs clean-air program,
called Jeepney Environment & Energy Efficiency Program, that will also involve academe.
Taking from President Duterte and Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopezs decisiveness,
Osorio noted that an action plan becomes more effective, if we can act soon.