Wednesday, April 23, 2008 [ manilatimes.net ]
Program aims to force industries to comply with environmental regulations
To force establishments to do their part in protecting the environment, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) relaunched the expanded Industrial Ecowatch program as part of the worldwide celebration of Earth Day.
At the relaunching of the program at the SM Mall of Asia on Tuesday, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza said Industrial Ecowatch aims to promote compliance among industries on environmental regulations and encourage them to improve their environmental performance through public disclosure.
“We are expanding Ecowatch to include air quality monitoring. This way, the whole concept of pollution prevention and control would be complete to include both air and water.”
Ecowatch started in 2004 and initially focused on water quality.
The program is a public disclosure effort that rates industries in color codes. Industries whose environmental efforts go beyond legal requirements will be rated gold or silver; green and blue for industries who comply with the DENR’s standards; red for industries whose efforts are insufficient to comply with environmental regulations; and black for companies that make no effort to improve their compliance.
Environment Management Bureau Director Julian Amador said the priority industries covered by Ecowatch include sugar centrals and refineries, and beverage, pulp, paper, and cement plants.
Moreover, industries like meat and fish processing, soy sauce and condiments manufacturing, food processing and dressing plants, mall/commercial establishments, beer and soft drinks manufacturing are also included.
Seven barangays awarded for eco-waste management
On Earth Day, seven barangays were also awarded for having the best and most efficient ecological solid waste management (ESWM) system in the country.
The winners were chosen from among 300 barangays by the search organizers and partners during the period of 2006 to 2007, for having the proper and most efficient waste management systems since the program was launched on January 2006.
The winners are: Barangay Old Centro in San Mateo, Isabela (Category A); Barangay Butubut Norte of Balaoan, La Union and Barangay San Marcos in San Mateo, Isabela (Category B); Barangay Bagong Silang in Maramag, Bukidnon and Barangay Oring-oring in Brooks Point, Palawan (Category C); Barangay San Antonio in Cauayan, Isabela (Category D); and Barangay Lingsat in San Fernando, La Union (Category E).
The winners each received P200,000 and a plaque of recognition.
The nationwide search is a way of enforcing Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, Atienza said.
The different barangays underwent an evaluation process by the search organizers and partners composed of the DENR, Earth Day Network Philippines, the Department of Interior and Local Government, the leagues of provinces, cities and municipalities, Liga ng mga Barangay, Zero Waste Recycling Movement of the Philippines Foundation Inc. and other nongovernment organizations.
To facilitate the evaluation, all 42,000 barangays nationwide were categorized into five groups based on their internal revenue allotment for 2005: Group A (Below P500,000), Group B (P500,001 to P600,000), Group C (P600,001 to P700,000), Group D (P700,001 to P900,000) and Group E (P900,001 and above).
The day-long Earth Day event was capped with the celebration of a Pontifical Mass at the Manila Cathedral by Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales.-- Ira Karen Apanay with Christine Placino
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