There are more cars that fail smoke belching test in Baguio
by Harley Palangchao
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City Mayor Mauricio Domogan described as “alarming” the poor passing rate of vehicles subjected to smoke belching test with over 3,700 vehicles failing the test during a one-year period.
Records submitted by the city’s Roadside Inspection, Testing and Monitoring Team’s (RITMT) show that only 1,960 out of the 5,722 motor vehicles inspected passed the smoke belching test from July 2010 to June this year.
This means that there were 3,762 vehicles traversing Baguio that failed the test, which represent 65 percent non-compliance rate with the Clean Air Act.
“This figure is alarming. I therefore appeal to all motor vehicle owners to be considerate enough and comply with the Clean Air Act,” said Domogan, as he reminded motor vehicle owners and drivers to be considerate to the health of the public, especially children.
Every now and then, RITMT installs the testing machine along city roads where passing vehicles are flagged down once black smoke is noticed from their exhaust. Apprehensions and testing shall be done on flat terrain, it was emphasized, not on uphill drives.
Accordingly, the anti-smoke belching campaign shall go on continuously, to effectively clear the city’s air.
The poor passing rate, however, is not reflective of the whole air quality of Baguio as the Environment Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has time and again reported that the air quality of Baguio is good to fair.
Concerned quarters are closely monitoring the city’s effort to improve the air quality of Baguio being an environment issue and also, a health concern.
The Department of Health has reported that cars using diesel fuel emit toxic substances, which when inhaled for prolonged period of time at high concentration could be detrimental to the health.
In United States, studies show that fine particles from diesel shorten the lives of nearly 21,000 people each year in America plus almost 3,000 early deaths from lung cancer.
The studies also showed that US government health expenditure in 2010 was pegged at US$139 billion due to premature deaths and health damages caused by diesel fine particles.
The World Bank report noted that health costs due to exposure to particulate matters in Davao, Metro Manila, Cebu and Baguio reached about $430 million in 2002. – Harley F. Palangchao
Barangay RP 
August 16, 2012 at 5:32 pm |
i support the clean air act of course but , i think there is no solution on it unless we stop using diesel gasoline…the city poject is good but i dont see solutions or programs like tree planting..etc or whatever..it seems like a money making project to us as motorists..in my experience after being flagged down by the smoke team , with my newly bought diesel engine car in its break in period it just did not passed only .5 from city standard, immediately i was fined , then after doing some improvements and repairs, cleaning the exhaust pipes, blowing preasurized air on the filter , it pass, get the plate no . whats next ? second target… third target..and so on…i was stop second time going down magsaysay, again they step the gas accelerator at their standard at a high rpm again it did not pass .5 again but not worse naman again 2000 na , i was just caught last month…it really traumatize me and so on until my third penalty…my vehicle is quite loaded going up magsaysay hah its just normal to gas up kac loaded nga may emission of course diesel ,lahat naman eh again 3000…i found out that there is no consideration, my li way lang sana..i found out if you are really observant it more on public utility jeeps , surplus jeeps , old jeeps nakikita ko pa tumatatakbo when i was still grade 1…lumang fx taxi, running 24 hrs in the city as expresss…if they got caught by smoke team mas kawawa sila because of their boundery baka wala na take home pay…in my case its only use to deliver goods in the market then after that garahe na..if i will be stop again by the smoke team 4000 na …di ko pa nakita sa business ko for that day…
sir… sepmo…. to all concerned..the city has different passing rate for vehicles depending on models and year of registration..i want to cite an experience lets say 1996-2012 for 4d56 engine…its the same engine regardless of mileage it has different passing rate…they also consider altitude ang passing 4.25 daw 2008-2012 with turbo at 1000ft …The city of baguio is 5000 ft above sea level so ang passing sana is 4.25 kac mas mahirap isunog ang diesel sa mataas na lugar.. i tested my car in la union it pass naman, how come sa baguio it did not pass…i just want to express my sentiments regarding the smoke belching comission if they are really honest and true in their advocates and may people know this scientific facts …we really can not solve this problem ..what can we do for Baguio? i hope the funds collected can help remedy the air pollution or for what use? there is only one testing center accredited by our goverment sana dalawa or tatlo man to be fair and for basis of comparison…
October 23, 2012 at 5:15 pm |
For the record, FYI to our local government units especially the S.B. team, are you aware of the oil products that the Philippines is buying? how come that the Isuzu crosswind failed the test along the side streets? or the new vehicles as well?, I was flagged down last year along cafe by the ruins, I told the man who is about to step on the accelerator pedal that my engine is turbocharged, he answered “wen amok” but as he soon as he stepped on the pedal I can hear the over RPM sound, but since I was taking to the “tanod” for the papers i wasn’t able to confront the man behind my wheel. to my surprise my vehicle failed. as I failed, as I leave the area I already noticed the sound of rocker arms and there is already a change in the power flow of the engine, not wanting to have further damage I went straight home and called my mechanic friend as we observe and listen to the idling sound of the machine he then turn the engine off, then he said rocker arms are damaged, when he opened the top cover we saw 3 rocker arms cracked, and what made me angry was the connecting rod was bended as well, these damages are not that easy to repair and its really heavy in the pocket.
The replacement and repair cost me 12k, and adding the penalty of 1,100 for failing the smoke test making it 13,100, people under this unit (S.B.) should take note that our fuel is classified as class C, and another FYI to them also is that when a vehicle is about to roll its wheels is emits a power combustion which causes the exhaust system to produce a start up smoke whether is is gasoline, diesel, LPG, any machine motorcycle care truck SUV plainly speaking all machine that is about to give a power start in gaining RPM.
There are motorist like me who just stood in silent, because we know that if we will complain it will be a long process, we just refer this to the company who built our units for clarification. and they are also planning to confront the agency involved.
replacing engines is not like buying bread from the bakery, it costs a lot, it consumes time for processing. Its the same also in doing the repairs of the damage that these guys made…
It was last week when I saw a Mitsubishi delica that they flagged down along Bokawkan road, but when the window of the delica pulled down it was a police officer in uniform, they immediately let him go with a salute. what kind of people or agency is this?
And the hazards that these team cause, they are in deed adding more pollution, in Bokawakan, are they aware that they are just a few meters away from a LPG gas tank, combustion emissions and leaks of each nozzle pump of the LPG station every time they gas up is still pollution, the most scary part is if the gas mixture is contained by stagnant air movement even in seconds, only a single spark can ignite the mixture, these site of the SB in Bokawkan is also near two hotels, schools and a plant experiment area.
No matter where these team position their equipment it is always clear that we are in a country that buys surplus engines, and low type of fuel products. and sad part is motorists often fail the test that these team gives.
June 6, 2013 at 6:49 pm |
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June 23, 2013 at 2:19 am |
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