I get it. The air quality in Metro Cebu these past few weeks has not exactly been ideal. In fact, it has been described as “very unhealthy” by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7. That means the risk of respiratory and health complications increases for everyone, not just sensitive groups like the elderly, young children, or those with heart or lung conditions.
What can we expect from short-term exposure?
Well, for someone who walks to and from work every day, I can attest to experiencing shortness of breath and chest tightness. That’s why I stopped jogging at the oval. Don’t get me wrong. I still go there at least five times a week. However, instead of jogging, I’ve turned to brisk walking. And I still do a minimum of five kilometers, but at a much more relaxed pace. But even then, I’ve noticed that I’ve been suffering from severe heartburn more frequently. I don’t know if the Air Quality Index has anything to do with it, but the coincidence is hard to ignore. Then again, it could just be plain indigestion.
Don’t take my word for it. Obviously, I’m not a medical doctor. However, I and countless others out there have become an MD, or mora’g doctor, in our own right overnight, thanks to Google Medical School. You simply type the symptoms and, voila, instant diagnosis. Although, I have to admit, every time I do this, I can hear a voice at the back of my head telling me to consult my doctor if symptoms persist.
I also blamed the haze for a splitting headache that refused to go away for almost a month, but it turned out to be the wrong culprit. After clocking in eight hours of sleep the other night, the migraine miraculously disappeared. Go figure.
Fortunately, I don’t have asthma. High pollution levels have been known to trigger severe flare-ups that might land sufferers in a hospital emergency room. This may be why the EMB 7 has advised asthma sufferers to stay indoors and get as much rest as possible. The EMB 7 has also advised pedestrians to avoid heavy-traffic areas, which, unfortunately for me, I cannot do.
But is the situation as bad as the authorities make it out to be? I mean, really.
Initially, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration attributed “the thick haze and deteriorating air quality to transboundary smoke from forest and peatland fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia, carried across the region by prevailing winds.” But lately, environmental officials have been singing a different tune, singling out local vehicle emissions, industrial operations and atmospheric trapping.
Well, we may be powerless to stop prevailing winds or the cold morning air from keeping pollutants near the ground, but we can certainly do something about vehicle emissions and industrial pollution.
Come to think of it, those two factors are not exactly recent phenomena. In fact, traffic is a perennial problem in the metro. I doubt the number of vehicles on the road has spiked considerably to make such a significant difference in air quality. I checked if there was official, consolidated full-year data published by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) 7 or the local government units (LGUs) detailing the exact number of new vehicles, but there was none. At least, not yet, as this usually comes out after the close of the calendar year or through periodic regional updates.
Although the LTO 7 has noted that Cebu Province, including all the LGUs in the metro area, has surpassed half a million registered motor vehicles and motorcycles, elevated levels of fine particulate matter should have been detected much earlier.
The same goes for industrial pollution since, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority, Cebu’s industrial and manufacturing activity has also shown upward momentum.
But who am I to argue with the experts? I understand that weather plays a major role. According to a SunStar Cebu report, “cool nighttime-to-early-morning temperatures and weak wind speeds trap fine dust and smoke particles near the ground, preventing them from dispersing into the upper atmosphere.”
Let’s face it. The problem is real. It has been analyzed and authorities have issued advisories on how to deal with the situation. But we can’t be held hostage by it. So I guess on our end, we’ll just have to adapt. It’s not like we have a choice on the matter.