P-Noy’s just having bad air days

DEMAND AND SUPPLY

By Boo Chanco

TORONTO – Now I am almost sure P-Noy’s health problems that had been in the front pages lately is really due to the bad air days we have been having in Metro Manila in recent years. I have been in Canada’s business capital for a few days now and my sinus problems have not been bothering me. No clogged sinuses, no sinus headaches. I can actually breathe freely and I have not taken my allergy pills since I left Manila.

I think P-Noy will also benefit from the much cleaner air here because whatever is ailing him has got to be something chronic and has to do with his lungs. His being a chain smoker is a serious health risk and it would not be surprising if smoking has something to do with his current health problems. But all that is surely aggravated by the polluted air we breathe in Metro Manila.

When P-Noy failed to meet IMF chief Christine Lagarde, Abi Valte explained that P-Noy “developed body malaise, fever and allergic rhinitis. “The diagnosis of the President’s doctors was Influenza and allergic rhinitis. He rested most of yesterday.”

Air pollution in our cities have gotten worse over the past few weeks. The moody weather with unexpected rain showers have combined with our bad air to make a lot of people feel what Ms Valte calls “body malaise, fever and allergic rhinitis.”

This allergic rhinitis is something I have had for many years now. And I haven’t smoked a stick of cigarette ever. Sometimes, it is called sinusitis.

It is such that I now buy enough of the generic version of Claritin and Zyrtec from Costco to last me a year. The branded versions of these drugs available here are just too expensive even with the senior citizen discount.

Doctors tell me it is the extremely polluted air we breathe that causes it. My brother-in-law who has been a practicing pediatrician for over 40 years also suffers from this ailment. Worse, he told me that over the past few years, he noticed an alarming number of babies as young as a couple of months old already suffering from it too.

That’s not so difficult to understand. All those vehicle fumes, factory emissions and the dust floating in the air we breathe all have enough chemical substances that irritate our sinuses and our lungs enough to cause allergy.

The impact on our productivity must be immense. We could all work better if we felt better. It would be safe to assume that a large majority of working age Metro Manila residents are afflicted with the same health problem specially because we spend so much time stuck in traffic.

I know. I am one of those. Often enough when I travel to places where the air is a lot cleaner, I feel better. This Toronto visit is proving this point again.

In the past, it was enough to drive an hour or two out of Metro Manila and the air becomes clean enough to be rid of the problem. Not any more.

We need better law enforcement. Take the pollution coming from vehicles. I am sure P-Noy knows the LTO is to blame for lax enforcement of anti-pollution rules for vehicles. The so-called test they allegedly conduct before we are allowed to register our cars is a sham, just like the drug test for drivers. If it isn’t, how come we always see jeepneys, buses, FX taxis, etc emitting thick black smoke from their tailpipes in city streets?

But the smoke we don’t see from those tailpipes can be even more deadly. Some of the gasoline additives they use can even be cancer producing.

Benzene among other chemicals is causing irreparable damage to our lungs. These pollutants are as bad as tobacco smoke. Considering that most of us spend hours stuck in traffic with all those idling engines spewing out noxious smoke, we cut our life expectancy by inhaling so much poison daily.

And P-Noy must bite the bullet on cutting down the number of EDSA buses. I am told that cutting the number to half is more than sufficient. I can believe that because I see a lot of half filled buses at all times of the day. Half the buses, half the pollution spewed.

I always shudder every time I get to see that thick fog of pollutants that envelop the metro area from the vantage point of Antipolo. The Eugenio Lopez Center along Sumulong Highway is nestled on top of a hill and can give you such a scary panoramic view of Metro Manila. Early in the morning, you can see the smog and you know that is the filth you breathe into your lungs where you work and live down there.

I like the way Health Secretary Enrique Ona is fighting tobacco smoking. But Dr Ona must also get serious about other causes of air pollution. He must nag his boss and his colleagues in the Cabinet who can do something about air pollution.

There was a time when pollution monitors were placed in key areas of the city. All I remember is that the numbers shown in those monitors confirm our worse fears about the state of air pollution in Metro Manila.

Now those monitors are gone. The machines just gave up. Or the politicians took those monitors away because having these monitors show high readings only prove how negligent they are of their duty to protect our health.

That is why the claim of DENR Sec Ramon Paje that the pollution level in Metro Manila has improved is totally meaningless and incredible to me. He claims the amount of total suspended particulates (TSP) or solid pollutants, such as dust and soot in the air has decreased.

Paje also makes the same claim about the level of particulate matter 10 microns in diameter or smaller (PM10). PM10 is considered more harmful to human health as its finer particles when inhaled can penetrate the lungs, leading to more severe pulmonary or respiratory illnesses.

Of course Paje didn’t say what level is considered safe. He only said the level decreased by 20 per cent since January. This sounds like a typical government press release to make it seem like they are doing their job.

Now, the only monitor that matters to me is the headache I wake up with in the morning, coupled with a post nasal drip, an itchy throat and a lot of sniffing and coughing. Sometimes the anti allergy medicines work. Sometimes, I wonder if taking these medicines is worth the bother given our air quality.

Hopefully, P-Noy’s doctors will do all of us a favor and tell the President he will continue to suffer chronic allergic rhinitis unless the air he breathes, same air we breathe, is made cleaner. I hate to think that the day will come when our air becomes poisonous enough to require us to wear oxygen masks every time we go outdoors.

There are many things we bitch about the incompetence of government but nothing is as deadly or injurious to our health as this inability to enforce air pollution laws. Now that P-Noy is suffering from these bad air days, maybe something good will happen. But don’t hold your breath on it!

Advice

Robin Tong gives this beauty tip.

Q: How can you avoid that terrible curse of the elderly wrinkles?

A: Take off your glasses.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco