LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government will be conducting the required smoke belching test for motor vehicles along the major roads in the municipality anytime next week to serve as information and education campaign on the need for vehicle owners to ensure their compliance to prevailing clean air laws, rules and regulations.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda said that the activity will be done in partnership with the Cordillera offices of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-CAR) and Land Transportation Office (LTO-CAR) under the leadership of Regional Director Francis Ray Almora.
He disclosed that the municipality will soon be having its own roadside inspection, testing and monitoring action team after some personnel were trained on how to operate the smoke emission testing machine given to the municipal government by the EMB-CAR.
During the initial deployment of the trained personnel, the members of the team will be flagging down vehicles to subject these to the smoke emission test on site in strategic portions of the national roads in the municipality.
According to him, the teams will test the vehicles with the use of the town’s smoke emission testing machine to ascertain their compliance to the prescribed limitations on the smoke being emitted by such vehicles.
On his part, LTO-CAR Director Almora explained that the activity could be used as an information and education campaign for owners of motor vehicles in the municipality and the drivers of vehicles found emitting bad smoke beyond the standards will be warned and once apprehended after, the concerned drivers will then be penalized for violation of the anti-smoke belching ordinance of the municipality and other related laws, rules and regulations.
The smoke belching campaign in the municipality is part of the overall efforts of the concerned government agencies and the municipal government to compel vehicle owners to properly maintain their vehicles so as not to emit bad smoke that will add up to the greenhouse gasses that are contributory to climate change.
Almora commended the municipal government for starting the anti-smoke belching campaign in the municipality which will boost the efforts of the government to clean the air from pollutants that cause illnesses among the people and inflict damage to the state of the environment.
He urged other local governments, especially the growing urban centers in the region, to start passing their own anti-smoke belching ordinances to help instil discipline among motorists for them to maintain their vehicles and not to emit bad smoke and contribute to the pollutants in the air.
The smoke belching campaign in the municipality will be conducted along the stretch of the Halsema highway with members of the team positioned in strategic areas for the initial flagging down of the vehicles prior to the testing by the machine that is capable of testing the emissions of gas and diesel-fed vehicles. By HENT