Philippine Medical Association to sue Roxas, air polluters

Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Watch your car’s exhaust or you could end up on the receiving end of a P1-billion class action suit an organization of doctors is preparing against those who contribute to air pollution in Metro Manila.

The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) on Tuesday announced it was filing a multisectoral class suit against the Department of Transportation and Communications and all owners of vehicles that failed the smoke emission test for “directly and indirectly” contributing to the “life threatening” air quality in the metropolis.

Why Roxas?

The PMA said that Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II would be included in the lawsuit as the head of the sole government agency tasked under Republic Act No. 8749, or the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999, with regulating and enforcing the law on vehicles.

Owners and operators of vehicles apprehended for smoke belching and failing the smoke emission test would also be named respondents in the complaint.

The names will be culled from the records of various government agencies such as the Land Transportation Office, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and Department of Environment and Natural Resources as well as local government units, according to the PMA.

Leading the fight

“The PMA is leading our partners in the fight to clean the air in Metro Manila,” said the group’s president, Dr. Oscar Tinio. “We would like to exhaust all possible solutions, including legal action against those who directly or indirectly contribute to the life-threatening state of the air in the metropolis.”

Tinio noted that the air quality in Metro Manila posed a “clear and present danger” to its 14 million residents with 80 percent of pollutants coming from more than 3.2 million vehicles plying its streets daily.