Pollution-related deaths in Baguio going up

January 15, 2020

BAGUIO CITY --  Deaths from pollution in this city have been generally rising sibnce 2015 despite a dip in 2019 

Baguio City planning officer Antoinette Aniban said during a meeting last Friday an average of 2,136 died due to pollution-related sicknesses.

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the air in the Philippines' summer capital is one of the worst in the country. He added he will take steps to reverse the trend.

In 2015, there were 2,181 deaths followed by 2,129 in 2016.   In 2017 there were 2,267 deaths and it peaked in 2018 at 2,338.  For 2019, it went down to  1,767.

Aniban said asthma, influenza-like illness, bronchitis, dengue fever, hypertension, acute gastroenteritis, systemic viral infection, dog bites and pneumonia are illnesses attributable to pollution-related deaths.

Though the Environmental Management Bureau’s baseline PM10 reading on Baguio’s air quality is considered a passing mark,  international standards consider it a failing mark,  Magalong said.

Magalong is pushing for a low carbon transport system. “Carbon emission is a big problem. There is no point in denying it,” he said.  

There are 603,243 vehicles here, around 22,870 of which are motorcycles.

A 2014 World Health Organization (WHO) report placed Baguio City as “one of the cities with the dirtiest air in the country”.

A slight improvement was cited in 2017 by the Environmental Management Bureau but a 2018 WHO report listed Baguio with seven other cities with dirty air. These are Cebu, Dagupan, Davao, Manila, San Carlos, Urdaneta and Zamboanga. DMS