QuestionsQuestions (LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 551)
All public utility and government vehicles must install anti-pollution devices within three (3) months from the effectivity of Presidential Decree No. 1152.
Privately owned vehicles must install anti-pollution devices within one (1) year from the issuance of the Code on June 6, 1977.
Law enforcement agencies must apprehend vehicles emitting visibly black smoke after the deadline.
The vehicle must be immediately grounded after the trip during which it was apprehended, to avoid inconveniencing passengers.
The vehicle must remain grounded until its deficiency has been corrected.
Any effective anti-pollution device in the open market is sufficient for the purpose.
Factories that are nuisances per se due to noise, discharging effluents into rivers/bodies of water, or oppressive odor caused by wastes/by-products are covered.
Within one month, they must submit to the National Pollution Control Commission (NPCC) plans for the installation of effective anti-pollution devices.
The NPCC must list the covered factories and submit the list to the President within one month.
Within one month after the submission of the list by the NPCC, the factories shall be closed.
If the factory is able to obtain from the NPCC a certification that it has installed an adequate anti-pollution device demonstrated in actual examination to have abated the nuisance (noise, effluent discharge, or oppressive odor).
It must be demonstrated in actual examination that the noise, effluent discharge, or oppressive odor constituting the nuisance has been abated.
Citizens are urged to report to the NPCC vehicles, factories, and sites that are nuisances per se—e.g., vehicles emitting visibly black smoke, creating noise, discharging effluents, or yielding oppressive odor—when they have no anti-pollution device to eliminate these undesirable characteristics.
The NPCC is directed to take immediate action on the reports in keeping with the aims of the government’s anti-pollution policy.
The LOI directs the Commissioner, Land Transportation Commission; the Chief of Constabulary; and all law enforcement agencies, plus all concerned.
The LOI implements the pollution control program and sets deadlines and enforcement measures measured from the effectivity of Presidential Decree No. 1152 (the Philippine Environment Code), particularly for public utility and government vehicles.