Why Clean Air in the Philippines Feels Out of Reach: A Personal Reflection

Growing up mixed race, there was always a noticeable difference between the two countries I’m from. In the Netherlands, public spaces felt more orderly. There are bike paths, benches, and parks in almost every corner. In the Philippines, the streets are livelier with noise and movement. You’ll usually see children playing basketball, street food vendors, and tricycles passing by from time to time.

At first, those were the differences that stood out to me: the everyday scenes that made both places unique. However, throughout the years, the contrasts started to become heavier. I started paying more attention to political and social issues in the Philippines. Having lived here for almost ten years now, it would be impossible not to. Looking at the current situation, it’s difficult to pinpoint which problem to address first – poverty, corruption, poor urban planning, and inadequate flood control management – with all of these challenges overlapping, where does the issue of air quality fit in?

Traffic along Marcos Highway, captured from the train station near my neighbourhood

In the Philippines, air pollution is commonly caused by vehicular emissions, open waste burning, and household emissions. Living next to a highway in Metro Manila, I’m often exposed to pollution through vehicular emissions, especially during the rush hour. While private vehicles easily outnumber public ones, jeepneys – the primary mode of transportation in the Philippines – are often pinpointed as the main source of air pollution, as they typically run on second-hand high-emission engines.

The smoke from a jeepney is immediately noticeable, especially since the vehicles are open. This means the exposure is constant for commuters and drivers who spend their whole day on the road, making them most prone to serious health risks.

Although it is widely known that exposure to vehicular emissions (and other pollution sources) can lead to adverse health effects, I would say the Philippine government puts the issue of air pollution on the back burner. At the national level, little has been done to prioritize it. The Clean Air Act hasn’t been updated since 1999, and its outdated standards say a lot about how low the issue sits on the national agenda.

And when there are “solutions”, they’re often in the form of rushed or short-term fixes that overlook the bigger picture. Take the Public Utility Modernization program, for example. On paper, replacing traditional jeepneys with modern, environmentally-friendly models seems like the ideal way to go about the emission issue. In reality, even when there is government support through loan programs and small subsidies, jeepney drivers are still expected to shoulder most of the cost of these modern units, which are priced far beyond what they can afford. Instead of making the transition to cleaner vehicles easier for jeepney drivers, they’re left carrying the burden, trying to make ends meet while also saving up for a modern unit just to comply with an unrealistic standard.

This is the frustrating pattern we see time and time again: rather than tackling issues at the root and designing solutions that protect people’s lives and livelihoods, policies end up pushing the burden onto ordinary citizens who are simply trying to navigate broken systems. This is why the fight for matters such as clean air feels so complex.

Being from the Philippines and the Netherlands, I know that both places have their share of problems. I understand that no country is perfect, but what feels different is how problems overlap with each other, making even the simplest issue incredibly difficult to address. From my perspective, it feels like challenges in the Netherlands are handled within systems that – while imperfect – still give people the space to focus on one issue at a time.

When it comes to air quality, for example, it’s easier to implement feasible solutions, as the main drivers that affect air pollution – transport, energy, and urban planning – are already at a higher standard in the Netherlands. While in the Philippines, these areas are fragmented and have their own issues, which makes it difficult to know where to start. Even though a holistic, long-term approach that addresses root causes should be the standard, it still feels like a distant reality here.

My hope is that one day we can reach that point, so that matters such as clean air are no longer treated like an afterthought, but recognized as a basic right. I know that communities and grassroots organizations are carrying this fight forward, demanding better standards and imagining better systems. But I also know that we cannot rely on citizens alone to fill the gaps. Lasting change requires structures strong enough to support them. Clean air is just one example, but it reveals something deeper about how problems are handled here, and it’s a reflection I want to continue exploring further.