Interactive website focuses on detox alerts

MANILA, Philippines - An interactive website  featuring maps and information about chemical spills, leaks and incidents, and industrial waste polluters in the Philippines was launched recently.

 Detox Pilipinas (www.DetoxPilipinas.org) will be helpful in making Filipinos more aware of incidents affecting the environment, according to Greenpeace Philippines.

“Given the many cases of toxic pollution happening everywhere, and usually without people’s knowledge, it is high time for Filipinos to play an active role and to be aware of the silent threats of chemical and industrial pollution happening in their own communities that greatly put their health at risk,” Abigail Aguilar, Toxics Campaigner for Greenpeace Philippines told reporters in Quezon City last month.

By soliciting the active participation of concerned sectors, Detox Pilipinas hopes to serve as?a?platform?for citizen engagement and to mainstream?the?issue?of toxics and chemical pollution, as well as encourage the development of local pollution patrols.

“For those of us living along the Marikina riverbanks and constantly exposed to chemical pollution, Detox Pilipinas is an easy and convenient way to get government’s attention and action. The website is user-friendly and a good source of information,” said CJ Domasig, a youth volunteer and a member of Teatro Marikeno.

Together with its partner  communities, Greenpeace is calling on the government to implement effective policies that will curb and eliminate pollution.

It is working on a memorandum of cooperation with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Laguna Lake Development Authority to forge a partnership in co-monitoring and acting on the reported hotspots.

 “Greenpeace’s effort to end industrial pollution through Detox Pilipinas should indeed be lauded. As our country progresses, an interactive online platform is certainly an effective way to engage stakeholders of communities, industries and the government towards working for this noteworthy cause,” said Rep. Marcelino Teodoro, author of House Bill 5192, the Philippine Pollutant Release and Transfer Registry Bill.

Detox Pilipinas will also include various chemical pollution exposés and reports of Greenpeace and other citizen journalists.

Greenpeace envisions the website to be a springboard to engage identified companies to disclose chemicals that they use in their production.