Vehicle owners, unite against corrupt anti-smoke belching units!

DENR operatives use their smoke meter during a multisectoral, anti-smoke belching drive with members of the Anti-Smoke Belching Unit of the DOTC and the LTO. photo by Marianne Bermudez

AFTER my recent piece on illegal towing operations, let me divert your attention to the anti-smoke belching units (ASBUs) that conveniently ply the city streets, catching alleged smoke-belching vehicles and levying fines or offering ways to avoid getting fined.

Let’s look at the industry-wide practice of testing emissions levels on vehicles, a practice that was mandated by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) way back in September 2010 under its Executive Order No. 2010-23, titled “Revised Emission Standards for Motor Vehicles Equipped with Compression-Ignition and Spark Ignition Engines.” You can download the entire guidelines from https://server2.denr.gov.ph/files/dao-2010-23_628.pdf.

Of particular interest are the guidelines on emissions test procedures and smoke opacity measurements, which we must all take note of:

a. Follow the opacimeter manufacturer’s instruction on the proper installation, operational use and checking the accuracy and calibration before and after each test.

b. Set the vehicle gear-change control in the neutral position and the hand brake effectively engaged.

c. Start the engine and warm it up to its normal operating temperature.

d. Accelerate the engine two to three times prior to smoke sampling in order to remove deposits of soot and other carbon particles in the tail pipe.

e. With the engine idling, depress the accelerator quickly, but not violently, to obtain maximum delivery from the injection pump. Maintain this position until maximum engine speed is reached for about two to four seconds and the governor comes into action. As soon as this speed is reached, release the accelerator until the engine resumes its idling speed. Record the maximum reading of the smokemeter.

f. The operation described in paragraph (4)(e) shall be repeated not less than six times in order to clear the exhaust system and to allow for any necessary adjustment of the apparatus. The maximum opacity values read in each successive acceleration shall be noted until stabilized values are obtained. The values read shall be regarded as stabilized when four consecutive readings are within a hand width of 0.25 m-1 and do not form a decreasing sequence. The arithmetic mean of the four stabilized values shall be the test result for the concerned vehicle.

g. For motor vehicles designed with several exhaust outlets that are individually connected from paired exhaust ports, the free acceleration test shall be carried out on each outlet. In this case, the values used for calculating the correction to the absorption coefficient shall be the arithmetical mean values recorded at each outlet and the test shall be valid only if the extreme values measured do not differ by more than 0.15m-1. For motor vehicles designed with several exhaust outlets connected from one exhaust pipe coming from the engine’s exhaust manifold collector, the free acceleration test shall be carried out only on one exhaust outlet, the other outlets effectively blocked to prevent leaks.

I’m writing about this now because lately, I’m seeing a lot of traffic jams and choke-points being caused by these ASBUs all over Metro Manila, from major thoroughfares like C-5 and Edsa, to busy inner city roads like Meralco Avenue and Ortigas Avenue.

Many of the people who are often caught interestingly enough, drive a Mitsubishi L300, with its old-school-tech 4D56 diesel engine.

Speaking to people who own such vehicles, the common complaint is these ASBUs simply get in, floor the throttle, and black smoke comes out, which means the vehicle is a smoke-belcher.

However, if we refer to guidelines above, it clearly states that you need to purge the system a few times before proper measurement is done and when the diesel engine is steadily revved until its engine RPM governor kicks in.

Obviously, these ASBUs never bothered to read the DENR’s operating procedure, even when many of them claim to be DENR-Community Environment And Natural Resources Office officials.

Dear ASBUs, do you actually know what you are doing? Or are you looking for a quick meal because the “ber” months are coming and you are all broke?

Someone also told me that his brand-new, recently-plated L300 FB was caught for smoke-belching, and that if the driver did not agree to be ticketed, the ASBU personnel would remove the license plates and the driver or owner would have to claim the plates at the San Juan City Hall.

The ASBU operator simply got in, and floored the vehicle, and claimed that on visual inspection alone, the brand-spanking-new L300 FB failed the emissions test because of the smoke it emitted. Uh, duh!

And I thought only those from the Land Transportation Office are allowed to remove license plates from a vehicle? So if the L300 driver agreed to pay the fine, he’d be liable for driving without a license plate as well? This is so retarded!

This is also why our government, both at the local and national levels, is so messed up. Why can’t the relevant agencies (local and national) coordinate their standards, in this case, for emission testing procedures and emissions levels?

Local ASBUs often claim that they don’t care about what the national government agencies say or mandate (in this case the DENR) because they have their own local policies. Let me ask you: Are you better than the national government? Do you have the know-how, the competence, the research and the testing equipment to set such standards?

For me, it simply smells of a money-making scheme, worse than any alleged smoke-belching vehicle. The funny thing is, 18-wheeler trucks, buses and jeepneys who are the worst smoke-belching offenders are never caught. Why? Because there is money to be made from delivery vehicles that carry consumer goods multiple times on a daily basis.

I made a quick call to Mitsubishi Motors Philippines and asked them why the L300 (of all its variants) was the ASBU’s favorite target? Sheer volume is one factor, and thanks to affordable part and servicing, and simple engineering, it’s quite easy to keep an L300 a second, third or even fourth life.

Some L300s are rebuilt or refurbished better than others; while many business owners admit that so long as their L300s are running, many don’t bother to repair or replace them.

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines briefs all its diesel owners, too, on how to take care of their diesel-powered vehicles to keep them running cleanly for the long run. It’s the same with other diesel-vehicle manufacturers as well.

I believe in fighting for our rights. Car manufacturers cannot meet with every single local government unit to agree on a particular emissions standard. That is the job of the national government.

The LGU should respect the guidelines set forth by the national government, rather than simply make its own standards which are baseless.

As for motorists, I urge you to download the DENR document via the link I shared. Read and understand the guidelines as these represent your motoring rights. These corrupt and incompetent ASBUs prey on our ignorance on these matters.

Be informed, be vigilant and fight for your rights. Fight corruption!