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The Philippine Ban Asbestos Network held its first educational seminar on asbestos on July 4, 2005. The meeting, which took place in Quezon City, was addressed by several key speakers and attendees from a group of environmental lawyers, Tanggol Kalikasan; the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines; a group of broadcasters promoting environmental advocacies, - the Environmental Broadcast Circle; the United Architects of the Philippines; the National Union of Building and Construction Workers; the Subic Asbestosis Victims Association; government agencies namely: Department of Trade and Industry- Bureau of Product Standards, Department of Health, and the Occupational Health and Safety Center; students from the University of the Philippines-Institute of Chemistry; and about a dozen print and broadcast reporters.
Dr. Marlito Cardenas, from the Philippine Ban Asbestos Network (PBAN), talked about the group, its nature and composition, objectives. He discussed current legislations and guidelines on asbestos management, and the PBAN's critique on these guidelines. He called for a total ban on asbestos use.
Dr. Pythias Espino, professor at the University of the Philippines-Institute of Chemistry, delivered a technical lecture on asbestos. She also revealed the risks Filipinos face as asbestos continues to be extensively used by various industries. She cited the widespread availability of construction products made with asbestos. Significant amounts of packaging and friction materials are cheaply sold and they are often unlabelled as asbestos-containing.
Dr. Dina Diaz, the head of the Pulmonary Medicine department of the Lung Center of the Philippines, talked about how asbestos exposure can cause various types of severe lung diseases. She presented the findings of her study on former shipyard workers at the Subic Naval base.
Atty. Alex Lacson briefly talked about the case of the asbestosis victims in Subic.
Mr. Nonoy Palarca of the National Union of Building and Construction Workers called the audience's attention to the sorry plight of Filipino construction workers and the occupational hazards they face every single day, which include asbestos exposure.
The event closed with an open forum. Tanggol Kalikasan expressed its desire to support PBAN; the Environmental Broadcast Center said it would provide some inputs on future information and education initiatives; and the National Union of Building and Construction Workers committed to help in the development of a database of construction workers exposed to asbestos, asbestos buildings registry, asbestos products registry, among others.
Source: Manila Bulletin (11 July 2005)
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