There is more to life outside of the office confines and it is spelled as community. Employees of the Philippine Ports Authority Port District Office-Southern Mindanao (PPA PDO-SoMin) here recently came up with localized activities to support the Environment Month in coordination with the Department of Environment (DENR) as well as to promote health and safety consciousness.
“Environment, health and safety are core corporate mandates and our support is consistently shown through cooperation with civic initiatives and national/international standard-setting organizations,” Port District Manager Abdussabor Sawadjaan earlier articulated on PPA’s plans and programs for 2010 on these key areas.
Headed by members of the Safety and Environment Committee (SEC), PPA was represented last June 5 during the motorcade to launch June as Environment Month, which began in Magsaysay Park circling Davao City’s Central Business District before concluding in a programme in DENR-XI’s office in Suazo St.
With the theme, “Isang Mundo + Samu’t Saring Buhay = Isang Kinabukasan” (One World + Different Lives = One Future), the Environment Month is observed in the Philippines annually in compliance to Proclamation No. 237, Series of 1998. The international theme is “Biodiversity is Life; Biodiversity is our Life,” as 2010 is declared as International Year of Biodiversity by the United Nations Secretariat of the Convention of Biological Diversity.
PPA is duty-bound to uphold marine environmental laws as it is a signatory to the Maritime Pollution (MARPOL) 73/78, also known as the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978. MARPOL covers the reduction of sea pollution from dumping, oil and exhaust pollution such as sewage, garbage, harmful substances in packaged form, noxious liquid carried in bulk and air pollution.
In similar vein, the PDO and the PMO-Davao also tangibly supported the Local Government Unit of Davao City’s Smoke-Free Davao Campaign by hanging a prescribed banner for the entire month of June. With the following warning: “For a Healthy Davao City: We Support 100% Smoke-Free Places …Smoking Kills!”, the PDO timed the hanging of the banner on May 31, 2010 in synchronization with the “World No Tobacco Day” which is being observed internationally.
The PPA’s year-long campaign on Smoking Prohibitions is also in continued enforcement of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) policies as contained in PPA Memorandum Order No. 07-2010 issued pursuant to Civil Service Commission (CSC) Memorandum Circular No. 17, series of 2009. All of the above office orders/regulations are anchored on Republic Act 9211 (the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003) provisions.
SoMin Port District and PMO-Davao have since designated smoking areas outside of their respective offices and posted serial warnings on conspicuous places such as the entrance lobby and exit doors on the dangers to actual smokers and the health hazards to second-hand cigarette smoke inhalers.
Moreover, in observance of safety and health precautions as implemented through the SEC, the SoMin Port District Office successfully mounted its Fire Awareness and Fire Fighting Techniques Seminar in June 10.
“Despite very minimal budget we will push through in the office level with the regular programs on safety and disaster management covering bomb, earthquake, fire, and other calamities because we believe that being always ready can save lives,” Port Police Officer/Acting Station Commander and concurrent SEC Chairperson Rodrigo Ybanez of the PDO-SoMin expressed during the planning session for the committee’s projects this year.
The one-day seminar on fire awareness is being co-hosted with the Bureau of Fire Protection-XI Intelligence and Investigation Section (BFP IIS) representatives SFO2 Ariel Capesos, SFO2 Felix Ticong and FO1 Cecil Sawan. Apart from the lecture, the SEC also underwent simulated fire smoke, evacuation drills and firefighting techniques demonstration using the fire hose and the fire extinguishers which were evaluated by the BFP IIS staff.
PDO-SoMin’s Fire Brigade for 2010 is composed of the following teams with at least five (5) members each including contractual workers on-duty such as security guards, janitors and gardeners: Fire Fighting A and B, Evacuation, Rescue and First Aid, and Salvage and Security, spearheaded by the PDM as the Chief Fire Marshall and the Asst. Chief Fire Marshall, the SEC Chairperson himself.
