EMB-Central Mindanao offers new services with upgraded lab

KORONADAL CITY, Philippines — The P16-million laboratory upgrade of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) in Central Mindanao has been completed. Datu Tungko M. Saikol, EMB regional director, said the new facility, located in this city, will be launched on Monday. The project was done with the assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The range of laboratory services that the regional environmental bureau can now offer includes analyses of air and heavy metals, on top of the usual scrutiny of water, wastewater effluents, total solids, total suspended/dissolved solids, grease and oil, total coliform and fecal coliform, the official said. JICA extended the technical assistance through the Capacity Development Project on Water Quality Management Capacity-Building. The regional environmental office’s counterpart was the construction of the third floor where the laboratory is located. Mr. Saikol said a memorandum of agreement (MoA) will be signed at the launch. The MoA tackles the creation of a multi-partite monitoring team between the EMB and Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. in line with the latter’s requirement for an Environmental Compliance Certificate. He said that Central Mindanao was the first of three pilot regions chosen by the JICA project to be given such assistance. Upgrading of laboratories in Regions 3 and 6 will follow soon, he added. — Romer S. Sarmiento, BusinessWorld