In pursuit of developing and strengthening skills and awareness of project implementers on the environmental safeguards in project implementation, Regional Project Coordination Office XIII’s (RPCO 13) Social and Environmental Safeguards (SES) unit conducted a Training for Pollution Control Officer (Orientation on the Salient Features of Environmental Laws) on June 14 – 16 at Cagwait, Surigao del Sur.

The training aims to equip SES focal persons from the Provincial/Municipal Project Management and Implementing Units (P/MPMIU), staff from the Department of Agriculture’s banner programs, and RPCO staff on the competencies required in pollution control.

Engr. Michael B. Tuares, the speaker for the event, emphasized the impact of environmental considerations in the projects implemented by PRDP.

“While we are very concerned with economic growth and social development, we should also consider environmental aspects in project implementation. This is very important because PRDP’s projects aim to be sustainable, and we cannot attain it if we don’t consider the environmental aspects,” says Tuares.

During the three-day training, participants learned about the impact environmental laws have on project implementation. Apart from that, they studied advanced technologies in wastewater management, potential environmental problems and their corresponding remedial and mitigating measures, effluent treatment and control, and the effectiveness of clean technologies and waste minimization.

Emerita P. Elajas, Municipal Agriculturist of Placer, Surigao del Norte, asserts the training’s importance in helping local government units prepare for project implementation. In their case, Placer has a proposed subproject for the establishment of an ice plant and ice storage facility under the PRDP Scale-Up.

“The training is a big help as it deepened my knowledge of environmental laws and the need for sustainable development. This training is very important for us as we have a proposed ice plant subproject. We need to be able to monitor its water discharges so that it doesn’t negatively impact the environment, especially since the project will be near the sea. There are these mitigating measures to help smoothen out the project’s implementation,” says Elajas.

After the training, participants are expected to incorporate the lessons they’ve gleaned from the training into the implementation of their projects.

DA-PRDP’s SES unit is concerned with upholding the social and environmental safeguards in the implementation of infrastructure and enterprise subprojects under DA-PRDP’s I-BUILD and I-REAP components, respectively.