Heads of UP Diliman’s (UPD) various units and/or their representatives gathered at the National Engineering Center on Sept. 27 for an eight-hour crash course on environmental management.

Organized by the UPD Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs (OVCCA) through the Diliman Environmental Management Office, the whole-day event tackled environmental concepts and regulations and discussed how they apply to projects and activities on campus.

Invited resource persons from the Department of Environment and Natural Reources (DENR) – Environmental Management Bureau discussed laws such as Presidential Decree No. 158 also known as the Environmental Impact Statement System, the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999, and RA 11898 or the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022.

According to Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs Roehl L. Jamon, the training aims to instill a sense of collective awareness and understanding among the heads of the various UPD units about environmental management, especially with regard to environmental compliance.

“[K]ailangan meron talagang active consciousness ang bawat isa, so everytime we do an assessment sa isang unit for example, it’s imperative na yung unit mismo they understand yung importance and significance ng ginagawang assessment doon sa unit nila,” he said.

“It’s related to all the projects ng Diliman. Ang [goal] natin is maging compliant ang UPD with all the very minute requirements ng DENR, kasi we are saying ‘we are a model community we’re trying to build a model community.’ … With this, hopefully, merong understanding na ‘O, ang dali dali lang naman pala na we just take for granted the things na we can do’,” Jamon added. Speaking at the event, UPD Chancellor Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II urged the participants to embrace the opportunity for learning and growth and “create a more environmentally conscious and harmonious campus” that will be “an example for others to follow.”