The EMB Central Office through the ERLSD is one of the cooperating agencies in a project spearheaded by the University of the Philippines, Diliman- Institute of Biology, titled” Development of the PBI to Monitor Water Quality of Wadeable Streams”.

The PBI is a simple and inexpensive tool based on benthic macroinvertebrates to assess and monitor stream health in the Philippines, thus will play a significant role in monitoring and protecting environmental health. In addition, this tool will complement the existing water quality guidelines by providing additional biological monitoring parameters for more comprehensive assessment of water bodies.

Other cooperating agencies for this project are National Government Agencies and their regional offices (Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, Biodiversity Management Bureau, DA – Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, DA – National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, etc.), Local Government Units, and State Universities and Colleges).

Courtesy call to Local Government Units _ERLSD_RES_IMG_38 Reconnaissance Survey and Establishment of Study Sites _ERLSD_RES_A17

Conduct of Sampling Activities _ERLSD_RES_A20 _ERLSD_RES_A21 _ERLSD_RES_IMG_40 On-site measurement using Water Quality Checker and collection of water samples Elutriation of collected benthic macroinvertebrate samples _ERLSD_RES_IMG_39 _ERLSD_RES_A22 Sampling of benthic macroinvertebrate through Kick-net Method using D-net Measurement of the bank full width and wetted width of the study site

MMHRDC has its roots in 1984 when the Ermita Health Science Community (EHSC) was formally organized and a memorandum of agreement was signed by 13 member institutions. Then EHSC expanded its membership and became the Metro Manila Health Science Community (MMHSC) in 1992.The MMHSC expanded the EHSC objective of establishing a system of coordination and sharing of resources to promote research towards alleviating the health problems of the Philippine population. This expansion focused on promoting and advocating policies and programs related to health and health research. The mandate of the MMHRDC is steered by the Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS). MMHRDC’s core agencies are: PCHRD-NCR, DOST-NCR, DOH-NCR, CHED-NCR and UP-NIH. Currently MMHRDC has 43 member institutions. The EMB is one of the 43 member institutions of the MMHRDC and is also a part of the Steering Committee under the Research Utilization.

Sylvatrop is the DENR Technical Journal of Philippine Ecosystems and Natural Resources. It publishes original and completed researches involving scientific investigations, natural resources, and related fields. The Sylvatrop Editorial Board (SEB) is responsible for reviewing and approving submitted articles for publication in the said journal. The Board is composed of representatives from the different DENR bureaus and attached agencies wherein ERLSD is the EMB representative for the SEB.

Joint Department Circular No. 1 s. 2016, Article III Sections 4 and 5 state that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources through its Biosafety Committee (DENR-BC) is tasked to lead in evaluating environmental risk and impacts of regulated articles for field trial, commercial propagation, and direct use of living modified organisms (LMOs). Thus, DENR is involved in the evaluation process of submitted proposals to the Department of Agriculture- Biosafety Committee (DA-BC) for the application of biosafety permits.

Pursuant to DENR Special Order No. 353 s. 2016, the DENR-BC was constituted in June 2016 with the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) and the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) as the Chair and Co-chair, respectively. The members of the DENR-BC are representatives from the Forest Management Bureau (FMB), Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), DENR Legal Affairs Service and DENR Policy and Planning Services. However, the DENR S.O 353 was amended last October 21, 2020, thru DENR S.O.No. 392 series of 2020, transferring the Chairpersonship and Co-chairpersonship to EMB and BMB, respectively. The members of the DENR-BC are representatives from the ERDB, FMB, DENR PPS, and DENR LAS, while the Secretariat is composed of representatives from EMB, BMB, ERDB, and FMB.

This Inter-agency Committee is responsible for formulating and implementing the national action plan that will rationalize, harmonize, streamline, integrate, and unify the efforts of government agencies to address the AMR problem in the country. Under the Administrative Order No. 42, s. 2014, Section I, the Committee is co-chaired by Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Agriculture (DA). The Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) were identified as its members. The Committee may call upon any department, bureau, office, agency, or instrumentality of the government, and request the local government units and private sector for assistance as the circumstances and exigencies may require.

The DENR was invited for a meeting after the ICAMR identified that its participation is crucial and necessary in attaining the goals in the environment sector of the AMR framework. The DENR, gave the instructions to EMB to send representatives to this meeting and this was received by ERLSD.

The Department of Trade and Industry – Philippine Accreditation Bureau (DTI-PAB) is currently coordinating with regulatory agencies whose mandates include accreditation and/ or recognition of laboratories to streamline all accreditation and recognition processes in the country. In relation to this, PAB has drafted a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the agency and the DENR to harmonize the local guidelines of the recognition process done by the DENR with the applicable international standard. The DENR requested the EMB to represent the Department in the 15th PAB Council Meeting where the milestone of activities and status of agreements between different agencies were discussed.

The Department of Health- Metro Manila Center for Health Development through the Environmental and Occupational Health Cluster conduct its annual Metro Manila Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Committee (MMDWQMC) and Technical Working Group (TWG) Workshop. This activity aims to provide updates on program implementation as well as opportunity for Local Government Units (LGUs), Concessionaires, and other partners and stakeholders to validate and analyze existing data; identify issues encountered in the implementation of Water Quality Monitoring and Surveillance and provide a venue to plan for specific activities towards securing the safety of drinking water in Metro Manila.