Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — It was a simple photo of Metro Manila skyline beneath a clear blue sky.
If a picture is worth a thousand words then there is definitely plenty to be expressed on the photo taken by Pal Marquez on the morning of July 30.
Marquez, vice president for News and Current Affairs at CNN Philippines, captured the terrifying and horrendous condition of Metro Manila’s atmosphere.
“When you wake up to this sight, parang ayaw mo [nang] huminga,” Marquez said.
Viewed from a high-rise building, this air pollution looks like haze covering a huge part of Metro Manila.
The Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources says that, over the years, increasing levels of air pollutants from natural and human-related sources have led to poor air quality.
The World Health Organization (WHO), meanwhile, reports that in 2012 around seven million people died – one in eight of total global deaths – as a result of air pollution exposure.
