Businessmen sniff opportunities in waste mgm’t law

Businessmen who have seen an opportunity in the advent of the Solid Waste Management Act, have been jockeying for the juiciest deals in government, an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) disclosed yesterday.

The implementation of the newly signed law involves the purchase of equipment to the tune of hundreds of millions of pesos and businessmen, the official said, have "smelled money and they are going for the jugular."

"What the law requires is the management of waste disposal and that involves equipment which, for instance, in the case of the sanitary landfill project may involve a couple of billions of pesos," the source said.

According to the source, the most prominent of the companies, which has jumped into the fray of bidding for lucrative contracts is the R-II Builders Inc., the developer of the Smokey Mountain reclamation project.

"There‘s really nothing wrong with R-II Builders in the bidding process since it has been there ever since the Smokey Mountain project which has grown into an industrial site attracting investors from around the world," DENR Assistant Director Ding Concepcion said.

Concepcion added that what the newly-assigned law may contribute to the economy is the fact that the "recycling of garbage may be an employment opportunity for people who used to be scavengers in the dumpsites."

"These people who have made a living out of garbage all their lives can help us recycle garbage necessary in the implementation of the law," he said. "In fact, they are the real experts when it comes to this."Joemari Gerochi, DENR officer-in-charge, has ordered the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) to organize a committee to draft the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Solid Waste Management Act.

Gerochi said the committee would draft the IRR for the promulgation within one year after the enactment of the law. Under Section 59 of the Solid Waste Management Act, the DENR has been tasked to prepare the implementing rules and regulations.

"The DENR will promulgate the IRR in coordination with the committees on environment and ecology of the Senate and House of Representatives, the representatives of the League of Provinces, Cities, Municipalities, and Barangay Councils, the MMDA and other concerned agencies," Gerochi added.

The draft IRR, he said, would be "subjected to public consultations and public hearings before their promulgation… This will afford all concerned sectors and stakeholders a chance to make the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Act a success."

Gerochi said the National Solid Waste Management Commission would be convened as soon as Malacañang has filled up vacancies in the Cabinet since the commission would be composed of 14 members from both the public and private sectors.