Firm chosen for Laguna Lake rehab project hails guarantee

MANILA, Philippines - Baggerwerken Decloedt En Zoon (BDZ), the giant Belgian dredging company that bagged the P18.7-billion Laguna Lake rehabilitation project, welcomed yesterday the Begian embassy’s confirmation that the project enjoys a guarantee from Brussels through its export credit facility.

In a letter dated June 10, 2010, Ambassador Christian Meerschman told former Environment Secretary Horacio C. Ramos that “BNPP-Fortis is making available on ONDD-covered export credit facility the funding for the Laguna Lake rehabilitation project.”

Meerschman’s letter stated that “the ONDD or Office National du Ducroire is the Belgian Public Export Agency. The ONDD was founded in 1921 by the Belgian State and is acting as an autonomous government institution enjoying Belgian State Guarantee.”

The Belgian ambassador’s June 10 letter to Ramos supersedes a letter used by detractors of the project to assert that the Laguna Lake rehab project has no official support from the Belgian government and would not qualify for coverage under the Official Development Assistance Act.

Meanwhile, multi-sectoral groups in Sta. Cruz, Laguna have decried the full page advertisements in national newspapers placed by a competing Belgian dredging firm which tend to raise doubts on the legality of the project.

In a statement, the groups led by Pamana Lawa, a people’s organization, said that the firm “appears hell bent in derailing the project at the expense of the benefits that would be generated to thousands of Filipinos.”

“The ads conveniently omitted the three legal opinions of the Department of Justice (DoJ) ruling that the project funded through Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) is covered by an Executive Agreement and not by the Government Procurement Act (RA 9184) requiring public bidding. With this ruling, the project contract is therefore perfectly legal,” the groups said.

BDZ branded the rival firm’s disinformation effort as “very deplorable.”

BDZ assured that it will harness all its world-class technology and capability in constructing the project which will spell a great difference in the lives of the Filipino people. “Bank not only on our capability but more so on our corporate integrity. This has been our badge of honor in our many projects over the years in all parts of the globe,” BDZ said.