Barking up the wrong tree

If our government, and the legislators who have won on a “green” platform, are really serious about environmental protection and preservation, then a number of activities are worth looking into.

Take the case of the supposed rehabilitation of the Pasig River, which the Commission on Audit (COA) said was a bungled job that wasted P17.7 million of taxpayers’ money. 

The Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC), the agency in charge of the cleanup, rendered useless millions of pesos worth of recycling equipment because it was able to build only one functioning materials recovery facility (MRF) out of the 10 it had committed  to set up over the last four years, according to the COA’s 2012 report on the project. 

The COA pointed out the PRRC’s mismanagement of the project when it decided to buy the recycling equipment for the MRFs in advance even before the facilities were ready.

According to the Audit commission, considering the length of time since the equipment was purchased, its operational efficiency has already diminished which may render it inoperable by the time all MRFs are completed. COA was informed that the PRRC has no storage facility which would accommodate all the equipment hence, they were distributed to various locations where the MRF projects are to be constructed.

The COA found out that three MRFs located in the compound of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Quezon City, the Polytechnic University campus and the Cardinal Sin Village, both in Manila, were “non-operational and almost deteriorated due to the rain, heat and stray animals living inside the structures.” 

Another “green” project that our leaders should look into when Congress reopens this month are the alleged irregularities surrounding the income-sharing scheme for the La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City. 

The COA discovered that the income-sharing scheme for the project was not followed, with the private partner in the operation of the ecopark allegedly grabbing the profits intended for the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS). The latter and the Quezon City government are co-operators of the park.

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed among the three entities stated a profit sharing of 40 percent of net income for MWSS, 30 percent for AFI and 30 percent for the QC  government. 

But a 2011 COA report on the La Mesa Ecopark operations showed that the private sector partner managed to get a bigger share of the profits, which is beyond the terms stated in the MOA, because it had deducted 15 percent from the gross revenues of the ecopark operations as “management fee.” 

The MOA also stated that “any or all transactions or withdrawal involving the ETF shall be considered approved if signed and approved by at least two official representatives or signatories of either MWSS and QC, or MWSS and the private sector partner. The COA audit,  however, showed  that all accounts were opened in the name of the private sector only and “transactions/withdrawals were made without the consent of MWSS.”  

And of course, there is the continuing nightmare of occupants of the West Tower Condominium in Bangkal, Makati City.

Unfortunately, many of our leaders would rather focus their attention on the “big fishes,” mining companies which are perceived as anti-environment, when in fact the big mining firms are the ones  who spend hundreds  of millions of pesos to take care of the affected communities in the areas they are exploring,  undergo rigid screening and application processes and are required to comply strictly with existing  provisions of local and national laws. 

Our government, and our supposed environmental advocates, should fight the real fights and identify the real culprits.

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