Malacañang aware of complaints vs LLDA chief

Manila, Philippines - Malacañang said it was aware of the extortion complaints against Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) general manager Rodrigo Cabrera and would take appropriate action.

On Friday, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing that the videos being shown as evidence against Cabrera had been brought to the attention of President Aquino.

Lacierda said the Office of the President would look into the issue and decide accordingly.

According to abs-cbnnews.com, Cabrera is taking a 60-day leave after fishpen owner Charlie Tan accused him and another LLDA officer of extortion.

Cabrera said he was taking the leave of absence “in order to give the Office of the President a free hand in the conduct of a fair and unprejudiced investigation.”

“In line with the President’s ‘Matuwid na Landas’ mandate, I believe that distancing myself from the investigation is the right and honorable thing to do so that only the truth will prevail, free from emotions or opinion,” he said.

He assured the President and the Filipino people that he would submit himself to an investigation in order to preserve and protect the credibility and integrity of LLDA.

Based on Tan’s accounts, Cabrera asked for P300,000 in exchange for his approval to transfer his fishpen to another location when he met the LLDA chief and engineer Donato Rivera of the LLDA Engineering Division on May 12.

Tan showed a video footage of an alleged meeting with the LLDA officials to support his allegations.

Cabrera denied Tan’s claim and said the meeting’s agenda was to help the owner. He has filed an anti-wiretapping case against Tan before the Quezon City Prosecutors Office.

Militants hit Laguna Lake project

Meanwhile, the militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) yesterday said the grand collateral damage of the ambitious P300-billion Laguna Lake Master development plan will involve the displacement of 3.92 million Filipinos  mainly fisherfolk, farmers, urban poor and lake residents along the shores of the 90,000 hectare lake.

Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap said there is no assurance that the remaining 10 million people surrounding Laguna Lake will be spared from demolitions once the national government, in partnership with private groups, starts the 54 proposed projects that would involve dredging, the construction of 100-kilometer ring dike from Taytay City in Rizal to Sta.Cruz in Laguna, and the reforestation and eco-tourism projects.

The other big ticket projects include shore land development for high rise condominiums and first class residences, production of drinking water, flood control structures, the setting up of ferry terminals and eco-tourism loop and construction of an international airport covering not less 5,000 hectares of soon to be reclaimed lands in Taguig and Muntinlupa.

“What will be saved from the public-private partnership (PPP) and Pres. Aquino’s appetite for juicy commissions and freak addiction to destruction of the environment and the fishing livelihood are the 3,773 major industries cherished by the previous regimes and current administration,” Hicap said.

He said the master plan of Laguna Lake is not rehabilitation but conversion and privatization of the lake. He said funding for the P300-billion worth of projects designed under the Laguna Lake 2020 development plan will be sourced from corporate funds of the LLDA, loans and grants from foreign lending and funding institutions, investments to be generated from PPP, from 100 percent foreign investments which will be supported with public incentives like tax credits and market-based instruments like charging of users fee or rent fees from private users of the lake.

The group earlier assailed the endorsement of the House Committee on Ecology of the P18.7-billion Laguna Lake Dredging Project, which was canceled by Aquino on Dec. 5, 2010 due to alleged irregularities.

The House Committee Report No. 1022 signed by Representatives Dan Fernandez, Maximo Rodriguez, Rufus Rodriguez, Ma. Evita Arago, Justin March SB. Chipeco, Edgar San Luis, Rodolfo Biazon, Joel Roy Duavit and Isidro Roridguez Jr. urged President Aquino to revisit and reconsider the project based on the findings of the Committee on Ecology.

“We don’t need the P18.7-billion investment if it will mean destruction to millions of people in Laguna Lake which is exactly the case here,” Pamalakaya said, adding that the President should reconsider the exigency and indispensability of the dredging project as embodied in the supply contract in order to avoid more devastating flooding in the future.

The congressmen also noted that the loan contract and other commercial financial terms offered by the Belgian contractor Baggerwerken Cloedt En Zoon (BDC) is a laudable financial package and therefore will not be disadvantageous to the Philippine government.

The congressmen said President Aquino should be wary of the legal implications of the cancellation of the supply contract when it is brought to international arbitration and the apparent diplomatic repercussions and international commercial relations it may bring to the Philippines with Belgium.  With Michelle Zoleta