Acosta revamps, revitalizes LLDA for better services

MANILA, Philippines - Neric Acosta, preceded by his reputation as an environmental advocate having authored the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act in Congress where he served as environment committee chairman, was appointed as presidential adviser for environment protection in August 2011.

He is likewise a member of the Board of the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) and was elected as its general manager on Sept. 19, 2011.

Upon assuming his post at the LLDA, Acosta did a thorough review of the agency’s organizational setup and its functions, especially its Enforcement and Regulatory Department (ERD). Previously, LLDA had a backlog of clearances of about six months, with a total of 1,094 discharge permits still not issued and several business establishments poorly monitored and regulated. This resulted in the influx of complaints coming from several applicants for accreditation and permits.

To immediately address these complaints lest the blame be unjustly heaped on him, he accordingly revamped the organization’s leadership in December, and streamlined the functions of those reporting to the Office of the General Manager to synchronize with those of the ERD in order to improve the efficiency of the old bureaucracy.

With 2012 as target year, Acosta is batting for a zero-backlog in all its transactions, starting with the speedy approval of new and pending applications and the shutting down of businesses and industries violating the Clean Water Act and those hindering its implementation.

With these innovative changes in the regulatory processes of the agency already in place, Acosta wants to focus on the more active exercise of the LLDA’s developmental functions through the maximum utilization of Laguna Lake’s resources.

He believes that an entrepreneurial approach at managing LLDA is extremely necessary owing to the need to provide sources of livelihood for the millions of illegal settlers living in, and directly polluting, the wetlands within the Laguna Lake

According to Acosta, this entrepreneurial philosophy dictates that the LLDA, with a conscientious effort at protecting the environment as its primary guidepost, must make full beneficial use of all the vast resources at its disposal, namely the water resource of the lake itself, and the 14,000 hectares of shorelands surrounding the lake that are now very valuable pieces of real estate just waiting to be developed.

“Only by seeing the paramount necessity of leaning towards the environmentally responsible entrepreneurial approach in fully utilizing the lake’s resources can we solve the extremely huge problem that is the lake’s biggest polluters, the unregulated businesses and industries and illegal settlers, and at the same creating a big impact on the nation’s economy,” Acosta said. 

Asked to react to the persistent demolition job disguised as news reports that tend to put him in a very bad light before the eyes of the public and the numerous death threats that he has already received, he replied, “I was tasked by the President to protect the environment and institute reforms whenever and wherever I could. The inexorable hazards and exigential complexities of holding public office are a mere fraction of the vicissitudes of holding public office and being a true servant of the people. To be at peace with myself, I gratefully accept what the universe provides. In the pursuit of my mission, my mind is clearer and my resolve firmer. What will not kill me will only make me stronger.”