Reuse

Barely two weeks after he was appointed Environment Secretary, former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asked now Buhay party-list representative Lito Atienza to make a report on the country’s water situation before the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).

That report, Atienza now recalls with some pride, must have impressed Arroyo. In the months and years that followed, she checked on the progress of Atienza’s recommendations. Since then, too, the water situation has always been on his mind.

Among the recommendations Atienza made then was to rehabilitate the Laguna de Bay. The lake, after all, is the largest reservoir available to support the water needs of a crowded and rapidly growing metropolitan area.

With Atienza at the lead, the DENR launched a massive campaign to dismantle the illegal fish pens that trapped trash and dirtied the lake. Dismantling the fish pens would also give small fishermen access to the waters cornered by rich and powerful operators who made billions at the expense of everybody else. That was a gargantuan task apparently abandoned by Atienza’s successors in the agency.

 In a related effort, the DENR negotiated with the Belgian government for assistance in dredging the lake and securing its perimeter. Along the lakeshore, the project would build a circumferential road to improve access for the towns of Rizal, help in regulating discharge into the lake and accommodate the sludge dredging would produce. The project would also alleviate flooding problems plaguing the communities around the lake.

This was a key infrastructure project addressing multifold problems all at once: the traffic, the flooding, the access of small fishermen to the rich fishing ground and the provision of fresh water supply for the metropolis.  It took many years for the contract to be perfected and for work to commence.

After work commenced, something truly dreadful happened. Benigno Aquino III was elected president. As soon as he stepped into office, he began cancelling projects initiated by his predecessor including the French-assisted port modernization and ro-ro programs. For no substantiated excuse, he canceled the Belgian-assisted project.

The globally respected Belgian company contracted to undertake the Laguna de Bay project went to the international arbitration court to seek redress. They won their case against the arbitrary cancellation of their contract. The Philippine government must now pay them billions in damages – and all the problems plaguing Laguna de Bay remain with us, including the absence of a fresh water reservoir.

Continuing with his water advocacy, Atienza has been pushing for legislation to require all new buildings to include cisterns that will save fresh water for daily use. It will also provide incentives for existing buildings and homes to retrofit in order to help reuse rainwater.

This, the Buhay representative believes, will go a long way to prevent the water crisis from worsening. It will help us replicate best practices in progressive countries like Japan and Singapore. It will improve our resiliency given the worsening effects of global warming.

SEA Games

In November this year, the country will host the Southeast Asian Games. A spanking new sporting facility is being rushed at Clark along with all related accommodations for the thousands of athletes coming for the competition.

This should be a proud moment for us. It will showcase the progress the country has made the past few years and introduce the new “smart” city we are building at Clark. The rail link to Manila will not be ready but every other related facility should be by November.

There are a few other problems to overcome.

The delay in the passage of the 2019 national budget hampers the funding required to complete preparations for the SEA Games. Also, because of the ongoing realignment of funds by the two chambers of Congress, the budget for hosting the Games has been slashed to only P5 billion from the original P7.5 billion.

Nevertheless, former foreign secretary Alan Peter Cayetano assures that preparations are going as scheduled. In fact, preparations are 6% ahead of schedule.

Cayetano was appointed by President Duterte to head the Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee. Although he is running for a seat in the House of Representatives, the challenge of a successful Philippine hosting of the Games consumes all his days. He has reached out to private donors to help with the expenses of hosting the event.

Cayetano’s greater concern is to protect the outlay given the organizing committee from the usual corruption that has plagued Philippine sports. It is bad enough that the organizers are working on a tight budget. It will be worse if the usual corruption seeps into the preparations for this high profile event.

Nevertheless, the preparations should test Cayetano’s reputation as a graft-buster as well as his political survival skills.

The grapevine has it that two officials of the Philippine Olympic Committee are working to oust Cayetano from the organizing committee. Both officials have records of suspensions by the Ombudsman on various charges of graft.

This is not the time to go about undermining those charged with completing preparations for the Games. We have very little time and limited funds to do a credible hosting of this international event.

If Philippine sports turned in less than creditable performances in international events lately, it is not because of we have inferior athletes. It is because our sports establishment, controlled by the usual suspects, seems enveloped in a graft-ridden culture. That culture has been to the detriment of our national athletes.

For once, let’s keep that damaged culture in check.