PROTESTING fishermen said the failure of the bidding for the P123-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike project was a small victory, but said President Benigno Aquino III was trying desperately to close the deal before he steps down from office.
“President Aquino is making sure it’s all systems go for the LLEDP before leaving Malacañang. He is making sure, he is fully paid to these giant businesses who funded his election campaign last 2010,” said Save Laguna Lake Movement spokesperson Ronnie Molera.
“But also this time, he is begging for funding and political support for his heir apparent Mar Roxas in the coming presidential race,” Molera added.
Molera said they will continue to oppose the LLEDP, a 47-kilometer dike project with an expressway on top that will run from Taguig City to Los Baños in Laguna. It also includes a “deal sweetener” comprised of 700 hectares of land reclaimed from the lake.
“The LLEDP is a serious threat to our lives and livelihoods,” Molera said, noting that Laguna de Bay used to be a rich fishing ground, sustaining the everyday lives of the people living along the lake.
“But because of the various destructive projects implemented by the past and current administration, the lake is now on its deathbed,” he said.
On March 22, Aquino issued Executive Order No. 202, creating an inter-agency technical committee on the Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike Project, which will be composed of technical representatives of the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Laguna Lake Development Authority, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Philippine Reclamation Authority.
The IATC will assist the DPWH and LLDA in the implementation of the LLEDP and in resolving issues arising from the implementation of the LLEDP, the EO provides.
The committee shall also ensure all aspects of the LLEDP, including the relocation of the LLEDP-affected inhabitants, waste management, reclamation, environmental protection, property development, and construction, are consistent with the requirements of all applicable laws, rules and regulations, it adds.
The National Economic and Development Authority Board, which the President headed, earlier approved the LLEDP to be implemented by the DPWH as the implementing agency, and the LLDA as the cooperating agency, under a public-private partnership scheme pursuant to the Build-Operate-and-Transfer Law.
But Molera said “rehabilitation is our solution to the Laguna Lake woes, not LLEDP. We will continue to expose and oppose this wholesale destruction on Laguna de Bay until it is totally scrapped.”
Salvador France of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas urged local candidates in the affected municipalities to expose and oppose the LLEDP.
“Local candidates should support and join us in calling to stop the bidding. We totally reject the LLEDP which stands to evict an estimated 3.9 million fisher families and poor residents along Laguna de Bay,” France said.
