Thursday, October 8, 2009 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES [ BusinessWorld Online ]
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to revisit procedures in issuing environmental compliance certificates (ECC) in light of widespread damages caused by the flood.
The President also ordered Environment Secretary Jose L. Atienza, Jr. to review pending ECC applications of property developments in flood-prone areas.
Executive Secretary Eduardo R. Ermita said the President gave the directive following concerns raised by local governments that unregulated residential projects may have contributed to the massive flooding in Metro Manila caused by Ondoy.
"This [review] is something that the DENR should be reminded of. Secretary Atienza said he has already asked the division issuing the ECCs to review the procedure," the presidential aide said.
Mr. Ermita noted that the DENR should also look into pending applications for subdivision development, especially in inundated areas.
Meanwhile, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) will meet tomorrow with local chief executives of affected communities on a relocation plan for families staying in at least 500 evacuation centers and to deal with the looming garbage problem in Metro Manila.
Acting Interior Secretary Melchor P. Rosales told reporters after a budget hearing in the Senate yesterday: "What we will discuss on Friday together with the local government units [LGUs] is about the recovery operations after Ondoy."
Mr. Rosales is temporarily taking over the DILG after Interior Secretary Ronaldo V. Puno left for Virginia, USA to accompany his wife Pinky who is undergoing a major surgery. Mr. Puno will be back on Oct. 12.
To get back to "normalcy," Mr. Rosales said, the LGUs have to "remove" the evacuees from elementary schools so that children can return to class.
Piles of garbage remained on side streets in several areas of the metropolis, but Mr. Rosales allayed fears of a looming garbage problem since the three sanitary landfills in Montalban, Rodriguez and San Mateo, all in Rizal, will be used to dump the waste.
"What we have to do is generate enough force to hold these collected garbage. This is not an ordinary garbage situation," he said. — B. S. Sto. Domingo and B. U. Allauigan
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