Sa kaniyang social media post, ibinahagi ng abogado na si Atty. Trixie Cruz-angeles ang ilang artikulo na kung saan nakasaad na ibinasura ni dating presidente Noynoy Aquino ang flood control project na ikinasa noong Arroyo Administration.
"Ilalagay ko lang ito dito para sa mga kritiko ng rescue efforts ngayon.
1. In 2010, Noynoy Aquino scrapped Arroyo flood control projects, including that of the Laguna Lake dredging for which we had been sued. We lost and we are still paying for that.
The scrapping of the dredging project means that towns surrounding the Laguna de Bay are constantly flooded.
2. Aquino supposedly scrapped the project to put into place a masterplan and repair of floodways. Di po ito natapos. Or rather, di ito natuloy. Kaya halos di na upgrade ang flood control dito sa Metro Manila dahil magaling sila sa plano," sabi ni Atty. Trixie.
Ayon sa isang artikulo noong 2017, pinaboran ng International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ang Belgian dredging firm na Baggerwerken Decloedt En Zoon (BDZ). Pinagbayad naman ng World Bank ang Gobyerno ng Pilipinas ng P800 million dahil sa pagkansela sa P18.7-billion Laguna Lake Rehabilitation Project.
Narito po ang paliwanag ni former ambassador Rigoberto Tiglao tungkol sa isyu.
"Just a few months after he assumed power, Aquino in November 2010 junked Arroyo’s Laguna Lake Rehabilitation Project, which would have dredged the lake of 4.6 million cubic meters of silt and waste so it could contain more floodwaters.
The project would have involved the deepening of the critical 7-kilometer Napindan Channel in Taytay so that it could better and more quickly draw floodwaters away from the metropolis to the lake.
Costing P19 billion, the project was to be undertaken by the 150-year-old Belgian dredging firm Baagerwerken Decloedt En Zoon (BDZ) and financed by a loan from the BNP Paribas Fortis bank, with the Brussels government providing a P7-billion grant — the biggest ever financial aid it would have given the country.
However, Aquino claimed the project was ridden with corruption, and ordered it stopped in November 2010. I was told he even asked Sen. Franklin Drilon’s law firm to investigate it to the extent of even interviewing BDZ officials in Brussels. Six years after going through all the records, not a single hint of corruption was found."
Source: Inquirer
