NGO accuses Reyes of signing ‘midnight deal’ worth $1.3M
08/03/2007 | 04:01 PM
Before he left the Department of Environment and Natural Resources last July 31, Secretary Angelo T. Reyes signed a ‘midnight’ deal involving the full payment of $1.3 million to a foreign company engaged in a controversial air pollution project, an environmental watchdog revealed on Friday.
Reyes signed on July 16 a Letter of Undertaking for the DENR – Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) to pay Guam-based Emissions Technology, Inc. (ETI) $1.314,776.46 in back fees for a component of a $6.2-million Air Monitoring Project, according to Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment.
The Letter of Undertaking (LOU) was received by ETI and the EMB on July 31, the same day that Reyes assumed his new position as Energy Secretary, in place of Raphael Lotilla who had asked to be relieved.
Prime Berunia, an aide of Reyes, said the secretary could not have known he would transfer from the DENR to DoE on July 16 when the LOU was supposedly signed.
"His appointment paper was signed July 17 and the announcement was made in Malacanang July 18. The turnover at DoE was on July 31, and at DENR (to Atienza) on Aug. 1," Berunia said.
"I am not sure if there was really an agreement that had been signed. We have yet to check that," he said.
The project between DENR and partners ETI and Industramach, Inc. required the setting up, maintenance and operation of 10 air quality monitoring stations throughout Metro Manila to measure ambient air (or aid outside and surrounding an air pollution source location) and pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, ozone, particulate matter and total suspended solids.
It was part of a larger government project that aims to mitigate air pollution in Metro Manila.
The project was originally signed on November 26, 2002 between ETI-IMACH and then DENR Secretary Heherson Alvarez.
Clemente Bautista Jr, national coordinator of Kalikasan – PNE, said on Friday that the project is “a useless and expensive investment that will only drive the country into foreign debt for nothing."
“Kalikasan PNE (Thursday) obtained a copy of a Letter of Undertaking (LOU) sent by ETI President Robert Wilson on July 16, 2007, signed by Reyes, and received by ETI and the EMB on July 31, right before Reyes was replaced by Lito Atienza as DENR Secretary," Bautista said.
"Why has Secretary Reyes agreed to pay ETI the remaining balance, when clearly the Ambient Air Monitoring Network project was a useless and expensive venture that failed to produce credible data on air pollution?" he asked.
“Even the DENR's own legal and technical bureaus strongly recommended that the project be terminated," Bautista pointed out.
"If this project is proven anomalous, this will be indeed be a big burden to Filipino taxpayers, who are shouldering the massive amounts being paid to ETI by the government," he stressed.
He called on newly installed DENR Secretary Joselito Atienza to cancel the LOU that Reyes sealed with ETI president Robert Wilson, an American citizen. Bautista also asked Atienza, former Manila mayor and a close political ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to promptly investigate the controversial project.
Bautista likewise appealed to Congress' Commission on Appointments to withhold the confirmation process for Reyes until the issues over the controversial project are cleared, and pending investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman.
The LOU mandated DENR-EMB to pay ETI $1.3 million five days after ETI’s former partner IMACH shall have posted a performance bond of $439, 114.81. EMB received the LOU on July 31.
The government has already paid $3,235,582.56 for the project that has failed to produce a reliable data needed to find solutions to the country’s air pollution problems. It still has a balance of $2.9 million.
Bautista said the air pollution stations set up near Ateneo de Manila Unversity on Katipunan avenue, Valenzuela City, Clark Air Base, Cavite State University, among others, were not only substandard but also failed to produce needed results.
“The target was only Metro Manila, but apparently, they expanded the coverage outside Metro Manila," he said, citing the air monitors outside the metropolis. “The equipment used were defective and substandard," he averred.
Bautista said the project became controversial when IMACH withdrew from its joint venture with ETI on Feb. 14, 2005 after EMB and DENR’s own legal departments recommended to stop payment to ETI-IMACH and terminate the contract for the joint venture’s failure to meet technical and legal issues.
Reyes disregarded the recommendation and continued with the transactions with ETI.
On Dec. 13, 2006, Reyes approved the payment of $1.117, 864.13 million worth of unsettled billings to ETI and raised the possibility of extending the project by another year, Bautista said.
The deal prompted IMACH managing director Eduardo L. Mendoza to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman on March 21, 2007, questioning the December 2006 deal as “highly prejudicial to the government."
Bautista said Kalikasan-PNE joined Mendoza in questioning the involvement of Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman in the project even after his election to Congress in 2004.
Lagman served as counsel for partners ETI and IMACH in the project from 2002 to 2003 when he was practicing law after failing in his congressional bid for Quezon City’s fourth district.
“Minutes of the meetings with DENR would show he continued to personally attend meetings and intervene even after his election to the House of Representatives during the 2004 national elections," Bautista said, hinting that Lagman was working for ETI’s interests.
"A complaint is already lodged at the Office of the Ombudsman and is only awaiting due action. Reyes' appointment to the Department of Energy must be put on hold until this issue has been duly investigated," Bautista asserted.
He said the government has been paying a foreign entity, ETI, whose local partner is not even registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He said this constitutes one of the many violations in the project.
“Since 2004, the DENR has been practically financing this project and several others purely through foreign loans from the ADB. The ETI, its overly-compensated expatriate staff and possibly a few corrupt individuals will be the only ones to gain from this project," Bautista said.
“This debt has definitely been squandered by the ETI's irresponsible and fraudulent engagements and has not contributed an iota of data for the betterment of the Philippine environment," he added.
“To date, the $6.1 million project not been able to generate credible and consistent data on ambient air pollution that it is obligated to produce under the contract. It is incapable of accurately measuring the levels of BTX toxic substances in ambient air. It is an extravagant waste of time, effort and a lot of money—a multi-million dollar loan, to be exact—and an exercise in futility that should be scrapped in favor of other more worthwhile and productive environmental projects and programs," Bautista further said.
GMANews.TV has tried all efforts to reach Reyes personally to get his side. - GMANews.TV
Reyes signed on July 16 a Letter of Undertaking for the DENR – Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) to pay Guam-based Emissions Technology, Inc. (ETI) $1.314,776.46 in back fees for a component of a $6.2-million Air Monitoring Project, according to Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment.
The Letter of Undertaking (LOU) was received by ETI and the EMB on July 31, the same day that Reyes assumed his new position as Energy Secretary, in place of Raphael Lotilla who had asked to be relieved.
Prime Berunia, an aide of Reyes, said the secretary could not have known he would transfer from the DENR to DoE on July 16 when the LOU was supposedly signed.
"His appointment paper was signed July 17 and the announcement was made in Malacanang July 18. The turnover at DoE was on July 31, and at DENR (to Atienza) on Aug. 1," Berunia said.
"I am not sure if there was really an agreement that had been signed. We have yet to check that," he said.
The project between DENR and partners ETI and Industramach, Inc. required the setting up, maintenance and operation of 10 air quality monitoring stations throughout Metro Manila to measure ambient air (or aid outside and surrounding an air pollution source location) and pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, ozone, particulate matter and total suspended solids.
It was part of a larger government project that aims to mitigate air pollution in Metro Manila.
The project was originally signed on November 26, 2002 between ETI-IMACH and then DENR Secretary Heherson Alvarez.
Clemente Bautista Jr, national coordinator of Kalikasan – PNE, said on Friday that the project is “a useless and expensive investment that will only drive the country into foreign debt for nothing."
“Kalikasan PNE (Thursday) obtained a copy of a Letter of Undertaking (LOU) sent by ETI President Robert Wilson on July 16, 2007, signed by Reyes, and received by ETI and the EMB on July 31, right before Reyes was replaced by Lito Atienza as DENR Secretary," Bautista said.
"Why has Secretary Reyes agreed to pay ETI the remaining balance, when clearly the Ambient Air Monitoring Network project was a useless and expensive venture that failed to produce credible data on air pollution?" he asked.
“Even the DENR's own legal and technical bureaus strongly recommended that the project be terminated," Bautista pointed out.
"If this project is proven anomalous, this will be indeed be a big burden to Filipino taxpayers, who are shouldering the massive amounts being paid to ETI by the government," he stressed.
He called on newly installed DENR Secretary Joselito Atienza to cancel the LOU that Reyes sealed with ETI president Robert Wilson, an American citizen. Bautista also asked Atienza, former Manila mayor and a close political ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to promptly investigate the controversial project.
Bautista likewise appealed to Congress' Commission on Appointments to withhold the confirmation process for Reyes until the issues over the controversial project are cleared, and pending investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman.
The LOU mandated DENR-EMB to pay ETI $1.3 million five days after ETI’s former partner IMACH shall have posted a performance bond of $439, 114.81. EMB received the LOU on July 31.
The government has already paid $3,235,582.56 for the project that has failed to produce a reliable data needed to find solutions to the country’s air pollution problems. It still has a balance of $2.9 million.
Bautista said the air pollution stations set up near Ateneo de Manila Unversity on Katipunan avenue, Valenzuela City, Clark Air Base, Cavite State University, among others, were not only substandard but also failed to produce needed results.
“The target was only Metro Manila, but apparently, they expanded the coverage outside Metro Manila," he said, citing the air monitors outside the metropolis. “The equipment used were defective and substandard," he averred.
Bautista said the project became controversial when IMACH withdrew from its joint venture with ETI on Feb. 14, 2005 after EMB and DENR’s own legal departments recommended to stop payment to ETI-IMACH and terminate the contract for the joint venture’s failure to meet technical and legal issues.
Reyes disregarded the recommendation and continued with the transactions with ETI.
On Dec. 13, 2006, Reyes approved the payment of $1.117, 864.13 million worth of unsettled billings to ETI and raised the possibility of extending the project by another year, Bautista said.
The deal prompted IMACH managing director Eduardo L. Mendoza to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman on March 21, 2007, questioning the December 2006 deal as “highly prejudicial to the government."
Bautista said Kalikasan-PNE joined Mendoza in questioning the involvement of Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman in the project even after his election to Congress in 2004.
Lagman served as counsel for partners ETI and IMACH in the project from 2002 to 2003 when he was practicing law after failing in his congressional bid for Quezon City’s fourth district.
“Minutes of the meetings with DENR would show he continued to personally attend meetings and intervene even after his election to the House of Representatives during the 2004 national elections," Bautista said, hinting that Lagman was working for ETI’s interests.
"A complaint is already lodged at the Office of the Ombudsman and is only awaiting due action. Reyes' appointment to the Department of Energy must be put on hold until this issue has been duly investigated," Bautista asserted.
He said the government has been paying a foreign entity, ETI, whose local partner is not even registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He said this constitutes one of the many violations in the project.
“Since 2004, the DENR has been practically financing this project and several others purely through foreign loans from the ADB. The ETI, its overly-compensated expatriate staff and possibly a few corrupt individuals will be the only ones to gain from this project," Bautista said.
“This debt has definitely been squandered by the ETI's irresponsible and fraudulent engagements and has not contributed an iota of data for the betterment of the Philippine environment," he added.
“To date, the $6.1 million project not been able to generate credible and consistent data on ambient air pollution that it is obligated to produce under the contract. It is incapable of accurately measuring the levels of BTX toxic substances in ambient air. It is an extravagant waste of time, effort and a lot of money—a multi-million dollar loan, to be exact—and an exercise in futility that should be scrapped in favor of other more worthwhile and productive environmental projects and programs," Bautista further said.
GMANews.TV has tried all efforts to reach Reyes personally to get his side. - GMANews.TV
