TWENTY-ONE towns and cities around Laguna de Bay will continue to receive funding from the P228.4-million World Bank(WB)-funded assistance project from the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) to help prevent the further degradation of the country's biggest freshwater source.

Currently, LLDA funds 12 projects worth P109.4million which started in 2004. Four of these have been completed while nine others, estimated at P119 million, are in the pipeline and are scheduled to be implemented in the next two years.

These are part of the $5-million WB-assisted Laguna de Bay Institutional Strengthening and Community Participation (LISCOP) Project. LISCOP is managed through the Municipal Development Fund Office of the Department of Finance.

LLDA general manager Edgardo Manda said these projects were borne out of a series of highly participative and multisectoral action planning processes based on the needs of each of the 24 micro-watershed subprojects in the Laguna de Bay region.

The projects were identified by the concerned local government units (LGU) according to need and in relation to lake protection.

Of these 21 projects, 13 LGUs are engaged in setting up of materials recovery facilities and construction of wastewater treatment facilities, while eight are into ecotourism and flood-prevention and -control projects.

The latest is the P35-million flood-control project in Cabuyao, Laguna. Flooding is one of the town's major concerns as lake water tends to overflow toward its direction.

Manda believes that lake protection and conservation starts with applying environmental interventions to protect the soil around the lake as well as its rivers that drain directly into the lake.

LLDA, under the Laguna de Bay Master Plan under Executive Order 349 signed on June 18, 1996, is mandated to implement the rehabilitation projects.

Manda emphasized that participation of LGUs, the immediate community and other stakeholders are paramount in the implementation of the master plan and LLDA projects.

LISCOP Projects, which started in 2004, is an environmental initiative of LLDA to improve the overall quality of Laguna de Bay and its watershed through demand-driven interventions and capability building with affected sectors.

This took effect April 2, 2004, under the loan agreement between the government and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

see related article >>