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LLDA WELCOMES NEW CHIEF: SEC. NERIC ACOSTA
Martin Antonio
| September 20, 2011
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Last Monday,
September 19, 2011, marked a new day for the
Laguna de Bay Region with the instalment of
Hon. Juan Romeo Nereus Olaivar Acosta,
popularly known as Neric Acosta, as the new
General Manager of Laguna Lake Development
Authority. The former three-term congressman
from Bukidnon was appointed by President
Benigno S. Aquino III as Presidential
Adviser for Environment and concurrently as
member of the board of LLDA.
On the same
day, Secretary Neric Acosta was unanimously
confirmed by the members of the LLDA board
as the new LLDA General Manager during its
regular board meeting held at the Department
of Environment and Natural Resources. DENR
Secretary Ramon Paje leads the group as
chairman of the board while Sec. Acosta
shall sit as vice chairman.
Secretary
Acosta is the principal author of the Clean
Air Act of 1999 (RA 8749), Clean Water Act
of 2004 (RA 9275), Solid Waste Management
Act of 2000 (RA 9003) and Biodiversity
Protection Act. As proponent of these major
laws, LLDA is very optimistic that a better
environmental regime is coming to the shores
of Laguna de Bay.
Acosta has more
to share with LLDA; he graduated college
from the University of the Philippines and
obtained his master’s degree from Indiana
University of Pennsylvania and later on
pursued doctorate at the University of
Hawaii. He also attended special programs on
Environmental Economics at the Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard University
and he later became the first Filipino World
Fellow at Yale University.
For years, he
has worked with the academe as professor in
various prominent universities in the
country such as the Asian Institute of
Management, and as environment advocate in
non-government organizations. He went on to
become a member of congress in 1998 where he
pushed legislation for greater environment
protection in the Philippines.
With an
impressive academic background and
remarkable experience in governance,
Secretary Neric Acosta is perfect to govern
over the country’s largest lake. During his
first flag-raising ceremony on Monday, he
was welcomed by the LLDA family with much
excitement.
As Sec. Acosta
puts it, “Loving the Lake requires Demanding
Action” (LLDA); in his speech, he also
mentioned one of the battle cries of the
Aquino administration: “Tuwid na Daan sa
Berdeng Paraan”. Thus he is looking forward
for a great partnership with his fellow
environmental workers at LLDA for a better
protection of Laguna de Bay and its region.
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