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VIETNAM’S ENVIRONMENTAL
ADMINISTRATION VISITS LLDA,
EMULATES ITS PROGRAMS
Martin Antonio
| December 21, 2011
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“Daang Matuwid sa Luntiang Paraan”
The Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA)
headed by Presidential Adviser for
Environmental Protection, Secretary
Neric Acosta, warmly welcomed the
visitors from Vietnam Environmental
Administration with their head delegate,
Mr. Tran The Loan, Vice Director of the
Pollution Control Department.
The Vietnamese delegates were in the
country to discuss primarily on LLDA’s
Environmental User Fee System (EUF)
since the Vietnamese agency is currently
implementing a similar EUF scheme which
was patterned at LLDA’s.
On December 15, Thursday, the Vietnamese
delegates and the LLDA officials met at
the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau
compound for the first day of the study
tour wherein both sides discussed,
analyzed and compared their respective
experiences in implementing the EUF.
The Vietnamese admitted that the
wastewater fee (EUF) for the industrial
sector is difficult to implement. It has
been met with some confusion, unclear
direction, complex methodology, and the
lack of capacity at the local levels.
They have also cited the lack of an
effective method for the calculation of
wastewater volume discharge as one of
the difficulties they have to deal with.
In addition, the fees have not been
comprehensively implemented in the
entire country which causes
irregularities and unfairness among the
industries. It is for this reason that
Vietnam’s primary environmental
protection agency has sought the help of
LLDA. The discussion proved to be
beneficial for both agencies.
There were many comparisons made between
LLDA’s and Vietnam’s EUFs. Firstly, in
Vietnam there’s only a variable fee
while in LLDA, there’s both a variable
fee and a fixed fee. Secondly, the
Vietnamese EUF charges with the same
amount of fee for all industries while
the LLDA charges progressively depending
on the size of the industry (small,
medium and large enterprises). Thirdly,
in the Philippine experience, there is a
“Self Monitoring Report” which is
required to be submitted by each
industry/ establishment through analyses
being carried out by their respective
Pollution Control Officers. All of these
made LLDA’s EUF more effective and
compelling.
For the second day of the study tour,
LLDA together with the Vietnamese
delegates have visited wastewater
treatment facilities such as those of
Wyeth Philippines in Canlubang, Laguna
and the First Philippine Industrial Park
(FPIP) in Santo Tomas, Batangas. The
Vietnamese were very much impressed with
how Wyeth processes its waste; having a
first-class, top-of-the-line facility
and is computer-operated and has safety
features. Wyeth surpasses even the
national effluent standards as far as
the characteristics of their discharge
are concerned. On the other hand, FPIP
is a private sector which houses a lot
of big-name companies and collects the
discharge from each company for
treatment. This set-up has greatly
helped both the investors and the LLDA
in terms of securing a safe and clean
environment at the Laguna de Bay Region.
