PEC denounces PCIJ’s report

The Pro-Environment Consortium (PEC) strongly denounced the report of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) which claimed that it enjoyed unfair advantage in bagging a multibillion-peso landfill contract during the time of deposed President Joseph Estrada.

In a statement, Ma. Theresa Lorenz, an official of PEC, said that despite its being the lowest bidder, PEC was not awarded the contract for the collection and disposal of some of Metro Manila’s garbage.

"A contract was illegally awarded to R-II Builders and D.M. Consunji Inc. (DMCI) to dump Metro Manila’s garbage in Semirara, Antique," Lorenz said.

The PEC official revealed that R-II Builders and DMCI were both disqualified from the bidding. R-II allegedly lacked a partner with expertise in solid waste management while DMCI reportedly failed to submit a bid bond.

Lorenz denied the PCIJ’s claim that PEC’s local members have never been involved in solid waste management. She said that based on the pre-qualification requirements for the project, no local firm would have qualified. To qualify, she said, PEC had to tap a foreign partner with technical expertise and lengthy experience in garbage management.

Lorenz also denied the PCIJ report’s allegation that Guia Gomez, a known mistress of deposed President Joseph Estrada, was involved in PEC. She admitted meeting with Gomez, but the meeting took place after PEC was already declared the winner in the bidding.

"The meeting between Ms. Gomez and the group was to discuss the integration of urban poor affiliated with her (Gomez’s) Balikatan Foundation who would be trained in proper safety and operational procedures in waste picking," she explained.

Lorenz added that the PCIJ’s linking of Frank Puzon, a friend of Estrada, was based only on the fact that Puzon’s nephew, JG Puzon, is PEC’s official representative. "JG Puzon’s involvement in PEC is in his personal capacity, not that of his uncle," she said.

Lorenz stressed that PCIJ erred when it painted PEC as a "crony company."

She pointed out that among PEC’s member-companies is Environmental Dynamics Corp. which is chaired by Jose Luis Yulo, the former president of the Philippine Stock Exchange who testified against Estrada in his impeachment trial.

She said that the proposed site of PEC includes a property of Linggoy Alcuaz, the initiator of the so-called Silent Protest and Exclamation Point Movement against Estrada.