Resolve Jancom mess, Abalos told

President Arroyo said yesterday that she was giving Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. the responsibility to resolve the controversy surrounding the contract with the Jancom International for the use of incinerators in the garbage disposal program for Metro Manila.

In an interview with radio station dzMM, the President said she has devolved the approval of projects to the respective departments or agencies concerned.

"I let them make their decisions and let them answer for their decisions," the President said when asked to comment on the Jancom issue.

It was only during the administration of deposed President Joseph Estrada that Malacañang insisted on approving projects worth P50 million and above, Mrs. Arroyo said.

The Jancom issue involves the implementation of a $360 million (P18 billion) project that will burn some 3,000 tons of trash a day, or almost half of the total garbage produced in Metro Manila.

The President said that the incinerator project is too expensive and that the alternative proposals presented later were cheaper. She also said that the sanitary landfill now ready in Rodriguez (formerly Montalban), Rizal is yet to be filled by Metro Manila’s garbage.

According to the President, Rodriguez Mayor Pedro Cuerpo has been complaining that he has been the subject of criticisms when the landfill was still being proposed but now that it is ready, it is not being patronized by Metro Manila’s towns and cities. — Marichu Villanueva