EMB exec tells House: Abaya is correct

The officer-in-charge of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has testified in the House that the agency’s former director was correct in interpreting a department order on ozone-depleting substances (ODS).

Julian Amador, OIC-director of the EMB, told the House committee on appropriations last Sept. 18 that the footnote in Administrative Order 2000-18, or the so-called chemical order for ODS, must be part of the formula, in form and in substance, in determining the import quota for the substances.

Amador responded to queries by Cavite first district Rep. Plaridel Abaya who incidentally is the father of former EMB director Peter Anthony Abaya.

Last Sept. 6, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez charged the younger Abaya with grave misconduct for issuing, during his EMB term, clearances for ODS imports supposedly exceeding the quota.

Abaya countered by saying that Alvarez’s charge was based on "gross mathematical blunders wherein the footnote was completely ignored."

Abaya filed charges against Alvarez with the Quezon City prosecutor’s office last week for the latter’s alleged derogatory statements.

The administrative case against Abaya has stalled his supposed promotion to assistant secretary.