As the largest fresh water lake in the Philippines, Laguna de Bay is a vital natural resource and home to over 10 million Filipinos. The Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) oversees environmental protection of the lake and its watershed in coordination with 14 cities and 47 municipalities within Metro Manila and five nearby provinces.  Over a decade ago, LLDA put in place a pollution charge system, a community participation initiative and an enforcement program that has led to significant reduction in pollution loading in the watershed. Despite these innovative policies and practices, environmental compliance still lags in some sectors, particularly among small- and medium-sized enterprises, such as slaughterhouses and commercial pig farms.

Initiative

Of the 67 slaughterhouses monitored in 2006, less than half complied with environmental standards.  Of the 201 farms in the commercial pig sector, only 26% were in compliance.  To reach these enterprises, LLDA decided to develop new mechanisms for raising awareness and understanding of environmental regulations.  By linking LLDA with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), AECEN exposed LLDA to U.S. experience in operating compliance assistance centers (CACs), including “virtual” centers established on the Internet.

Results

In April 2008, LLDA officially launched virtual compliance assistance centers targeting hog farms (www.hogfarm.cac-phil.org) and slaughterhouses (www.slaughterhouse.cac-phil.org).  The centers provide up-to-date information on environmental policies, regulations, best practices, technologies and financing.  LLDA has trained over 100 practitioners on compliance promotion and assistance; leveraged over $13,000 in co-financing; developed a manual to guide day-to-day operations; and enhanced coordination among concerned institutions, including national government agencies, industry associations and universities.  These initial undertakings were followed by other initiatives to engage more stakeholders to utilize the centers’ services, ensure the sustainability of the centers, and develop a comprehensive compliance assistance program for the concerned sectors in the region, including the establishment of physical centers in 2009.  Long-term hosts of the CACs were also identified:  the Baras Business Council for the hog farm sector and the Slaughterhouse Operators Association of the Philippines for the slaughterhouse sector.  These organizations continue to collaborate with LLDA in operating the CACs.