MANILA, Philippines -- Environment Secretary Lito Atienza has stripped the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) of its power to regulate property development projects around Laguna de Bay.

Atienza issued an administrative order transferring the regulatory function to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) on Tuesday, saying this would “end all horror stories” on the slow issuance of environmental compliance certificates (ECCs).

The LLDA is an attached agency of the DENR, while the EMB is directly under the Secretary.

LLDA general manager Edgar Manda, contacted by phone, said, “If that’s what he wants, I have no quarrel with that.”

Manda countered that the reported delays in processing permits were traced to Atienza’s own office.

“Like everyone else, I want to reduce the processing time,” he said, adding that LLDA has managed to reduce the process from 60 days to 30 days.

“If there were any delays in the issuance, this often happened at the Office of the Secretary,” he said.

“We transmit these ECCs to the Office of the Secretary for confirmation, and additional delays occur because these do not get signed immediately. That’s what my men told me,” he said.

Until the recall, LLDA issued ECCs and lake clearances covering real estate projects, such as subdivisions and condominiums, built around the lake.

After clipping its powers, Atienza told LLDA to focus solely on cleaning up and rehabilitating the Laguna de Bay.

He said the cleanup of the lake, including the dismantling of fishpens and fish cages, was crucial to the rehabilitation of other bodies of water in Metro Manila.

Atienza designated Juan Miguel Cuna as the new officer in charge of issuing ECCs, and directed him to cut red tape.

Before they can secure an ECC, project proponents are required to undertake an environmental impact assessment and draw up strategies to minimize pollution in the lake area.

Meanwhile, some 200 small-time fishermen demonstrated in front of the LLDA office in Pasig City to protest plans by the agency to demolish communities around the lake.

The demonstrators, organized by the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas and the Save Laguna Lake Movement, threw about 50 kilos of janitor fish on LLDA’s entrance, many of them the size of an arm, to score the agency’s “fishy, stinking and cursed” priorities.

Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap said that instead of finding ways to rid the lake of janitor fish, which they consider a pest, the agency is focusing on “selling the country’s largest lake to the highest bidders and preferred investor-clients.”

Hicap said lake fishermen have been complaining for years about the growing schools of janitor fish (Hypostomus plecostomus or suckermouth catfish) which competes for food with the edible fish in the lake and damages fishing nets.