WHO OWN THE CITY'S SEVEN CRATER LAKES?

The Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) was organized in 1966 by virtue of Republic Act No. 4850 authored by Senator Wenceslao Rancap Lagumbay from Laguna, as a quasi-government agency with regulatory and proprietory functions. Its powers and functions were further strengthened with the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 813 by President Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1975; and modified with the promulgation of Executive Order No. 927 in 1983.

Executive Order No. 927 expanded the so-called Laguna de Bay Region, so that Laguna Lake Development Authority will have authority or proprietory rights, control and supervision over the city’s seven crater lakes, as well as over all other bodies of water in as far as in Mauban in Quezon Province; in Tanauan City and Malvar in Batangas Province; and in Carmona in Cavite Province.

President Fidel V. Ramos issued Executive Order No. 149 to transfer the administration or administrative supervision over the LLDA from the Office of the President to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Executive Order No. 240 to devolved some administrative control to the local government units in the CALABARZON Region to help establish the mechanics of cooperation in order that the framework of a comprehensive development program could be properly formulated.

Former Presidential Legal Adviser Antonio Carpio, now a justice in the Supreme Court, and former Secretary General Camilo Sabio of the House of Representatives issued separate opinions that Presidential Decree No. 813 and Executive Order No. 927 can only be amended, modified or repealed through act of Congress. These confirmed that the proprietary rights over the Seven Crater Lakes still belongs to the Laguna Lake Development Authority, though the City Government of San Pablo under the Local Government Code of 1991 or Republic Act No. 7160 is vested with specific powers to chart its own course, determine its own destiny by setting its own goals, and every member of the community have their own role to play for mutual benefit of every one.

Water coming from Calibato Lake through Palakpakin Lake and Mujicap Lake generate a hydro-electric plant for the Philippine Power Development Corporation, though the plant site is located within the jurisdiction of the adjoining town of Calauan.

During a meeting presided by then Laguna Governor and LLDA Chairman Jose D. Lina Jr. in March of 2000 held at the Barangay Training Center expressed his belief that the concept of synergy must be employed in planning, wherein every sectoral representatives can play an important role in translating the LLDA Programs into specific projects and activities. While local leadership believes that the administrative control and management of the lake must be returned to the City Government of San Pablo. (Ruben E. Taningco)