9:00AM is scheduled for the Aihoku Group of Companies to present the Waste Management System proposal to the Tanauan City Government but before the presentation, Vice Mayor Julius Platon discussed with them the relevant issues regarding implementation of the said project. Vice-Mayor Platon explained and emphasized to the Aihoku Group the following concerns:

• The said project proposal should be presented to the City Mayor of Tanauan (the incumbent Mayor is Sonia Torres-Aquino) directly to officially implement the said project. The key point is to make it very convincing for the City Mayor.

• Although they are already been aware about the project, the Vice-Mayor along with the City Councilors are representing the Legislative Body of the Government (the one who will facilitate the appropriation such as the funds needed) and before they can enact the legislation of a certain project, the proposal be first scrutinize by the City Mayor which is the Executive Body and the authority to endorse to the legislative body for approval and more technical research before implementation. Definitely, the Mayor still asks the Legislative Body's opinion because a Mayor cannot enter into any agreement or contract without the approval of the Legislative Body, in which Vice-Mayor Platon assured to the Aihoku Group that there is a bigger percentage to approve the said project because they really need that kind of project in Tanauan and they already heard and visualized the objectives of this project through the meetings held last October 2007 and the documents sent by Aihoku Group.

• All the primary concerns, pros and cons will be discussed after the Aihoku Group presented their proposal to the City Mayor before approving the said project, some are: the funds needed to accumulate to make this project possible, the adverse reactions of people of Tanauan (due to lack of knowledge, because they got used to traditional system and waste segregation is very new to them), effects concerning health, and others.

Aihoku Group asked for the opinion of the Vice-Mayor and information from the Legislative Body about the Waste Management System proposal. Vice-Mayor Platon said that he's informing them the first thing to do because they cannot act immediately without the consent of the City Mayor. The Aihoku Group understood and will come up a proposal and will bring to the Tanauan City either February or April to meet up with the Mayor and its executive department team, but they will wait for the written report coming from Mr. Danilo Mendoza and to the city councilors about some concerns they noticed that are need in details.

 

11:30AM started the Discussion Points and Concerns of the Project.

The Aihoku Group asked about the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) if it is mainly for Composting or does it include Waste Segregation. Vice-Mayor Platon answered that there is no existing plan yet for the MRF. As of now, they are still catering proposals from different companies in relation with this. All they have are general information only. There are some cities which already established MRF but they haven't got concrete data/information regarding the success result of MRF.

The Tanauan City Government provided the Aihoku Group their Ordinance regarding Garbage Collection.

The Aihoku Group also asked some information about Composting Organic Waste for Fertilization purposes or for Commercial Production.

 

1. Implementation of Waste Treatment System

•  Job opportunities (number of people that can hire)
•  Local industries (in details)

Aihoku Group explained that in Japan, there is a high labor cost and very small number of workers because of the machines but here in the Philippines, the implementation is possibly be more on manual labor and less in machines.

2. Terms and Conditions (Role of the City Government regarding implementation of the project)

The City Government may ask assistance from the Japanese Government like ODA for financial assistance of the project but not all the request will be granted. Tanauan City Government will ask through Philippine Government and the Philippine Government will endorse to Japan Government. It is considered as Grant.

Aihoku Group informed the Councilors that the Prime Minister of Japan made an announcement that for the coming 5 years, 100Billion yen will be provided to the third world countries and for the approval of the said project it will be endorse by the AIHOKU GROUP of Companies through the assistance and help of Mr. TAKASHI MIYAMOTO.

3. Build an International Recycling Society by Movement of Recyclables and Waste among the Republic of the Philippines , People's Republic of China , and Japan .

•  Concerns regarding toxic wastes to be transported to the Philippines

No toxic waste involve because there is a strict guidance about that. International Recycling Society is mainly exporting and importing waste products that are valuable for each country depending upon each specialty:

Japan – electronics/appliances; China – production; Philippines – agriculture

 

The Aihoku Group explained that initially, simple setup will be implemented and as time goes by, they will expand the system so that Tanauan will easily adapt that kind of system.

During the discussion with the Tanauan Council, the Aihoku Group also informed the needed size of the lot area for the Plants because there are two plants that are needed to put up: Waste Treatment Plants and Plant for Sorting of Waste, the calculation for lot needed in these plants are more or less 1.5 hectares of lots are needed and that the sizes of 2 buildings nedded will be 3300 sq/m per building. Aside from plant, Tanauan will still need a Dump Site because of the Landfill for the Plants (not yet calculated).

With regards to the queries of the Councilors, the said buildings/plants will be the property of the Government, and it will be operated by Aihoku Group of Companies and Laborers will be the people of the Tanauan City . As for their closing remarks the Councilors make a stand that they will have their full support for this project and all of them are hoping that this will be approve by the incumbent Mayor and their group and they are very hopeful that the people of Tanauan City will understand the purpose of the said project by doing so and upon the approval of the said project they all agree that they will conduct seminar and assistance from each Barangay and its officers of Tanauan City so that the people will understand the implementation of the said project thoroughly.

Because of the information given by Vice-Mayor Platon and its group the Aihoku Group of Companies decided to go back to Manila after their meeting and discussion last January 13, 2008 because they cannot make such research and that the approval of City Mayor will be prioritize first.