'Bid to stop C-5 project premature'

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) opposed yesterday a petition at the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to stop a C-5 Road extension project that would link the South and North Luzon expressways, saying the move was “premature.”

Representing MWSS during oral argument, government corporate counsel Alberto Agra said the petition filed by Beda Torrecampo, barangay captain of Old Balara, Quezon City, last Wednesday was too early as there is still no official agreement yet between MWSS and DPWH on the project.

“The MWSS has not yet been given copy of the design of the project so there is no project to speak of,” he said.

Agra asked the first division of the High Court to junk the petition for issuance of a temporary restraining order or writ of preliminary injunction on the project.

In the 18-page petition he filed, Torrecampo said the road-widening project should not pass through Old Balara because the DPWH’s target area lie three main aqueducts conveying raw water from the La Mesa Dam to the Balara treatment plants.

Agra said the MWSS has yet to conduct a survey on the exact location and condition of the three main pipes

Assistant Solicitor General Eric Remigio Panga, who represented DPWH in the hearing, agreed with Agra. “The DPWH has yet to submit the final plan to MWSS. And it is subject to their (MWSS’s) approval. If they disapproved the plan, then the project won’t proceed,” he said.

Torrecampo said there is an alternate route for the project, noting that Proclamation 1375 “provides for certain parcels of land in (the University of the Philippines) campus in Diliman, Quezon City to be used as an access highway.”

But during yesterday’s hearing, Associate Justice Renato Corona said Section 3 of Republic Act 8975, the law that gives the SC the power to issue temporary restraining orders on government infrastructure projects, provides that lower courts may have jurisdiction on petitions against DPWH projects “when the matter is of extreme urgency involving a constitutional issue.”

Lawyer Alfredo Villamor, representing the petitioner, said he has a different interpretation of the clause. He was told to explain his point in a manifestation within 10 days.

DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane earlier disputed Torrecampo’s claims, saying the pipes are buried 60 meters deep and the road project would not affect it.

He also said the other route cited by Torrecampo means an additional P600 million to rebuild two UP buildings, the relocation of 650 squatter families and payment for road rights of way.

Ebdane said Old Balara would not be affected by the road-widening project. The project covers the Katipunan Road from Ramon Magsaysay Avenue behind UP to Commonwealth Avenue towards Tandang Sora Avenue.

Ebdane said the DPWH would make use of 450 linear meters in the Capitol Golf and Country Club’s golf course to avoid hitting the informal settlers’ houses.

He added the affected portion of the golf course actually belongs to the MWSS, and Capitol Golf has not been paying MWSS for its use.