By Riza Recio
07/04/2009 [ tribune.net.ph ]
Malacañang and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) yesterday assured the residents in Old Balara in Quezon City of a relocation site should they be affected by the right-of-way and widening of the C-5 road linking South Luzon Tollway and North Luzon Expressway.
The executive branch made this assurance after the Supreme Court issued a "status quo" order to temporarily stop the construction of the C-5 Road Extension Project, particularly the portion of Tandang Sora Avenue in Barangay Old Balara at the back of the University of the Philippines-Diliman campus.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde and Engineer Edilberto Tayao of DPWH were in saying that the National Housing Authority (NHA) would help in the relocation.
Remonde said that President Arroyo has given DPWH ample time to finish the project by the end of 2009, or six months before the President’s term ends on June 30, 2010.
"There will be no squatters to be hit by this work but maybe there will be squatters in the other sections but Secretary Ebdane said that all afffected will be attended to, to be relocated with the DPWH with the NHA to be part on this inter-agency, and DPWH to implement the project once the area is cleared," Tayao said.
"We have commitment that the C-5 will be completed within this year that is why we are prioritizing those areas that have been vacated. This we committed to the President," Tayao added.
The SC ordered the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) Administrator Diosdado Jose Allado and Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to temporarily stop the construction of the C-5 Road Extension Project following a petition filed by Barangay Chairman Beda Torrecampo of Matandang Balara, Quezon City, who claimed that almost eight million residents of Metro Manila will stand to lose the supply of water once the project of the DPWH pushes through.
The DPWH project extending the C-5 road in Quezon City could damage three main underground aqueducts supplying water to Metro Manila, according to some residents in Old Balara, Quezon City.
But Ebdane has earlier assured the Old Balara residents would not be affected by the road widening project. The project covers the Katipunan road from Ramon Magsaysay Avenue on the back side of UP to Commonwealth Avenue towards Tandang Sora Ave.
Ebdane said the DPWH would make use of 450 linear meters inside the golf course run by the Capitol Hills Golf and Country Club in order to avoid hitting the residences of the informal settlers. He added that the portion of the affected golf course rightfully belongs to the MWSS.
On Wednesday, Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor led the residents in filing a petition before the Supreme Court seeking a temporary restraining order on the "illegal" project. Defensor used to serve as corporate secretary of the Capitol Hills Gold and Country Club.
According to Torrecampo, the road widening project could affect three pipes which distribute water to an estimated eight million residents in Manila, Mandaluyong, Makati, Marikina, Quezon City, Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, Taguig and several towns in Rizal province.
"It would be highly dangerous to construct a road over and above the aqueducts owing to the fact that the constant indiscriminate usage of the proposed road project, with heavy trucks passing over it every now and then, might cause damage to said aqueducts and disrupt water supply to all Metro Manila residents," the residents said in their petition.
"It must be noted that water is a lot more important necessity than the need for a wider road," Defensor added in a published report by ABS-CBN News.
The extension project was going to affect the Ramon Magsaysay Street, which traverses UP Ripada areas in the UP-Diliman campus and connect it to Commonwealth Avenue.
MWSS had also informed Malacanang about the risks of having the project pass through the Old Balara.
"The integrity of the pipes underneath is compromised in cases of heavy loadings. The area should be insulated from disruptions and disturbances such as increased traffic, construction activities, and heavy loadings, as the subject areas were not technically designed to withstand such dynamic activities," Defensor said in a letter to Malacañang. With PNA
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