by Rey E. Requejo
[ manilastandardtoday.com ] January 30-31, 2010
RESIDENTS of posh Greenhills East in Mandaluyong have lost their appeal with the Supreme Court to stop a developer from building the country’s tallest structure, a 77-story condominium on EDSA and Ortigas Avenue.
In rejecting the petition of the Greenhills East Association Inc. for lack of merit, the Supreme Court’s Second Division said because the issues raised were factual, it would defer to the expertise of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.
The latest ruling affirms the Dec. 21, 2004 decision of the Court of Appeals in favor of the developer, E. Ganzon Inc., over the 4,109-square-meter lot in Wack-Wack village owned by San Buena Realty and Development Corp.
The developer wants to build Skycity Condominium, a 77-story mixed-use building with an eight-level basement on the property, which is near the Greenhills East Subdivision and bounded by EDSA to the east, Florida Street to the north, Block 4 of the subdivision and a narrow creek in the west, and Ortigas Avenue in the south, near the Securities and Exchange Commission and La Salle Greenhills.
E. Ganzon fenced off the site in 1997, demolished the structures on it and began excavation work, but the Greenhills East Association opposed the project the following year before the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.
In November 1999, a board arbiter dismissed the residents’ opposition. When they also lost an appeal to the Office of the President, the residents took their case to the Court of Appeals, which ruled against them in 2004.
In their ruling, the Supreme Court justices said they had no expertise in judging the facts of the case.
“No matter how hard it tries to learn the technical intricacies of certain highly regulated human activities, the Supreme Court will always be inadequately equipped to identify the facts that matter when resolving issues involving such activities,” Associate Justice Roberto Abad said in his decision.
“Invariably, the Court must respect the factual findings of administrative agencies which have expertise on matters that fall within their jurisdiction. Here, since the [board] has the expertise in applying zonal classifications on specific properties and since petitioner GEA fails to make out a clear case that it has erred, the court must rely on [the board’s] finding.”
The Court said it would “not dwell on the other matters raised concerning environmental requirements respecting light, ventilation, drainage, sewerage, waste disposal, and pollution relating to the project,” adding that “these matters very well fall under the competence of other government agencies.”
The housing and land use board would certainly not approve a building that did not meet all the legal requirements, the Court said.
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