Supreme Court lifts status quo order on C-5 Road project

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday lifted its order last week stopping the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) from constructing a portion of the C-5 Road extension project in Barangay Old Balara in Quezon City that would link the South and North Luzon expressways.

In a three-page resolution, the first division of the High Court ruled there is no longer a need for the status quo order on the project and that it would just rule on the petition filed by barangay captain Beda Torrecampo.

The SC ruled that Torrecampo failed to substantiate his claim that the project would cause “grave injustice and irreparable injury” to at least eight million residents of Metro Manila and Rizal province if the DPWH is not stopped.

The SC, however, said it would still rule on the merit of the petition for temporary restraining order and injunction upon submission of necessary memoranda of both parties.

The Court’s resolution came out four days after it held an oral argument on Torrecampo’s petition wherein his lawyer, Alfredo Villamor, insisted the project would adversely affect Metro Manila and Rizal residents considering that the underneath the Tandang Sora section are the aqueducts that are used to supply water to the Metro residents.

But the DPWH and Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) opposed the petition and argued that it was premature.

Representing MWSS during the oral argument, government corporate counsel Alberto Agra said the petition should be dismissed as there was no final agreement yet for the project between MWSS and DPWH.

Agra also stressed that the MWSS also has yet to conduct a survey on the exact location and condition of the three main pipes, which were the main grounds cited by Torrecampo.

Assistant Solicitor General Eric Remigio Panga, who represented DPWH in the hearing, said “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.”                  – Edu Punay