Knights to SC: Decide on Torre de Manila case
Sen Pia Cayetano Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Education , Arts and Culture during ocular inspection of the sightline of the Rizal monument, rising behind it is the Torre De Manila condominium with 19 floors completed. Also in photo is cultural activist Carlos Celdran. JOAN BONDOC
MANILA, Philippines—A month and a half after initiating a legal action against Torre de Manila, critics of the condo project asked the Supreme Court for the second time to rule on their petition seeking a halt to the construction.
The Knights of Rizal (KoR) has filed another motion asking the high court to immediately issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the DMCI Homes project, a planned 49-story structure on Taft Avenue that is now almost 30 percent complete.
Assailed by heritage advocates for being an “eyesore” that would mar the view of Rizal Park once finished, the project was granted permits by the Manila City government under then Mayor Alfredo Lim. It proceeded with the construction under the current administration of Mayor Joseph Estrada despite the continuing opposition aired in public hearings in the city council early this year, in the Senate in September and then in the House of Representatives last week.
“Forty-six days later (from the day the petition was filed), this Honorable Court has not yet acted on the application for TRO,” said the four-page petition filed Oct. 28 by KoR counsel William Jasarino.
Filed on Sept. 12, the petition sought the building’s demolition for allegedly violating several laws protecting national heritage sites, including the local zoning ordinance that allows only school and government buildings of up to seven stories to be built in that part of Manila
The group filed its first motion for early resolution on Sept. 17, a day after Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te announced that the tribunal was deferring action on the petition. The court did not give a reason for the deferment.
In the second motion, the KoR said “[it] understands and appreciates that the Honorable Court is studying carefully the instant petition in order to reach an equitable, fair, judicious and just decision thereon, including the TRO application. Meantime, however, the subject construction is already 27.32 percent complete (based on an update posted in the DMCI website).”
“If the Honorable Court takes longer to decide on the petition, the subject matter thereof would have become moot and academic without the respondent (DMCI) even having to file a responsive pleading or anything at all,” it added. “If the project [draws nearer to completion], which is obviously going to happen without a TRO … the view of the Rizal Monument and Rizal Park would have been marred forever. The resulting prejudice to national heritage and history is indubitably incalculable.”
DMCI had earlier maintained that Torre stands on “solid” legal ground, saying the zoning permit it secured in June 2012 allowed the company to build “a 49-story project.”
In September that same year, the Manila City government’s legal department also gave a legal opinion stating that “aesthetic offensiveness” was not among the legal bases that would merit the suspension of the project, the company also recalled.
And in November 2012, the National Historical Commission also cleared the project, saying it “is outside the boundaries of Rizal Park and well to the rear (789 meters) of the Rizal National Monument.”
Originally posted: 2:04 PM | Saturday, November 1st, 2014
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