Parents assail TRO issued vs QC campus relocation

The court order blocking the transfer of an international school to Katipunan Avenue in Barangay Blue Ridge A, Quezon City, drew criticism from the students’ parents, who insisted that the relocation project had already complied with government requirements.

The Parent School Partnership Committee (PSPC) of the Multiple Intelligence International School (MIIS) issued a statement on Saturday saying “children deserve to learn from a campus that is envisioned to be both a model and a laboratory for future green architecture in the Philippines.”

The group also pointed out that the new “green campus”—designed with the help of foreign consultants—would be built in an area “not far from where the school has been located for the past 19 years.” The MIIS is currently located on J. Escaler Street in Barangay Loyola Heights.

The PSPC was reacting to the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued on March 24 by a Quezon City judge, who acted on petition filed by Blue Ridge A residents opposing MIIS’s transfer to their village.

The 20-day TRO issued by Judge Manuel Sta. Cruz of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 226 barred city planning and building officials from issuing permits to the MIIS relocation project. It also prohibited the school from using any earlier permit to proceed with the construction.

Blue Ridge A residents argued that building the school in their village violates the revised city zoning ordinance approved in 2013 and also worsen traffic on Katipunan. They also noted that the planned 12-story structure would rise on a spot just 300 meters from the West Valley fault line.

The PSPC said it “strongly denounces the TRO on the construction of the country’s first green campus along Katipunan Avenue.”

“This legal setback comes as a surprise as the motion for a TRO on the same matter was denied January of this year. What is even more surprising is that the MIIS has complied with local government and environmental requirements for clearances dutifully,” the group added.

Apparently addressing the Blue Ridge residents’ concerns regarding traffic, the committee said the new campus was designed to be “a working model on how schools should have internal traffic systems, minimizing impact on its surroundings, true to the spirit of a green project.”

“This very model commissioned by the school, at a significant cost through foreign traffic consultants, shall be further refined and shared to other institutions willing to apply it as well.”

The PSPC “remains united in its concern for their children and pray for sobriety and rationality in this issue,” it added.Rima Granali