Road plan disturbs life in the ‘Grove’

LOS BAÑOS residents are resisting a government plan to widen the road in the locally popular “Grove” area near the University of the Philippines Los Baños campus in Laguna province. CLIFFORD NUÑEZ/INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—Residents call it the “Grove,” that short stretch of asphalt road lined with dormitories, bakeshops, boutiques and cafés leading to the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB)  campus from the national highway.

The two-lane Lopez Avenue has also served as a prominent access to Mt. Makiling, the National Arts Center and the Boy Scouts of the Philippines compound, which winds through lush forests and vegetation.

Today, the community is astir again as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) resurrects a plan to widen the 572-meter road in an effort to ease traffic gridlocks along the highway.

“Why would you widen a road that leads to the Makiling forest reserve? What’s next, a theme park? A commercial [center]?” said Pio Mijares, one of the residents who have expressed fears about making Makiling more accessible.

Rene Villegas, who was born and grew up in this town, said the government plan was unnecessary and would not only affect lot owners like himself, “but even more the small street vendors.”

Called the “Network Development-Widening of National Road-Tertiary Road-Makiling Park Road,” the P22.6-million DPWH project will widen the road by 20 meters (10 meters on each pavement), with provisions for a drainage system.

It will improve the stretch from the UPLB gate to Lopez Elementary School, locally known as the Grove.

Joel Limpengco, Laguna district engineer, said in a phone interview last week that the project would start soon and aimed to ease the daily traffic snarls on the national highway.

The DPWH would also widen a nearly 5-kilometer stretch of the national road, Limpengco said. The P141.8-million project was issued a notice to proceed by top department officials on Jan. 26.

It is not the first time that the government tried to widen the road leading to Makiling or to the UPLB campus. In 2014, the DPWH began work on a Makiling road in Barangay Timugan, but the project was stopped after environmentalists and artists protested the cutting of trees in the area.

The DPWH had issued two notices in September 2015 and in January for agencies and groups to clear the government’s right-of-way requirements.

Some residents have expressed suspicion that the infrastructure projects are meant to benefit a private hotel built on Makiling.