REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
SUPREME COURT
WILHELMINA S. OROZCO,
Petitioner
versus
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS AND HIGHWAYS
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
URGENT MOTION FOR ISSUANCE OF TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER
PETITIONER, WILHELMINA S. OROZCO, single, Filipina concerned citizen and writer, respectfully submits this PETITION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER against the Department of Public Works and Highways with regard to its project entitled as a Private-Public Partnership Service, METRO MANILA SKYWAY STAGE 3 (MMSS-3), as of February 25, 2015.
The Petitioner’s rights is expressly emphasized under
RA 7160 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE OF 1991 which states in its Basic Principles, Title 1, Chapter 1, “(c) It is likewise the policy of the State to require all national agencies and offices to conduct periodic consultations with appropriate local government units, nongovernmental and people’s organizations, and other concerned sectors of the community before any project or program is implemented in their respective jurisdictions.”
This project is described as follows (according to its website: http://www.dpwh.gov.
· “ The MMSS-3 Project is an elevated expressway over its entire length from Buendia, Makati City to Balintawak, Quezon City with a distance of about 14.82 kms. and also includes improvement works in selected at-grade sections.
It is designed to pull in and ease traffic and access through eight (8) strategically located interchanges: these being at Buendia, Pres. Quirino Avenue, Plaza Dilao and Nagtahan, Aurora Boulevard, E. Rodriguez Avenue, Quezon Avenue, Sgt. Rivera and Balintawak with a total of fourteen (14) Toll Plazas. It will be the motorists choice corridor servicing Metro Manila intercity travelers.
Project Sections
|
Length (kms.)
|
No. of Lanes
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1
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Buendia to Plaza Dilao
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3.376
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6 (3 lanes, both direction)
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2
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Plaza Dilao to Aurora Blvd.
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3.928
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6 (3 lanes, both direction)
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3
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Aurora Blvd. to Quezon Ave.
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2.709
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6 (3 lanes, both direction)
|
4
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Quezon Ave. to Balintawak
|
4.807
|
6 – Quezon Ave to Sgt Rivera
4 – Sgt Rivera to Balintawak |
Buendia to Balintawak
|
14.820
| ||
General Features:
No. of Lanes
|
:
|
6 lanes (2x3): Buendia to Del Monte Toll Plaza;
4 lanes (2x2): Del Monte Toll Plaza to Balintawak; Double Deck Structure (2–1x3) from Nagtahan to Aurora Blvd; and Del Monte to Sgt. Rivera. | ||
No. of On/Off Ramp
|
:
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19
| ||
No. of Toll Plazas
|
:
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14
| ||
Design Speed
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:
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80 kph / 60 kph (as per TOR)
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Estimated
| ||||
Construction Period
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:
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32 months
| ||
Its project objectives are :
· To complete Metro Manila Skyway System from Alabang to Balintawak as part of the approved agreement by the Philippine Government and the Business Joint Venture Agreement (BJVA) between Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada (CLP) and the Philippine National Construction Company (PNCC).
· To connect the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).
· To decongest traffic in Metro Manila especially C4 (EDSA), C5 (CP Garcia) and Central Metro Manila.
DISADVANTAGES:
This Petition is being presented to the Highest Court of the Land because it HAS MANY DISADVANTAGES affecting residents along Araneta Avenue, composed of the following barangays:
Barangays Dona Imelda, Santol, Tatalon; and Talayan.
1, An elevated expressway along Araneta Avenue will cause many vehicles to traverse it, which in effect will cause a lot of pollution in the area; An elevated expressway along Araneta Avenue will cause many vehicles emitting carbon monoxide to traverse it, which in effect will cause a lot of pollution in the area;
2. The project will not decongest Metromanila of traffic as the traffic will be located near the sky, and the people will lose breathing clean oxygen because of the pollution from the various vehicles that will use the elevated expressway. The pollution will be blown towards the skies and the people shall have a hard time breathing, especially during cold spells as the air, or smog, shall be staying below;
3. the project states that : there will be “Lesser Vehicle Operating Costs (VOC) (gasoline expenses, etc); more than offset the cost of toll fee.”
In effect the project is only partial to vehicular benefits not the benefits to the people living in the area;
a. the project states: “Increased quality time for family, etc.” this quality of time is only for those travelers who will be using the expressway and not for the population living in the area and who have been there since the 60’s;
4. Socio-Psychological Effects on Residents in the Area:
Increased vehicular movements in the area shall create more stress and tension among the people. Motor engines roaring, the smell of gasoline and pollution are anti-human and do not contribute to peaceful living;
Whereas residents and pedestrians could easily cross Araneta Avenue peacefully, this time, they will be more cautious adding to the stress in living in the area and trying to eke out a living;
Greater attention to danger in using the streets shall happen and thereby produce stress and tension on the people living in the area.
5. Populous Areas
Araneta Avenue has a lot of residents, both old and new. Along the avenue can be found residential condomium buildings, for example, along Bayani street which is perpendicular to Araneta Avenue, the PTS-Bahay Caridad condominiums. It has nine buildings, of five floors each, occupied by 20 families per floor. In nearby Santol are other condomiums. In other words, this area surrounding Araneta Avenue is peopled by folks of all ages, from infants to elderlies who have found it very convenient and peaceful to live in the area.
The people go to the malls found at the corner of Aurora Boulevard and Araneta Avenue: SM Centerpoint and Mezza Residences, as well as Puregold supermarkets located at E. Rodriguez corner Araneta Avenue, and another Puregold along Aurora Boulevard and Araneta Avenue.
In other words, to conduct their simple life of replenishing their foodstuffs, they will have to contend with the noise, the tensions of traversing Araneta Avenue to get to these places which should not happen at all.
Life will need to be fast and mobile instead of simple and peaceful once the expressways are built. Here, we can see that the DPWHproject-
Human beings are basically nature-lovers as we need oxygen or clean air, sunlight and space to move about. What this project is doing is to make the place claustrophobic, meaning to say, people will have less spaces to be mobile in, less clean air, and surely less sunlight. People will have less view of the skies as they will be taken over by expressways – concrete structures – that will block the views of the stars and the moon at night.
By being close the natural elements, people would be more Godly, more apt to be religious, spiritual and humane. Thus spaciousness among plants and trees could create calm and restful minds attuned to spirituality and being kind to living beings. So there would be less crimes and less grating situations between and among people.
However, the expressway shall kill all such benefits from simple living as it stresses speed and the presence of vehicles that would not have any sincere concern for human lives but rather to reach their destinations.
6. Presence of schools and universities – within the vicinity of Araneta Avenue can be found several schools and universities:
University of the East Ramon Magsaysay and Hospital
Central Colleges of the Philippines
Immaculate Mary College
Carlos Albert High School
Betty Go-Belmonte Elementary School
Not very far is the Polytechnic University of the Philippines or PUP
And other small schools run by private groups.
The students here number by the hundreds and thousands traversing Araneta Avenue. What will happen to them as they cross the avenue? They will be wary of vehicles passing by horizontally, and afraid of those that will be roaring above their heads. How could they possibly concentrate on learning, getting the right education whence going to and leaving their schools, colleges and universities shall be terroristic experience for their young ages?
7. Women and children – Mothers or Fathers usually accompany their children they are not yet independent to go to school. Some mothers have even young children in tow as they do not have helpers at home. So what happens when the expressway is built along the area? Mothers will be triply nervous having to mind their children, aside from having to worry where their next meals will be coming friom.
8. Safety: The project states there will be “Increased safety & security during travel;” this can only be true for vehicles that are in A-1 condition. Moreover, the presence of a concrete structure of the expressway shall make it dangerous for pedestrians to pass through it. The area will become underlit attracting nefarious individuals to prey on innocent pedestrians.
9. Overcrowding of vehicles: The project states that it will “Decongest EDSA & other major roads (Quezon Ave., Araneta Ave., Nagtahan, Quirino Ave, etc) by as much as 55,000 vehicles DAILY based on initial projected patronage”
In effect, the 55,000 vehicles will be diverted to the expressway, rendering the population in the area prone to tension and stress.
10. Anti –Environment: The project has cut down more than twenty trees already along Araneta Avenue to give way to the expressway. The result of that would be an increased heat in the area, making the place unlivable. Trees are beneficial to humans in terms of emitting oxygen, providing shade, and causing good positive feelings. Yet the project has cut them down to give way to a non-living, non-breathing thing, concrete expressways.
11. Evidently, the government is using technology to increase development. However it ignores the fact that the people have needs which require closeness to natural elements like air,, sunshine and flora. The UN World Commission on Environment and Development released as early as 1987, the report Our Common Future, commonly called the Brundtland Report. The report included what is now one of the most widely recognised definitions of sustainable development:
“
|
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts: The concept of 'needs', in particular, the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and” limiting the use of technology on the environment to make it able to meet present and future needs.
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”
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12. On being au courant: The new slogans in Modern Development now is “Reduce Carbon Footprint” and “Sustainable Development.” Instead, the project is raising the level of possible pollution in the area. A sustainable development is supposed to provide for continuing resources necessary to make human and other living beings sustain their lives, as well as their future generations of life on this planet..
How can an expressway sustain life when the very rationale for it is to allow vehicles to pass through it? The expressway system undermines to value, the beauty and stability of humans and other living beings in the area.
13. No definition of what a city should be: The project lacks a definition of what a city should be. Instead it just focuses on the financial (faster returns of investments due to less time for transport of goods and services) and physical (speed of transportation) benefits but glosses over its greater expensive nature on the effects of human and other living beings.
This is a not so good precedent for all other government road projects that do not consider the over-all effects on the people and the living beings in the area.
14. No Public Discussion or Hearing on the Project -- The DPWH did not conduct any hearing or public discussion on the merits and demerits of the case. This is anti-democratic procedure which contradicts the right of the citizens to be heard.
RA 7160 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE OF 1991 states ins its Basic Principles, Title 1, Chapter 1, “(c) It is likewise the policy of the State to require all national agencies and offices to conduct periodic consultations with appropriate local government units, nongovernmental and people’s organizations, and other concerned sectors of the community before any project or program is implemented in their respective jurisdictions.”
In effect, the DPWH committed gross violation of RA 7160 as it disregarded the people’s right to be consulted on the building of the expressway.
IN EFFECT, the DPWH has failed to consider the quality of life of the people living in the area that will be affected by its Project that will build an expressway along Araneta Avenue.
PRAYER
WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed that upon the filing of this Petition, a Temporary Restraining Order be immediately issued enjoining the DPWH, Government of the Republic of the Philippines, to stop the implementation of the Project;
to refrain or stop its officials from exercising any action to implement the Project; and
to annul and set aside the said Project until such time that the needs of the Petitioner and all other affected sectors shall have been considered.
Other just and equitable reliefs are likewise prayed for.
WILHELMINA S. OROZCO
89 Kapiligan Street,
Quezon City, MetroManila 1113
April 7, 2015
COPY FURNISHED:
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS AND HIGHWAYS
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
