The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said on Friday it will temporarily put on hold its C-5 road widening project in Old Balara, Quezon City to comply with a status quo order issued by the Supreme Court (SC).

In an interview, DPWH-NCR acting Regional Director Edilberto Tayao said they will stop the construction in the area until the High Court issues a final decision on the project that will link the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).

“At the very least, we have to follow what the SC ordered us to do. Secretary (Hermogenes) Ebdane already instructed us to stop the construction at the moment, pending the court hearing on this matter,” Tayao said.

The high court, in a resolution released Thursday, set a July 6 hearing on the petition filed by Beda Torrecampo, barangay chairman of Old Balara, seeking a halt to the road project which he claimed would affect the water supply of eight million residents in Metro Manila.

Respondents in the petition are heads of the DPWH and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Authority (MWSS).

Tayao said DPWH will submit its comment before the court on the claim of the petitioner that the project might affect the water supply of eight million residents in Metro Manila.

“The water supply in the metropolis getting disrupted is not the real issue here because the aquaducts and the main water pipes would not be hit by the project,” Tayao said.

“There is more than enough cushioning of soil and rocks to protect the main pipes,” said DPWH Undersecretary Romeo Momo, who is in charge of the operations of the DPWH projects in Metro Manila.

The DPWH is racing against time to complete the project on or before the end of the year, but Tayao said the court hearing on the case will delay its completion and meet the targeted deadline.

MWSS report on C-5 cited

A document submitted to Malacanang by the state-owned Metropolitan Water and Sewerage System (MWSS) has confirmed that the C-5 extension project will put in grave danger the water supply for eight million Metro Manila residents but this warning had been ignored by government.

Citing a petition for writ of preliminary mandatory injunction filed before the Supreme Court, Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor said he was puzzled by the failure of the Department of Public Works and Highways to consider the MWSS warning when it started work on the proposed C-5 extension at Baranga Matandang Balara on Wednesday.

The High Court ordered DPWH Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane to maintain a status quo in the area while the petition is being heard.

In leading heavily armed policemen and construction workers in pursuing the road project, Ebdane insisted that the three aqueducts that deliver raw water from La Mesa dam to the Balara filtration plant are safe even if the surface above it is concreted and transformed into a highway.

He told the media that the aqueducts are buried 60 meters deep, thus, are not in grave danger from the project.

Last year, MWSS Administrator Diosdado M. Allado sent a letter to the President with a warning that the “integrity of the pipes underneath” the project might be “compromised in cases of heavy loadings.”

Allado stated that the road right of way for the pipes was set at 60 meters wide to guarantee that there would be “enough space for the rehabilitation, upgrade, and maintenance of the aqueducts.”

Defensor entertained the strong possibility that Ebdane, who is MWSS chairman, may have confused the aqueducts to be buried 60 meters deep instead of being protected by a right of way that is 60 meters wide.

Punong Barangay Beda Torrecampo, petitioner of the SC case, also disputed claims by Ebdane that no informal settlers will be displaced by the project as a result of the demolition of their houses.

“A minimum 1,000 families will be rendered homeless if this project pushes through,” Torrecampo said.

In his petition to the High Court, Torrecampo said the DPWH has a better alternative for the C-5 extension.

Citing Proclamation No. 1375 of President Arroyo, Torrecampo said it was the president who wanted the C-5 extension project to be implemented over the so-called RIPADA (Ricarte, Palaris and Dagohoy) areas in barangay UP campus, instead of Matandang Balara.