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It’s a turf war.
“Residents of Barangay Blue Ridge A in Quezon City — who are opposing the transfer of an international school to their area — have secured a court order temporarily preventing the local government from approving the project, which they say would not only violate the city’s zoning law but also worsen traffic in the area,” reports Jaymee T. Gamil in Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The residents, as the report indicated, “have long campaigned against the MIIS transfer from its present location on J. Escaler Street in Barangay Loyola Heights to the corner of Katipunan Avenue and Highland Drive.”
The report noted: “Judge Manuel Sta. Cruz Jr. of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 226 issued a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) against the release of permits for the construction of a 12-story building of the Multiple Intelligence International School (MIIS) in Barangay Blue Ridge A.”
The group has likewise started a petition at Change.org: “No to planned MIIS school along Katipunan Avenue.”
The report went on to explain that “the petitioners argued that the planned structure would violate the Revised Quezon City Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance approved by Mayor Herbert Bautista in March 2013.” They said that “under the ordinance, the new MIIS location is part of the Katipunan Special Urban Development Zone (SUDZ).”
SUDZ is officially defined as “an area governed by certain conditions and regulations to preserve and protect their distinct character or to control physical environment, to prevent traffic congestion, deterioration of services, and other services affecting the general public.”
According to one of the petitioners, Barangay Blue Ridge A councilor Marie Antoinette Mendoza, the transfer of MIIS would “definitely worsen traffic” on Katipunan Avenue and nearby streets.
Moreover, Mendoza pointed out that “the school’s new location is near a ravine 300 meters from the West Valley fault, putting the school and community at risk in the event of a major earthquake.”
For their part, the respondents to the petition “argued that the revised zoning ordinance being invoked by the petitioners has yet to be ratified by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) and approved by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).”
However, Judge Sta Cruz had said: “Given that the duly enacted revised zoning ordinance was published in a newspaper of general circulation (on July 8, 2013), does it need further ratification or approval of the MMDA or the HLURB for it to be effective? Definitely no.”
Photo: Icka Alcantara (Twitter)
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