MWSS housing violates QC rules – solon

MANILA, Philippines – The housing project for employees and executives of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) at the La Mesa Watershed was built without complying with the requirements of the Quezon City government, which could further embroil it in the controversy it is facing, a lawmaker said Friday.

Quezon City Representative Winston Castelo said the project did not have a subdivision plan and other requirements duly approved by the Quezon City council at the time it was built.

Castelo cited Executive Order No. 70 S-94 signed by then president Fidel Ramos that requires developers to secure a subdivision plan from the local government unit.

The Quezon City lawmaker, who chaired the city council’s committee on housing, subdivision and real estate for six years, said they never approved the project.

He said he has talked to the barangay chairperson of Greater Lagro, lawyer Renato Galimba, who said that the barangay council was also not consulted on the project.

Asked how the project was built without city council approval, Castelo admitted “we don’t know how they were able to erect the subdivision.”

According to a newspaper report, the MWSS employees have been granted rights to 58 hectares of the 2,700-hectare watershed in Quezon City. The site of the housing project was awarded to 1,411 National Waterworks and Sewerage Administration (Nawasa) employees back in 1968 under a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

The CBA initially allotted property “near” La Mesa for the project but “a new site” was later chosen within the watershed.

A Supreme Court ruling green-lighted the project in 1975. The turnover of the absolute deed of sale to the claimants was made in March 2006.

Two months after the turnover, a coalition led by ABS-CBN Foundation Inc.’s Bantay Kalikasan launched a campaign to block the housing project, warning that the planned homes could send pollutants downstream into the La Mesa reservoir.

The watershed is the main source of drinking water for the residents of Metro Manila and nearby areas.

In his state of the nation address, President Benigno Aquino III cited the La Mesa housing project as among the “extravagant” perks MWSS employees and officials have been enjoying.