USC to get DENR required papers

CEBU, Philippines - The University of San Carlos-Talamban Campus is willing to furnish lacking requirements or certifications as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau-7 identified initial violations during the inspection yesterday.

The inspection was conducted after DENR-7 received reports that the campus has an ongoing construction project that is allegedly causing flooding in nearby areas.

Ariel Gillera, Monitoring Section Head of EMB, said initial findings identified that the 2007 Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) of USC only allowed 8.6 meter road widening, but the school has widen to 17 meters.

“Mora’g gi-doble nila ang allowed ra unta sa ECC. So, dapat ilang i-amend or i-update ang ilang ECC,” Gillera said.

USC-TC Property Administrator’s Office Architect Marvin Gaerlan said the one-meter extension for the road inside the campus is for bike lanes.

As to the detention pond, he said that the campus has 10 ponds designed as rain catchment.

Gaerlan said the soccer field is one of the biggest rain catchments for now since works on the USC Stadium is currently on its last stage. For now, he said, the ongoing construction project is within 80 hectares in campus.

Gillera said the contractor of the road widening project secured a series for hauling permits valid from September 2010 to November 2013.

He said that USC should submit the updated Environmental Performance Report and Management Plan.

As to the issue on cutting of trees, Gillera said the group found lumbers in the campus during the inspection. However, a separate team will conduct another probe regarding the trees.

In a separate interview, Dr. Eddie Llamedo of DENR-7 said that even if USC is private-owned, it still needs to get a special permit from DENR-7 to cut trees.

Gillera said the issues will be tackled during the technical conference with the schools’ representative and the DENR-EMB-7 officials this month. — (FREEMAN)