‘Win-win solution possible in MWSS housing dispute’

A cause-oriented group yesterday said there is a "win-win solution" to the dispute involving the 58-hectare housing project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) at the La Mesa water reservoir.

In a statement, the Katarungan at Kalikasan sa Magandang Kinabukasan (KKK) said that while it understand the sentiments of environmentalists, the project still "should proceed in order to give social justice to the 1,411 awardees and fulfill their 38-year-old dream of owning a house and lot of their own."

"The protection of the environment is very important. However, this advocacy should not impede the attainment of social justice for the poor. Always, those who have less in life should have more in law," said KKK convenor and spokesman Francisco Magpasa III.

KKK, which said it is an independent movement of concerned citizens, expressed belief that there can be a "peaceful and harmonious relationship" between the advocates for the protection of the environment and the beneficiaries of the union housing project along Quirino Highway in Quezon City.

The group raised several arguments as to the controversy generated by the project.

According to the group, commercial malls and establishments are situated "nearer the reservoir at a kilometer or less away," while the housing project "is more than two kilometers away."

"How come Bantay Kalikasan did not raise a howl of protest against them a long time ago?" asked KKK, referring to the environmental group which raised fears that the housing project will "pollute" the watershed 10 KKK also noted there are "no less than 10 housing projects within a two-kilometer radius from the reservoir."

The group however stressed there is "no evidence nor indictment that these developments contaminate the reservoir and poison the water Metro Manilans drink daily."

It also argued that the La Mesa Dam "is not actually a declared watershed according to Director Corazon Davis of the National Capital Region Office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)."

"It is only a ‘proposed’ watershed. The 58-hectare property is a consolidation of several privately owned lots bought by MWSS to expand the La Mesa Reservoir area. As former privately-titled lands, the same could not have been denominated as a watershed," KKK explained.

"Union members have bent over backwards two times already by acceding to two transfers of sites. The first two sites were nearer the reservoir," it added.

The proposed housing project is part of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the MWSS and two of its labor unions — the Kaisahan at Kapatiran ng mga Manggagawa at Kawani sa NWSA (KKMK-NWSA) and Balara Employees and Laborers Association (BELA) — in 1968.

Under the agreement, the MWSS will allot 58 hectares of its property near the La Mesa watershed to be sold to the unions at P5.50 per square meter, with total value of P3.19 million. The property was raffled off and awarded to 1,411 union members. Eventually, a new site located within the perimeter of La Mesa Watershed was designated for the project.

The deal was, however, only consummated with the turnover of the absolute deed of sale to the claimants last March.

This prompted environmentalists and cause-oriented groups to revive opposition to the planned establishment of a housing project in the La Mesa Dam compound.

MWSS Administrator Orlando Hondrade earlier gave assurances that no construction will be undertaken at the La Mesa water reservoir until required permits, primarily environmental compliance certificates (ECCs), from the DENR are secured.

KKK called on environmentalists to "listen to truly independent environment ECC experts who have the best qualifications in the field of environmental protection before they make hasty, alarmist and panic stricken conclusions" about the MWSS union housing project.

The group blamed the "paid altered opinion of hydraulics expert Dr. Leonardo Leongson" who, KKK said, "was hired by the administrator of MWSS without public bidding and paid a hefty P2.5 million, or P700,000 over the original price to make his study."