QC court stops MMDA bus terminal project

A Quezon City Regional Trial Court has ordered the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) not to push through with the implementation of a bus terminal project along EDSA in Quezon City.

In a five-page order, Judge Fatima Gonzales-Asdada of Branch 87 ordered MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando to cease and desist from erecting one of the four interim intermodal mass transport terminal in Metro Manila.

The court specifically stopped Fernando from implementing the project within the 24-meter portion of the seven-hectare property of the Manila Seedling Bank Foundation Inc. (MSBFI), which questioned the legality of the project in court.

Aside from the MSBFI, the project will also affect the properties and structures of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), Metro Rail Transit (MRT), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Region IV, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), National Printing Office, National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Philippine National Bank (PNB), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)Regional Office and the Social Security System (SSS).

In its order, the court cited the need for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction sought for by the MSBFI because the implementation of the project will cause injuries and damages to the petitioner and its lessees.

According to MSBFI, the implementation of the MMDA’s project in their properties will cost them a total of P224,830,624.88 worth of existing structures and buildings, including the improvements they should make.

The MBSFI also cited that proclamation 1670 signed by the late President Ferdinand Marcos, on Sept. 19, 1977 which gives the environmental center the privilege to occupy the parcel of land for the period of 50 years since it is a corporation.

The MMDA, however, said that Proclamation 1670 is no longer valid because it has been repealed by EO 179 issued by President Arroyo last Feb. 10.