CDC Holdings claims NCCA had lifted CDO against Rivergreen project

Real estate development company CDC Holdings on Monday said that the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) had lifted its cease and desist order issued last month against the company's Rivergreen Residences project in Santa Ana, Manila.

In an emailed statement, CDC Holdings said the lifting of the order on Nov. 6 was a result of an Oct. 20 hearing to determine if the site in question should be given protection under the heritage law.

"CDC Holdings complied and secured all the necessary permits and clearances to develop Rivergreen Residences," CDC Holdings legal counsel Carlo Marco Bautista asserted in the statement.

Bautista added that the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) and the National Museum have jurisdiction over the site.

CDC Holdings also claimed that the company had received a clearance from the National Museum in April and that an Archeological Impact Assessment (AIA) report found no pre-Hispanic materials observed at the site.

GMA News Online was unable to reach the NCCA for comment as of posting time.

In a Nov. 27, 2013 letter to Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, National Museum Director Jeremy Barns had complained that the Rivergreen project had not undergone an AIA and that it overlapped the Histo-Cultural Heritage Overlay Zone.

The Santa Ana Heritage Tourism Association (SAHTA) had also tried to stop the project last September, with the blessing of the national agencies and the help of the police.

CDC Holdings nevertheless continued working on the development. — Kathryn Mae P. Tubadeza, GMA News