Lawmakers want DMCI to demolish Torre de Manila

Lawmakers on Tuesday urged property developer D.M. Consunji Inc. (DMCI) to demolish voluntarily the controversial condominium building Torre de Manila near Luneta Park rather than wait for the Supreme Court to issue a final ruling on the matter.

 

The longer it refuses to admit it erred in proceeding with the construction of the 49-storey development, which critics say mars the visual corridors of the monument of Jose Rizal, the more DMCI will experience a public relations "nightmare," House Committee on Metro Manila development chair Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo said.

 

"I advise them to voluntarily dismantle it. [That act] would be a big contribution to the preservation of our cultural heritage and national patrimony... Magpalugi na lang sila [and acknowledge that] a gross mistake was committed on their part," he told reporters in a weekly press conference.

 

Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe described Torre de Manila as a "monstrosity" whose presence has turned the Rizal monument from a national treasure to a "national cause for shame" because of the imposing view it casts in the background of the national hero's famed statue.

 

He noted that in foreign countries, the view of famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. is not obstructed by any structure because they are considered as important landmarks.

 

"If DMCI is a responsible corporation, it should volunteer to demolish Torre de Manila without waiting for the SC's decision. Or else they will be condemned by the succeeding generations," he said.

 

Erap and Lim 

 

Acting on a petition filed by the Order of the Knights of Rizal, the SC last week issued a temporary restraining order that stopped DMCI from proceeding with the Torre de Manila construction until "further orders from the court."

 

In its petition for injunction, the group said that the building will "stick out like a sore thumb, and dwarf" all surrounding buildings within a two-kilometer radius once it is completed.

 

Having a towering building in the Rizal monument's background is a "nuisance" that "annoys and offends the senses" of Filipinos who honor Rizal's memory, according to the petition.

 

Castelo said his committee will invite anew incumbent Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and his predecessor, Alfredo Lim, to a hearing on the Torre de Manila controversy next week to shed light on the matter.

 

The House committee had invited Estrada to its previous hearings but the mayor instead sent a proxy.

 

"When we summon Mayor Estrada and Lim, it will not be for a blame game to be played nor for a fault-finding expedition, but in aid of legislation," Castelo said.

 

Estrada and Lim have traded barbs over the condominium building fiasco, with the former President saying that DMCI received its barangay clearance, zoning and building permits during Lim's term in 2012.

 

Lim, however, said Estrada should have stopped the construction if he was convinced that DMCI violated several laws.

Recommendations 

 

Though the House panel has yet to wrap up its hearings on the issue, Castelo said he and other lawmakers have come up with certain recommendations to prevent a similar controversy from happening in the future.

 

Among the recommendations which the panel intends to include in its report include the strengthening of Republic Act 10066, or the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, by giving the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) police powers to enforce the cease and desist orders (CDOs) it issues against erring entities.

 

Castelo noted that his panel had to offer the NCCA the help it needed to enforce the CDO on DMCI prior to the SC ruling because the property developer refused to heed it.

 

"When we visited the Torre de Manila's site a few weeks ago, construction work was still ongoing, in blatant disregard of the CDO issued by the NCCA," he said. 

 

The committee will also recommend that local government units be barred from providing any entity an exemption to zoning laws in an area that is near a national heritage site, the lawmaker said. – VS, GMA News