Dino to lobby for the lifting of environmental certificates TRO in Bantayan Island

DINO

Pending the lifting of a court temporary restraining order (TRO) that bars any form of development on the whole Bantayan Island, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino urged a contractor to do what it can to finish building Yolanda housing units before year-end.

For his part, Dino committed to help lobby for the court to lift the TRO so work can continue in all Yolanda relocation projects in the island.

Grandby Trading and Construction, which is undertaking an 8.7-hectare relocation project in Barangay Kabac, Bantayan town, is having difficulties in carrying on works in the area because of the TRO.

Without an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC), the local government units will not issue any building permit thus development works on the project including cutting and installation of water pipes, among others gets delayed.

Grandby Trading Project Engineer Maria Larie Billo, meanwhile, committed to deliver 100 housing units for turn over by December this year should the TRO already be lifted.

Phase 1 of the project is made up of 450 units while phases 2 and 3 have 450 and 390 units, respectively.

The whole project costs about P373 million. Phase 1 is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2017.

The environmental court in Cebu, based in Mandaue City and presided then by Judge now Court of Appeals Justice Marilyn Yap, issued a TRO on the issuance of ECCs for projects on Bantayan Island in October last year.

The TRO stemmed from a petition by environmental lawyer Antonio Oposo against Marlins Resort in Santa Fe, one of the towns on the island.

However, the court issued a TRO on the issuance of ECCs for projects in the whole island thus affecting the ongoing development of the housing units for the victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”