{"id":834787,"date":"2016-10-27T00:12:41","date_gmt":"2016-10-26T16:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/?p=834787"},"modified":"2016-10-27T01:33:31","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T17:33:31","slug":"tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order","title":{"rendered":"Tunnel project defied LGU order"},"content":{"rendered":"

LUCENA CITY\u2014The contractor of a water diversion tunnel project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), which\u00a0would cut through Sierra Madre, has defied an order to stop work on the project ordered by the local government as early as January but which was unheeded until an accident in the project site killed six workers in August.<\/p>\n

In a meeting called by the provincial board\u2019s committee on environment and natural resources on Tuesday, Leovigildo Rozul, former mayor of General Nakar town and now its municipal administrator, said MWSS and its contractor, Cavite Ideal International Construction and Development Corp. (Cavdeal), had been slapped with a cease-and-desist order in January for working without permit.<\/p>\n

MWSS, in a report posted on its website, said the P717-million project involves the construction of a 600-meter tunnel that would pass through Sierra Madre and would be connected to the Umiray-Angat Transbasin Tunnel leading to Angat Dam in Norzagaray town in Bulacan province.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were surprised to learn after the accident that there were ongoing activities in the area,\u201d Rozul said.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 13, six Cavdeal workers drowned as floodwater swamped the MWSS\u2019 Sumag River diversion project at the foot of the Sierra Madre between General Nakar and Do\u00f1a Remedios Trinidad town in Bulacan.<\/p>\n

Remote place<\/h5>\n

Two pilots of a helicopter used in the rescue operation also died when the aircraft crashed in Bulacan while they were on their way to the accident site a few days later.<\/p>\n

Rozul said the local government could not closely monitor the project site in Sitio Sumag in Barangay Umiray because it is accessible only by foot, through a hike that would take more than two days, from the General Nakar town center.<\/p>\n

The dialogue, presided over by Board Member Claro Talaga Jr., was attended by representatives from the MWSS, General Nakar town government and Provincial Mining and Regulatory Board (PMRB).<\/p>\n

Board Member Hermilando Alcala Jr. said the board found that the MWSS has not been paying General Nakar and the provincial government any tax or fee for tapping the province\u2019s water sources.<\/p>\n

Water source<\/h5>\n

Umiray River in General Nakar contributes about 30 percent of raw water for Metro Manila, he said.<\/p>\n

Webster Letargo, PMRB vice chair, said his office had not issued any permit for the quarrying and digging components of the project.\u00a0He showed a letter of Gov. David Suarez, dated Sept. 8,\u00a0informing MWSS Administrator Gerardo Esquivel about the failure of Cavdeal to secure quarry permits from PMRB which makes \u201cany dredging activity illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n

DENR permit<\/h5>\n

Letargo described the project as \u201cdisrespect for the province\u201d and done in \u201cbad faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jose Dorado Jr., MWSS project engineer, said the project is being implemented and funded by Common Purpose Facility (CPF) office of Metro Manila\u2019s only two water suppliers.<\/p>\n

But Talaga said the MWSS, as the project proponent, is mandated to follow and observe all government protocols.<\/p>\n

Mario Rodriguez, CPF manager, said the project started in April 2014 and is covered by an environmental clearance certificate issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez said project proponents had submitted an application for local government permits.<\/p>\n

But Alcala said it was not enough for the proponent to just submit the application. \u201cYou should have waited for its approval before work began,\u201d Alcala said.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez said his office would review all project documents. He said the construction, which had been stopped after the accident, will not resume without permits. \u2014ATM<\/strong><\/p>\n

RELATED STORIES<\/p>\n

1 dead, 5 missing as flood hits MWSS tunnel in Quezon<\/a><\/h5>\n
Bodies of 2 workers recovered from flooded MWSS tunnel project<\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LUCENA CITY\u2014The contractor of a water diversion tunnel project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), which\u00a0would cut through Sierra Madre, has defied an order to stop work on the project ordered by the local government as early as January but which was unheeded until an accident in the project site killed six workers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1098,"featured_media":834788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,34,39,46],"tags":[22337],"byline":[133],"source":[206078],"column":[],"editor":[189937],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTunnel project defied LGU order | Inquirer 黑料社<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LUCENA CITY\u2014The contractor of a water diversion tunnel project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), which\u00a0would cut through Sierra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Tunnel project defied LGU order | Inquirer 黑料社\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"LUCENA CITY\u2014The contractor of a water diversion tunnel project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), which\u00a0would cut through Sierra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2016\/10\/MWSS-head-office-from-MWSS-website.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@inquirerdotnet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@inquirerdotnet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alexander Magno\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tunnel project defied LGU order | Inquirer 黑料社","description":"LUCENA CITY\u2014The contractor of a water diversion tunnel project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), which\u00a0would cut through Sierra","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Tunnel project defied LGU order | Inquirer 黑料社","twitter_description":"LUCENA CITY\u2014The contractor of a water diversion tunnel project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), which\u00a0would cut through Sierra","twitter_image":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2016\/10\/MWSS-head-office-from-MWSS-website.jpg","twitter_creator":"@inquirerdotnet","twitter_site":"@inquirerdotnet","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alexander Magno","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order"},"author":{"name":"Alexander Magno","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#\/schema\/person\/0fc35b4014bd0399b8f2892d2557738f"},"headline":"Tunnel project defied LGU order","datePublished":"2016-10-26T16:12:41+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-26T17:33:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order"},"wordCount":598,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2016\/10\/MWSS-head-office-from-MWSS-website.jpg","keywords":["MWSS"],"articleSection":["Headlines","Latest 黑料社 Stories","Regions","Regions"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2016","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.inquirer.net\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order","url":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order","name":"Tunnel project defied LGU order | Inquirer 黑料社","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2016\/10\/MWSS-head-office-from-MWSS-website.jpg","datePublished":"2016-10-26T16:12:41+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-26T17:33:31+00:00","description":"LUCENA CITY\u2014The contractor of a water diversion tunnel project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), which\u00a0would cut through Sierra","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2016\/10\/MWSS-head-office-from-MWSS-website.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2016\/10\/MWSS-head-office-from-MWSS-website.jpg","width":620,"height":276,"caption":"Head office of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System in Diliman, Quezon City. (Photo from the MWSS website)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/834787\/tunnel-project-defied-lgu-order#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"黑料社","item":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Headlines","item":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/category\/inquirer-headlines"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Regions","item":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/category\/inquirer-headlines\/regions"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Tunnel project defied LGU order"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/","name":"Inquirer 黑料社","description":"Latest Philippine 黑料社 for Filipinos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#organization","name":"黑料社","url":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2020\/02\/inqdefimg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2020\/02\/inqdefimg.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"黑料社"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/inquirerdotnet\/","https:\/\/x.com\/inquirerdotnet","https:\/\/instagram.com\/inquirerdotnet","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/inquirerdotnet"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#\/schema\/person\/0fc35b4014bd0399b8f2892d2557738f","name":"Alexander Magno","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba366a90ec959287ad13c8204b14ab1d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba366a90ec959287ad13c8204b14ab1d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Alexander Magno"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/alexandertmagno\/"]}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834787"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1098"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834787"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=834787"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=834787"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=834787"},{"taxonomy":"editor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editor?post=834787"},{"taxonomy":"videographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/videographer?post=834787"},{"taxonomy":"position","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/position?post=834787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}