7 ‘illegal’ houses delaying C-5 road extension project in QC

SEVEN houses.

They are all that stand in the way of a much delayed road project in Quezon City that has been irritating motorists since late 2009, according to the Metro Manila office of the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The houses, belonging to 13 families of illegal settlers, have been blocking work on a 300-me- ter portion of the Circumferential Road 5 (C-5)–North Extension, which stretches from Katipunan Avenue to Tandang Sora Avenue and crosses Commonwealth Avenue through a flyover that ends at Luzon Avenue.

“Our right-of-way people are currently talking to the remaining 13 families. As soon as they agree to move elsewhere, the demolition of their illegal structures will immediately follow. Then we will proceed with the construction of the project’s service road and drainage,” said Reynaldo Tagudando, DPWH-National Capital Region director.

“We’re optimistic that the much delayed road project would be finally completed and formally opened by the second week of March,” Tagudando told the INQUIRER on Tuesday.

The DPWH earlier convinced some 70 families blocking the road project to leave the area. According to Tagudando, the agency offers P60,000 to P100,000 per family for them to move elsewhere.

He said Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson was “already angry” because of the project delay.

“Our target (for the completion) was last June, before the opening of classes,” he said, recalling that work in the portion approaching Luzon Avenue was stopped in early 2012.

He conceded that the DPWH had been bombarded with complaints from motorists using C-5. “They say they’re legitimate taxpayers so they do not deserve to suffer from traffic congestion in that major thoroughfare that’s supposedly built to decongest traffic in Metro Manila,” he said.

But theNCRdirectormaintained that DPWH should not be blamed for the delay, saying it had repeatedly sent written notices to the ille- gal settlers, asking them to leave as soon as possible because the government needed the property.

“They’re not your ordinary type of squatter families. I’m talking about people with jobs, as well as operators of small businesses like sari-sari stores and eateries, among others,” he explained.

The C-5 extension project was declared one of the priority infrastructure projects of the Arroyo administration.