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COLLEGIAL STAND
ON THE ON-GOING MWSS EMPLOYEES
HOUSING PROJECT
INSIDE THE LA MESA WATERSHED
(To be read on all Sunday Masses)

The undersigned Bishop of Novaliches, together with the Clergy, the Religious and lay leaders of the Diocese, impelled by our common vision of fullness of life for all and called to share in Jesus’ mission to give life and care for life, express our strong and united opposition against the on-going construction of the MWSS Employees Housing Project within the La Mesa Reservation Area.

Twelve million residents of Metro Manila depend on the water supplied by the Reservoir inside this Reservation Area. Many years ago, it was unthinkable that people have to pay for clean and safe drinking water. But now it is a sad and deplorable reality. The hardest hit by this reality are the urban poor, who, already pained and weary as they are to survive economically, are given another burden of increasing inaccessibility to this basic commodity. As all rivers, streams and wells within Metro Manila are no longer viable sources of drinking water, the Reservoir is now our only hope for surviving a potentially serious water crisis.

Concerned organizations and individuals have started a few years ago to protect this remaining water source by rehabilitating the forest surrounding the Reservoir and calling for the declaration of the La Mesa Reservation Area as a protected watershed area. But in seemingly utter disregard of their noble and admirable efforts, the construction of the MWSS Employees Housing Project was begun, and inspite of the clear warning of the National Hydraulic Research Center of the UP College of Engineering, commissioned to make a study of the impact of the Housing Project to the Reservoir, that there is a real danger that the effluents coming from this Housing Project will contaminate the Reservoir.

We therefore call on the government to declare the Reservation Area a protected area. We ask the Supreme Court to reconsider, not the housing project itself but its location, its granting to the MWSS retired employees their right to housing benefits, so as not to impinge on the right of Metro Manila residents to the only viable source of drinking water. We call on the MWSS Management to immediately put a stop to the on-going construction of and seek an alternative location for this Housing Project.

We commend and support those who have earlier expressed their opposition to this Project especially Mayor Feliciano Belmonte of Quezon City and ABS-CBN Bantay Kalikasan.

We call on all the residents of Metro Manila especially the lay faithful in our parishes to join our signature campaign to voice out their opposition to this Housing Project without prejudice to the right of the MWSS retired employees for their housing benefits. We also call on everyone to attend the fora, symposia, discussion groups, prayer services and ecological awareness activities to be initiated by the Diocese, to learn more about the importance of the La Mesa Watershed in our lives as Metro Manila residents and what each one can do to protect it.