Cebu City Council Asks DENR 7 to Probe ‘Private Bridge’

The Cebu City Council has requested the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 to look into an alleged illegal construction of a private bridge in Barangay Tejero in this city.

In a resolution authored by Cebu City Councilor Nida Cabrera, the council asked the DENR 7 to take the necessary action to stop the construction.

Cebu City engineer Jose Poblete earlier ordered Kakeng Development Corporation to temporarily stop the work pending compliance with all the necessary requirements such as barangay permit, construction permit, locational permit and Environmental Compliance Certificate.

It cited a possible violation of Article 51 of Presidential Decree No. 1067 otherwise known as “The Water Code of the Philippines”.

The law prohibits the construction of any structure along “the banks and rivers, streams, shores of the seas and lakes throughout their entire length within a zone of three meters in urban areas, twenty meters in agricultural areas and forty meters in forest areas, along their margins are subject to the easement of public use in the interest of recreation, navigation, fishing and salvage.”

However, the private bridge is being constructed across the Tejero creek which measures 10 meters wide and 12 meters long.

The city government has also asked the DENR to examine whether the bridge will not have a negative impact to the environment. (PNA) CTB/EB/PJN