The Supreme Court has extended a restraining order it issued against the relocation of the common station interconnecting the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) from the SM City North EDSA mall to the Ayala-owned Trinoma mall.

In a 22-page resolution, the high court’s First Division denied a petition from the LRT Authority and the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) seeking to lift the temporary restraining order the SC issued on July 30, 2014.

The TRO enjoined the LRTA and DOTC from proceeding with the transfer of the common station in front of SM City North EDSA to a new site in front of the Trinoma mall in Quezon City.

“[T]he Court cannot turn a blind eye to the serious implications of a change in the location of the Common Station as previously determined by the LRTA, at the time that it was the lead implementing agency for the project, to the new site chosen by the DOTC, as the present lead implementing agency,” ruled the SC.

“It is to the benefit of the common good that the issue of the legality and propriety of the transfer of the Common Station be threshed out in proper proceedings before work on the Common Station be allowed to commence as such work cannot be undone without great, perhaps even immeasurable, cost to the public,” it added.

The SC stressed that a priority infrastructure project of the national government is involved in the case, within the strategic framework of the transportation sector. “If the transfer of the Common Station is not temporarily enjoined, it may render moot or ineffectual any judgment in petitioner’s favor that the trial court might render,” read the SC resolution.

In the same ruling, the SC also deferred action on SM Prime Holdings Inc’s petition for injunction, until the finality of any decision in a separate civil action filed before the Pasay regional trial court.

In June 2014, SM Prime sued DOTC and LRTA for violating a 2009 agreement to build the common station of Metro Rail Transit Lines 3 and 7 (MRT-3, 7) and Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT-1) in front of SM North EDSA. But the lower court junked the plea of SM Prime.

The government bundled the LRT-MRT common station in the P65-billion LRT Line 1 Cavite Extension Project – the biggest public-private partnership initiative of the Aquino administration.

According to DOTC, the common station was relocated after a study showed government can save P800 million to P1 billion if the station is built close to Trinoma, an adjacent mall owned by competitor Ayala Land Inc.

Moreover, the DOTC earlier said the agreement with SM Prime expired in 2011 but the Sy-led developer claimed there was no expiry date provided in the documents.

The P1.4-billion project will link LRT-1, MRT-3, and the proposed MRT-7 – from the North Avenue station to San Jose del Monte in Bulacan, via Commonwealth Avenue. — APG, GMA News