PHOTO: University of Santo Tomas on a rainy day from tomasinoweb.org
We won’t call it adding insult to injury, but how else would you interpret a government proposal to turn one of Manila’s perpetually flooded campuses into a catch basin? University of Santo Tomas’s administration has scuppered the Department of Public Works and Highways plan, which involves digging out a so-called “retarding tank” under UST’s open grounds. According to the proposal, the tank will serve as a catchment basin to store floodwaters during heavy rains, with the water being pumped out to waterways afterward. It will also do double duty as an underground parking facility during the dry summer months. DPWH-NCR Director Reynaldo Tagudando adds that the tank will be similar to an existing structure at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
But UST is having none of that, thank you very much. It’s worried about security and expects any work on the facility to disturb the University’s regular activities. Construction of the tank, which will be as big as the University’s Grandstand, will take years to finish, even if the University gives the project the green light now. Still, DPWH officials say they will keep knocking on the Rector’s door, hoping for a change of heart.
