By Mike Frialde (philstar.com) | June 20, 2015 - 4:47pm MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Tourism (DOT) is pleased with the Supreme Court's temporary restraining order (TRO) against the construction and development of the controversial Torre de Manila in Manila. In a statement Saturday, the DOT said it was one of the government agencies that raised concern over the construction of the 46-storey project that ruined the iconic sight line of the monument of national hero Jose Rizal in the park named after him. "We support the advocacy of preserving the country's historical and cultural sites, which serve as visual icons of our country's proud heritage and rich culture," the DOT said. The high court's TRO issued Tuesday enjoins property developer DMCI Homes Inc. from proceeding with the project along Taft Avenue for which DMCI has reportedly spent P3 billion. The TRO is effective immediately and valid until further orders from the high court. The high court granted the immediate relief sought in the petition filed by Knights of Rizal in September last year seeking demolition of the condominium building. Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Arturo Brion, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Lucas Bersamin, Martin Villarama, Jose Catral Mendoza, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Francis Jardeleza agreed on the need to stop the project pending resolution of the case. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Mariano del Castillo, Jose Perez and Bienvenido Reyes believed that the prayer for TRO should be heard first in oral arguments. Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta and Marvic Leonen were on leave. The justices also decided to set the oral argument on the case on June 30 and ordered the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) to explain its cease and desist order in January stopping the construction of the project within a non-extendible period of five days from receipt of notice. The SC earlier required the Office of the Solicitor General to represent the NCCA. But the justices granted the motion of the OSG to be excused from the case. In their petition, the Knights of Rizal alleged that by defacing the visual corridors of the monument, DMCI violated laws mandating the protection and preservation of the Rizal Monument. These laws include Republic Act 4846 (Cultural Properties Preservation and Protection Act), RA 7356 (law creating the National Commission for Culture and the Arts) and RA 10066 (National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 or an Act Providing for the Protection and Conservation of the National Cultural Heritage). Petitioners also argued that the project could be considered as a "nuisance" as defined under the Civil Code of the Philippines. Article 694 of the code provided that "a nuisance is any act, omission, establishment, condition of property or anything else which annoys or offends the senses; or shocks, defies or disregards decency or morality." Petitioners also pointed out that the project violated the zoning ordinance of the City of Manila. Petitioners cited admission by the legal counsel of DMCI that the company effectively did not follow the procedure prescribed under Manila City Ordinance 8119, otherwise known as the Zoning Ordinance of Manila, for obtaining the zoning and building permits. They noted that Torre de Manila is located within the city's "institutional university cluster," an area reserved for schools and government buildings under the ordinance. http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/06/20/1468050/dot-pleased-tro-vs-torre-de-manila