President Marcos should help protect Masungi, other protected areas

There is something really suspicious going on here.

Why does it seem like everyone and anyone wants a piece or, more appropriately, parcels and parcels of Masungi Georeserve, a 1,600-hectare conservation area and a rustic rock garden tucked in the rainforests of Rizal?

There are constant threats from developers, land grabbers and those in the quarrying business; there’s also a congressional hearing put together by lawmakers from Rizal which seems to only be for Masungi at a glance but actually attacks reforestation and now – surprise, surprise – we have the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) laying its claim over a portion of the forest reserve.

One can’t really help but wonder what this is really all about. Is there a big developer pulling the strings on this? Or is this a case of people or a community which refuse to believe the work that the Masungi Georeserve Foundation is doing, that its agenda is to protect the environment and nothing more?

President Marcos and Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga must step in and intervene in all the ongoing tensions and threats surrounding Masungi.

Once and for all, Marcos must say his piece because Masungi is one of the country’s protected areas.

Masungi’s statement

This is what happened, according to Masungi Georeserve:

In the morning of Feb. 16, five cars and 20 men from BuCor arrived at Masungi Georeserve.

They said they have orders to conduct an “ocular inspection” of the alleged “relocation site of the New Bilibid Prison.”

They bear a newly minted title over 270 hectares of the Lot 10 property in the name of BuCor. The remaining 30 hectares of Lot 10 were reportedly titled simultaneously in the name of the DENR. Lot 10 and the 300 hectares in question comprise the Masungi Georeserve.

How is this even possible? Here are the facts, as stated by the foundation:

Lot 10 is home to the fragile limestone formations of Masungi Georeserve and has already been equitized in a joint venture project between the DENR and Blue Star as early as 2002. Blue Star leads Masungi’s conservation efforts.

It is also included in conservation efforts under the Masungi Geopark Project between the Masungi Georeserve Foundation and the DENR through a valid and binding Memorandum of Agreement signed by Gina Lopez in 2017.

As early as 2009, then DENR Secretary Lito Atienza issued a memorandum to the DENR Regional Director to submit an alternative area for the New Bilibid Prison for the amendment of Presidential Proclamation 1158, since Lot 10 is already subject to private rights.

Moreover, the site is mountainous and geologically unbuildable. The development will be financially prohibitive and, in the words of scientists from the National Museum of the Philippines, will have “expensive consequences” for the environment.

Needless to say, Lot 10 is part of several protected and conserved areas. There is a national park, a wildlife sanctuary and game preserve (Proclamation 1636 in 1977 created by president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.), the proposed Masungi Strict Nature Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary (protected by DENR DAO 33 in 1993 by former DENR secretary Dr. Angel Alcala) and the Kaliwa River Forest Reserve (Proclamation 573 in 1969).

The Masungi Georeserve Foundation and Blue Star have been protecting the area for decades against professional squatters, physically and legally.

Rangers have been harassed, shot at and bullied multiple times protecting this area.

Beyond the legal, community acceptance, fiscal and environmental realm, why would the DENR allow a building of the BuCor to ruin a national park and geological treasure?

This new development comes on the heels of celebrated cancellations of quarrying MPSAs over the MGP – a win against many big vested interests – and congressional hearings that Masungi is being subjected to.

The multiple adversarial efforts against Masungi in recent months reveal a concerted plan to remove the government’s faithful conservation partner from the picture.

Masungi is a priceless legacy of the nation that should be preserved at all costs instead of destroyed.

I very much agree with the Masungi Georeserve Foundation and all the points in its statement.

For its part, BuCor officer-in-charge Gregorio Catapang Jr. said the agency “has all the right to conduct any activity in the area” as it is the registered owner of the property. BuCor is essentially eyeing the majority of the 300-hectare conservation site.

He said that the parcel of land will not be used as a relocation site of the New Bilibid Prison, but as a site of the BuCor headquarters, “including its residential uses for its personnel and employees and for the development and implementation of land use development plans and policies of BuCor for the sustainment of its basic institutional food requirements.”

The current headquarters of BuCor is in the New Bilibid Prison Reservation in Muntinlupa in southern Metro Manila.

Protecting our geological treasures

Against this backdrop, President Marcos and Environment Secretary Loyzaga must uphold the Masungi Geopark Project, appoint a competent project manager to resolve conflicts and prevent further violence against environment defenders and immediately cease the unending issuance of unscrupulous instruments within Masungi and adjacent protected areas, and make those responsible accountable.

The Masungi Geopark Project is at the forefront of the Philippines’ climate change agenda to enable effective, nature-based solutions involving the private sector, civil society and communities.

Sabotaging Masungi goes against our nation’s sustainable development.

I fervently hope Malacañang will intervene to address the situation once and for all and remove the uncertainties surrounding Masungi.

Protecting Masungi will show that President Marcos is serious in addressing climate change, which was among the first commitments he announced early on.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.