(FILE) Police officers on Monday prepare to document the firearms seized from men encamped along a road in the vicinity of the Masungi Georeserve in Rizal province. —PHOTO COURTESY OF MASUNGI GEORESERVE FOUNDATION
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Risa Hontiveros is calling for an investigation into the alleged violence, land-grabbing, illegal logging, and quarrying in the Masungi Georeserve and Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape.
Hontiveros filed Senate Resolution No. 231, calling on the appropriate panel in the upper chamber to look into the issue.
“Nakakabahala na ang paulit-ulit na iba’t ibang uri ng karahasan na nararanasan ng mga tagapangalaga ng Masungi,” she said in a statement on Thursday.
(It is concerning that Masungi caretakers repeatedly encounter violence.)
“We, in government, have a duty to defend the interest of this conservation site as it is a protected area established under Republic Act 11038 or the Expanded Integrated Protected Area Systems Law. We cannot take our environmental defenders for granted,” she added.
Recently, the Masungi Georeserve Foundation described as an “invasion” the encampment of over 30 armed men associated with the Sinagtala Security Agency, within its vicinity.
The conservation site’s volunteers and workers have also been harassed by groups accused of illegal quarrying, logging, and land-grabbing.
In 2021, two forest rangers of the Masungi Georeserve were shot.
Hontiveros said besides peace and order, natural resources should be protected in the Masungi Georeserve.
“The biodiversity and integrity of the area’s natural environment, including the 400 species of flora and fauna as well as 60-million-year-old limestone formations, should be saved and secured,” she said.
“We know that our natural resources help us curb the effects of climate change… Lahat tayo ay katiwala ng ating kapaligiran (We are all caretakers of the environment). Let’s not wait for another tragedy before we seriously take care of our environment, our only home,” she added.