The Masungi Georeserve Foundation (MGF) has welcomed the Bureau of Corrections’ (BuCor) decision to put on hold its plan to construct and develop facilities in the conservation area in Tanay, Rizal.
“Knowing the potential environmental impacts of the plan, we are hopeful that the project will be scrapped altogether,” MGF said in a statement on Thursday.
It also called on Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga to convene the oversight committee of the Masungi Geopark Project “to resolve these conflicts within the project site and to prevent future ones.”
“We must all be aligned with the long-term vision for Masungi that has been painstakingly built over the last 25 years. As scientists, environmental planners and citizens have all said: Let us keep Masungi a sanctuary for our unique geological heritage and threatened wildlife,” MGF said.
READ: BuCor defers development plans in Masungi Georeserve
During a hearing of the Senate committee on tourism chaired by Senator Nancy Binay on Tuesday, BuCor Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. said the plan to construct a New Bilibid Prison and BuCor headquarters in Tanay, Rizal, “will no longer push through.”
‘Held in abeyance’
“The 270-hectare property awarded to the BuCor pursuant to Presidential Proclamation [No.] 1158 as the site of the New Bilibid Prison including the plan to relocate its national headquarters to this site will be held in abeyance pending further studies,” Catapang said, adding that the study would take into account the environmental impact of the project.
A coalition of environmental groups earlier said that the plan to develop facilities in the 270-ha property or Lot 10 could increase the risk of destabilizing the terrain—already identified as a “geohazard zone”—which could result in environmental degradation and harm lives and destroy property in neighboring cities.
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