Caritas backs Masungi caretakers: ‘Unwise’ for DENR to let them go

IN NEED OF PROTECTION After all the awards it has earned for doing a good job, the foundation tasked by the government in 2017 with protecting the Masungi natural reserve in Rizal province is now fighting for its right to stay there. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Caritas Philippines, the development and advocacy arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), on Friday expressed support for maintaining an agreement to protect the fragile Masungi Georeserve in Rizal province after Environment Secretary Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga disclosed a plan to scrap it.

“We believe the planned cancellation is unwise and would be detrimental to environmental protection efforts. This is a time when the government should be supporting successful initiatives, not hindering them,” Caritas Philippines vice president and San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said in a statement.

READ: Masungi Georeserve denies DENR claim its contract is ‘void ab initio’

Caritas was the first group to publicly voice support for the 2017 memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Masungi Georeserve Foundation Inc. (MGFI), after Yulo-Loyzaga’s disclosure on Wednesday.

‘Void’

MGFI said in a statement that under the agreement, it was designated as the “trustee” of the project area that had been “constituted as a perpetual land trust for conservation.”

The 2,700-hectare protected area is located in the southern Sierra Madre range in Rizal province’s Baras town.

During a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Yulo-Loyzaga said the agreement, which was made during the late Environment Secretary Gina Lopez’s stint, was “void.” She also cited the legal opinion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) which found the MOA to be “unconstitutional.”

MGFI insisted that the MOA was valid and that only the courts had the power to cancel it.

“Who will benefit from this plan? Neither the Filipino people nor the environment. Only the large-scale fraudulent claimants, land grabbers, quarries and swimming pool resorts that have lobbied for the project’s cancellation because it collides with their interests will benefit from this,” MGFI trustee Billie Dumaliang said in a statement.

“The DENR is already not keeping watch of our protected areas and now they want to remove one of the leading organizations pushing forward just that?” she added.

Dumaliang was referring to the resorts and private compounds built within the Upper Marikina River Basin, a protected area that overlaps Masungi. These establishments were found to have been given environmental compliance certificates by the DENR-Protected Areas Management Board.

The foundation said that the MOA remained valid and binding and while it remained so, it promised to continue its work alongside 100 local rangers. ‘Alarming attitude’

“This alarming attitude casts a shadow to the true intents of a MOA cancellation which has been tagged by observers as a smokescreen for the DENR to avoid their obligations under the MOA to remove the fraudulent and large-scale illegal occupants in the protected areas, which includes personalities with government ties,” MGFI said in its statement.

Caritas said that the success of the Masungi Georeserve Project was “a testament to its positive impact.”

“We are concerned about the real impact of this cancellation,” Alminaza added.

Caritas Philippines echoed MGFI’s statement that the move seems to favor private establishments rather than the Filipino people and the environment.

The organization urged the DENR to explore alternative solutions, including formal negotiations and open dialogue.

Call for public support

“Caritas Philippines joins Masungi Georeserve in raising concerns that the cancellation could be a way to avoid the DENR’s obligation to remove illegal occupants from the protected area, including those with government ties,” Alminaza said.

Caritas Philippines also called on the public to stand together against the DENR’s “unwise” decision and fight for the preservation of the Masungi Geopark Project.

MGFI maintains that the MOA had “all the elements of a valid agreement” and that it was done through the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act, or Republic Act 11038.

“The MOA provision which declares that ‘the intent of the parties is to constitute the project area as a perpetual land trust’ is not a grant or gift of land to the foundation, contrary to malicious insinuations,” Dumaliang said.

Willing to dialogue

“A close reading of the contract will reveal that we can only manage the project for as long as the law or Constitution allows, which is yet to be determined by the courts for conservation,” she added.

Aside from being awarded the agreement, MGFI said the group had also earned it.

It cited several international awards it had received for its work, such as recognition at the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos, as one of the best practices in the world for ecosystem restoration and winning the 2022 UN Sustainable Development Goals Action Campaign Inspire Awards.

The foundation said it was willing to hold a dialogue with the DENR and the DOJ to clarify matters and present more facts on the issue.