FILE PHOTO: Conservationists have been raising the alarm over the continuous illegal encroachment in huge portions of the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape in Rizal province. —PHOTO COURTESY OF MASUNGI GEORESERVE FOUNDATION
MANILA, Philippines — Over 200 claimants or occupants in the protected area of Upper Marikina River Basin are already undergoing reversion or the process where their land holdings will be returned to the government, according to a lawmaker.
Palawan 2nd District Rep. Jose Alvarez, who was defending the next year’s budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), revealed this during Thursday’s 2025 General Appropriations Bill plenary deliberations.
READ: Castro: Powerful people own houses, resorts in Marikina watershed
The lawmaker was questioned by ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, who earlier raised issues concerning large private land claims in the watershed.
“Kumpleto na ang DENR, na-submit na po sa SolGen (Solicitor General). Dahil ang reversion cases ang SolGen ang mag initate,” Alvarez said.
(The DENR already submitted the documents to the SolGen. Because the SolGen will be the one initiating the reversion cases.)
“More than 200 claimants or occupants there are now undergoing reversion cases so that their land holdings will go back to the government as public land,” he added.
After Castro asked for more concrete actions from the agency, Alvarez said that the resorts in the protected area had already been closed.
“Sarado na po yung mga resort (The resorts were already closed)?” Castro asked, surprised.
“Last kong bisita don wala ng tubig itong swimming pool, ewan ko lang sa malakas na ulan baka puno na naman,” Alvarez jokingly answered, which drew laughter from Castro and the crowd.
(When I last visited it the swimming pool no longer had water. I don’t know maybe the recent heavy rainfall fill it up again.)
The Makabayan lawmaker then asked DENR to provide an updated report on the 200 claimants, including the status of their cases and whether the resorts in the protected area already stopped operating.
“Masusunod po yon hihingi ng update ang DENR sa SolGen para i-lista isa isa kung ano na yung mga na-file na kaso at status sa korte pati operations ng mga resort within seven days,” Alvarez said.
(The DENR will comply and ask SolGen for a list of the cases filed, their status in court, and the operation of these resorts within seven days.)
The Upper Marikina watershed — a total land area of over 26,000 hectares and serves as the river basin that mitigates flooding in Metro Manila — was declared a protected landscape in November 2011 under Presidential Proclamation No. 296.
This means that commercial and economic activities within the protected watershed are banned.
The prohibition is meant to protect the tree species and wildlife in the area.
But even before the issuance of the proclamation, reports revealed that there were already illegal structures within the area.
Quarrying and logging companies were also reported to be operating inside the protected watershed, leading to massive deforestation and environmental destruction.