For decades, the local governments surrounding the fragile Marikina Watershed have been playing blind to businesses that have been sprouting like mushrooms in that ecosystem. Not surprisingly, profits and tax revenues have been their priorities.
Now the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is set to issue 540 "show cause orders" to these establishments as to why they should not be stopped from operating.
As early as November 2020, conservationists have been noticing the presence of active charcoal pits in the Upper Marikina watershed, adding to the list of illegal and destructive activities that have been occuring in the protected area, the Inquirer reported with pictures obtained from the Masungi GeoReserve Foundation.
A total of 540 show cause orders had been issued against resorts and structures encroaching within the protected area of Upper Marikina River Basin, the Inquirer quoted a DENR official on Wednesday, August 7.
DENR Calabarzon Regional Executive Director Nilo Tamoria made the statement when ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro raised issues concerning large private land claims in the Upper Marikina watershed.
On August 3, 2021, the DENR regional office in CALABARZON stopped 123 illegal structures within the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape by issuing 80 show cause orders and 43 cease and desist orders against the illegal occupants, including private houses built along river easements, piggeries, resorts, camps and retreat centers, the Inquirer reported back then.
DENR Calabarzon Executive Director Nilo Tamoria warned violators of a fines of P5 million and jail term of 12 years for constructing and establishing structures not covered by the necessary permits under the National Integrated Protected Areas System and the amending law expanding its coverage.
With a total land area of over 26,000 hectares, the Upper Marikina watershed was declared a protected landscape in November 2011 under Presidential Proclamation No. 296. But even then, illegal structures have arisen within the area; quarrying and logging companies were also operating inside the watershed, leading to massive deforestation and environmental destruction. The result is that now even on clear sunny day, floods haunt Marikina City and nearby environs
Again this year, the DENR said it had issued 540 show cause orders for the different structures and establishments inside the Upper Marikina River Basin protected landscape,” Tamoria said during the House committee on appropriations’ deliberations on the agency’s budget.
“Out of the 540 show cause orders, 47 graduated into cease and desist orders, and 10 were filed in court,” he told lawmakers as he vowed to submit to the committee the actual details.
Tamoria explained that of the 540 show cause orders, some have legitimate claims covered by previous proclamations and dispositions.
Castro then directed DENR to submit a map and itemized inventory of all private land claims inside the protected area and identify the legitimacy of each claim based on existing laws.
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,
The proclamation bans all commercial and economic activities within the protected watershed.
The prohibition aims to preserve the tree species and wildlife in the area.
Unfortunately, even before the protected area status was issued, there were already illegal structures within the area and so with quarrying and logging companies operating in the area causing massive deforestation and environmental degradation.
In the hearing, DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said they identified 510 commercial structures within the Upper Marikina Watershed so far.
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