At the rate the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is being kept busy investigating incursions and illegal structures within protected parks and forests of the country, it would have little, if any time and people, left for its most basic mandate of overseeing the local government units in the country.
First, it conducted an ocular inspection with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DILG) of the numerous resorts erected and operating inside the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, then the Mt. Apo and now a reforestation area near the Masungi Georeserve – with police lands turned over to the henchman of an ex-police general.
DILG Secretary Benhur Abalos on Sunday checked the irregular ‘turnover’ of a police camp to private individuals within the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape – a hotbed of land-grabbing cases near the Masungi Reforestation area in Rizal.
The visit was meant to probe allegations, examine pertinent documents and adopt measures to address the issue in line with environmental laws and regulations, reported Business Mirror.
A report of the Masungi Georeserve, a private environmental group tasked with conserving the georeserve, the Regional Mobile Force Battalion (RMFB) and the Special Action Force (SAF) have left their station in the watershed and handed over the command to someone named Fel “Ka Piling” Denos, who is associated with a former police general.
The transfer was allegedly made without the necessary permits or official documents.
The Masungi Georeserve conservation group this transfer occurred amidst the intense public scrutiny on the lack of environmental protection and enforcement in protected landscapes like the Bohol Chocolate Hills and Mt. Apo in Davao.
Both cases are now being probed by the legislative and executive branches.
These lands had received eviction orders from higher PNP offices or property titles, which the foundation said the RMFB personnel failed to submit official documents like the order to vacate and related letters.
They claimed that these documents were internal and could not be shown. The foundation raised concerns that the area has a history of land grabbing and illegal sale of forest lands despite legal prohibitions and previous directives from DENR secretaries to hall illegal activities.
The foundation said its rangers and indigenous people remain vigilant. The military also responded to the alarm and showed support as a preventive measure against potential escalations or unlawful activities.
The foundation praised the IPs, the rangers and the military for their proactive stance in safeguarding environmental conservation.
As to the Chocolate Hills issue, Abalos said, they have gathered enough evidence for investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman against those who have issued a permit to build structures in the protected park, on the basis of a resolution by the Protected Areas Management Board of the DENR, but without the necessary environmental compliance certificate from the central office.
#WeTakeAStand #OpinYon #MasungiGeoreserve #DILG