UNCONSTITUTIONAL DEAL

According to Environment Legal Affairs Service Director Norlito Eneran, they have already made a recommendation to Environment Secretary Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga to cancel the 2017 MOA between the late former DENR Secretary Gina Lopez and the Masungi Georeserve Foundation, Inc. (MGFI).

Eneran said that the 2017 deal "for the conservation of 2,700 hectares of forested land in Rizal" could not possibly supersede existing laws protecting the local indigenous people belonging to the Dumagat-Remontado tribe from being evicted "in the name of reforestation."

Perpetual Contract

In pushing for the cancellation of the MOA, Eneran hinted at the provisions of the agreement as unconstitutional.

“We have already submitted our report. We found out that there is indeed a violation of the provision of the 1987 Constitution on the period of the 2017 MOA,” Eneran told the House Committee on Natural Resources, investigating alleged unauthorized and unlawful activities at the Masungi Georeserve.

“There is already a recommendation for the cancellation of the 2017 MOA,” he added, noting that the sitting DENR chief has the authority to unilaterally cancel the contract.

The agreement states that the project shall be constituted as a “perpetual land trust for conservation subject to law” and that “Masungi will be trustee and shall continue to so for as long as there is no neglect or violation of the agreement."

Even the Department of Justice believes that the MOA between Gina Lopez (in her capacity then as DENR Secretary) and Masungi is illegal.

“The Department of Justice has already made a formal opinion – that this contract of 99 years is unconstitutional,” Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla said.

Helpless Dumagats

The NCIP also accused MGFI of displacing indigenous peoples from the localities of Antipolo, Baras and Tanay.

According to the Dumagat tribal leaders forming part of the Kaksaan Ne Dumaget De Antipolo Inc, the family behind the MGFI are forcibly driving them away from their ancestral domain for accusing them as land grabbers, squatters and illegal loggers who were also responsible for the floods that hit Marikina during the recent typhoons.

“Masungi, together with the military, are forcefully intruding into our property and fenced it off as part of the Masungi last October 2020,” tribal chieftain Ernesto Doroteo, said in the vernacular, adding that the place where they stand is what remains of their ancestral domain after being shoved away many times in the past by equally rich businessmen and politicians.

Enrico Vertudez, Kaksaan president, and Alex Bendaña, chieftain of the Dumagats, shared the same sentiment as they showed the map of their ancestral domain and the areas intruded and fenced off by Masungi, which includes their Sacred Grounds.

Just Gina Lopez

DENR Calabarzon Regional Director Nilo Tamoria, in his capacity as resource person, said that the DENR-MGFI agreement was limited to the late former environment secretary Gina Lopez.

“We were not even made aware about the MOA being drafted and that Lopez has already entered into an agreement with Masungi,” Tamoria said during the hearing conducted by the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

He went on to say that they were not asked by Lopez to give inputs as to the technical description of the area to be covered by the MOA.

“No record in the Region 4A and even in the central office as to the complete staff work regarding the formulation. We’re not aware when it was signed, and where it was signed,” Tamoria added.

The DENR regional director further admitted that the 2,700-hectare conservation area overlapped with a long list of existing laws and presidential decrees and proclamations.

“67% of the total area of the Masungi MOA is covered by the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title of the National Commission on Indigenous People. It also overlaps with the previous issuances.”

No More Delays

House legislators investigating the Lopez-Masungi MOA were convinced that the deal is illegal, citing the validity of the existing laws over just a "mere" MOA.

An obviously pissed off Barzaga then called on the DENR to cancel the MOA with MGFI.

“Magdesisyon na kayo. Huwag nyo na kami antayin. Kung tama naman ang desisyon ng inyong secretary, we will support you. ‘Pag mali naman, we will take the appropriate action,” Barzaga told the DENR.

Aside from the law protecting the ancestral domain, Barzaga cited the need for Congress to repeal other existing laws covering an area “as big as Makati City.”

Among the laws Barzaga referred to include the proclamation for the training camp of the Special Action Force of the PNP, Proclamation 1158 designating a place for the Masungi Karst, PD 324 which excluded farmlands from the Marikina Watershed Area and that of an executive order reserving an area for the New Bilibid Prison.

Earlier this year, the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) sent personnel to Masungi Georeserve to survey the area for a planned facility in the protected ecotourist destination.

Gov’t Gains Nothing

MGFI has been operating, offering and collecting as much as P155,000 for an eight-hour use of the Masungi Geopark for events and pictorials and charging P1,800 per head (for a minimum of five persons) as entrance fee to the visitors.

When asked how much share the government is receiving, DENR claimed that the agency doesn’t get a dime out of it.

Even the local governments of Antipolo, Baras and Tanay said that they have not been able to collect real property and even business taxes from MGFI’s revenue-generating ventures in the area.

In a statement, MGFI maintained that the 2017 agreement which granted it “perpetual land trust for conservation” is not against the law.

“Strictly speaking, the objectives of conservation activities will not allow development, exploration or utilization of natural resources. This is why MGFI forwards that the 2017 MOA should be read as an agreement for a perpetual land trust for conservation, and not a perpetual license,” it said in a statement.

MGFI also reiterated that it is involved in conservation activities, which is different from “exploration, development and utilization”.

“The Masungi Georeserve Foundation reiterates its stand that, pursuant to the principles of the parol evidence rule, the 2017 MOA should be read in its entirety, and should not be reduced to a single phrase, i.e., “perpetual land trust,” it said.

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