DENR misleads watershed claimants to believe they have occupancy rights under the long repealed P.D. 324, thus placards like this inside Masungi)

High environment officials are ignoring pleas to evict big-time landgrabbers from Upper Marikina Watershed. Instead they’re easing out protectors of remnant forests and 60-million-year-old limestone heritage.

Watersheds are off limits to commerce, agriculture and residence. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources must enforce that.

But in Rizal province’s Marikina Watershed, officials break environment and red tape laws and, consequently, public trust.

They abet quarrying, erection of mansions and picnic resorts, forest chainsawing, squatting and road paving. Deadly floods that those illegalities cause on millions of dwellers below mean nothing to them.

Congress and the ombudsman must censure their gross negligence.

Seventy scientists and academics, civic and youth heads, lawyers and artists begged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last June 5 to dismantle the land-grabbing gangs: “We call upon our leaders to intervene and help address the real problem at hand: continued watershed deforestation, exacerbated by unabated operation of syndicates.”

Only one-fifth of forests remain in the 26,126-hectare Marikina Watershed, they said. With adjacent 27,608-hectare Kaliwa Watershed Forest, “the two have greatest impact to the country.”

“Support the Masungi initiative,” they referred to a 3,000-hectare portion that a foundation has been rewilding for seven years. Masungi Georeserve Foundation (MGF), they said, has:

• “Rescued 2,000 hectares of forestland previously held by syndicates – not farmers or tribesmen as trumpeted by syndicates – and returned it to the watershed where it rightfully belongs;

• “Achieved the cancellation of large quarries threatening irreparable damage to the ecosystem;

• “Opposed encroachments by swimming pool resorts and land speculators, preventing further watershed degradation;

• “Thwarted five major forest invasions, covered by national media;

• “Convinced a claimant to return 165 hectares for conservation;

• “Rescued ancient Masungi limestones – a national geological and biodiversity treasure – and transformed it into a globally-acclaimed conservation model; and

• “Received in September 2022 the UN Sustainable Development Goals Action Campaign ‘Inspire Award’ out of 3,000 global nominees.”

On June 7 the Presidential Action Center referred the petition to DENR Sec. Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga. “Expeditious action is requested [under] R.A. 11032, Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, enforced by the Anti-Red Tape Authority,” Malacañang said.

MGF president Ben Dumaliang also wrote Yulo-Loyzaga on June 19. He recounted the serious mauling of unarmed Masungi park rangers by landgrabbers’ thugs in February 2022. As well, Yulo-Loyzaga’s press statement that she’s “reviewing the Masungi contract” by which predecessor Sec. Gina Lopez (now deceased) assigned the rewilding project in 2017.

Designate once and for all a DENR project manager, Dumaliang wrote. That’s to operationalize the Masungi oversight committee that the DENR secretary chairs, with MGF and an environmentalist as members.

Yulo-Loyzaga made Usec. for policy planning Jonas Leones reply. Leones in turn relayed the swimming pool resorts and road concreting issues to Usec. for field operations Juan Miguel Cuna. Cuna passed it on to the Southern Tagalog regional director in faraway Calamba, Laguna.

The 70 petitioners and MGF’s Dumaliang got no action.

On the night of Aug. 26-27 gunshots were fired at the Masungi park ranger stations. At daybreak several 9-mm and 45-caliber shells were recovered. Two strangers fled the approaching rangers.

Later that morning, a group of men associated with two known watershed land claimants entered the reforestation nearest the highway and toppled trees.

In another Masungi portion, titled to the Republic of the Philippines, a police sergeant continues to reside. This, in defiance of Interior Sec. Benhur Abalos’ barring of armed trespassers there in September 2022. A new structure is being built near one of a dozen unlicensed picnic resorts inside the watershed.

Dumaliang reported all these to Yulo-Loyzaga on Aug. 27. No action to date.

Certain DENR geodetic engineers, cartographers, technicians and lawyers have issued “lot surveys” to 30 land claimants inside the watershed. The surveys cover 1,774.71 hectares – 40,682 basketball courts, nearly half of Manila.

Using the surveys and backed by politicos, claimants sell or lease out plots. Two police generals have erected mansions. Picnic resorts divert river flow into swimming pools. All have no building or occupancy permits.

DENR officers falsely promise that special land patents will soon be issued under P.D. 324, October 1973. That P.D. previously excluded from Marikina Watershed 1,728.746 hectares of hillside Barangays Pinugay and Kayumbay in Teresa and Baras towns, Rizal.

But two subsequent edicts repealed P.D. 324:

One, The Forestry Code, P.D. 705, May 1975, that reverts as inalienable forest land all slopes 18 percent or steeper, except those occupied for at least 30 years. Since P.D. 324 was only a year-and-a-half old then, there were no 30-year occupants.

Two, Presidential Proclamation 1636, April 1977, “Declaring as National Park, Wildlife Sanctuary and Game Preserve” 146,310 hectares of Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna and Quezon mountaintops. No dwelling, hunting, tree cutting, commerce, destruction of vegetation and wildlife habitat disturbance. Covered were Marikina and Kaliwa Watersheds.

Still, DENR officers encourage encroachments.

On Oct. 6, 2022 Dumaliang already requested Yulo-Loyzaga to convene the Masungi oversight committee. The latter left the issues for Congress to act on.

“The department is currently preparing for these (congressional) hearings. We anticipate your cooperation and hope that the hearings will provide an opportunity to resolve any issues surrounding the Masungi Georeserve, if they exist,” Yulo-Loyzaga wrote four days later.

Mula sa bank robbery ay leksiyon sa negosyo

At least 30 individuals and groups claim ownership of swathes of Upper Marikina Watershed. Their claims contravene two laws that declare the area off limits.

The 30 have no land titles. Claims hang only on lot surveys issued by Department of Environment and Natural Resources officers.

The claims cover 1,774.71 hectares – 40,682 basketball courts. Nearly half of Manila.

Using the surveys, claimants sell or lease out plots. Two mansions have been erected, plus a dozen picnic resorts that divert river flow into swimming pools. All have no building or occupancy permits.

Forests were despoiled, roads illegally paved, decades-old trees chainsawed for construction materials, saplings slashed and burnt for charcoal.

Killer floods result from watershed denudation. Every year heavy rains and mud cascade down to Antipolo, Marikina, San Mateo, Cainta, Taytay, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Pasig, Pateros, Taguig and Quezon City.

Deluges collapse bridges and powerlines; submerge homes, shops, schools, hospitals, churches; destroy vehicles, furniture, appliances, clothing, personal memorabilia. Dozens drowned during 2009’s Superstorm Yolanda and 2020’s Typhoon Ulysses.

Certain DENR geodetic engineers, cartographers, technicians and lawyers issued lot surveys to the claimants between 1997 and 2004. Some are presently being updated. For how much, only they know.

Purported legality is Ferdinand E. Marcos’ Presidential Decree 324, October 1973. The edict excluded from Marikina Watershed mountainside portions of Barrios Pinugay and Kayumbay of Teresa and Baras towns, Rizal province.

P.D. 324 is defective. It spelled out the coverage: 17,287,460 square meters. Then it said in figures, “or 1,728,746 hectares” (Official Gazette). Wrongly the P.D. converted one hectare into ten square meters.

But a hectare equals 10,000 square meters. The stated coverage should thus be 1,728.746 hectares.

Two subsequent decrees repeal P.D. 324, moreover. The Forestry Code, P.D. 705, May 1975, declared:

“No land of the public domain 18 percent [10.2 degrees] in slope or over shall be classified as alienable and disposable, nor any forest land 50 percent [26.57 degrees] in slope or over, as grazing land.

“Lands 18 percent in slope or over which have already been declared as alienable and disposable shall be reverted to the classification of forest lands by the Department Head, to form part of the forest reserves, unless they are already covered by existing titles or approved public land application, or actually occupied openly, continuously, adversely and publicly for a period of not less than 30 years as of the effectivity of this Code.”

The Forestry Code invalidates P.D. 324 due to: (1) 18-percent topographic limit, and (2) reversion as forest land. The 1,728.746 hectares are on steep slopes. No title, approved public land application or occupant existed for more than 30 years because P.D. 324 was only a year and a half prior.

There’s also Presidential Proclamation 1636, April 1977. It declared as “National Park, Wildlife Sanctuary and Game Preserve” 146,310 hectares of mountains in Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna and Quezon. No hunting, tree cutting, commercial development allowed.

P.P. 1636 includes Marikina Watershed: “Destruction of any vegetation or any act causing disturbances to the habitat of the wildlife herein protected [is] hereby prohibited.”

Masungi Georeserve Foundation brought these up at the Jan. 27 hearing of the House of Representatives committee on natural resources. But some congressmen cut off MGF founder Ben Dumaliang, telling him to just submit a position paper. Rizal congressmen initiated the hearing.

Then DENR Sec. Gina Lopez had assigned Masungi in 2017 to rewild 3,000 of the watershed’s 26,126 hectares. It has completed 2,000 hectares.

Goons of the claimants, including two police generals, harass Masungi park rangers. Thugs maul and fire at the unarmed reforesters. Latest was on Aug. 26 and 27.

Four-fifths of watershed is bald. But in Masungi Geopark Project monkeys, wild boar, reptiles, rare birds and insects have returned. Over a hundred thousand native trees were planted. Experts recorded more than 500 species of flora and fauna.

Masungi has reaped global and national awards for environment protection. Officers Ann and Billie Dumaliang frequently are invited to address international forums on protecting limestone karst. Dumagat tribesmen in adjoining Kaliwa Watershed Forest hail their work.

But the 30 claimants, backed by politicos, want Masungi out. DENR offers no help to the earth savers, nor care for the yearly ruinous floods.

Mula sa bank robbery ay leksiyon sa negosyo

There’s cheap rice – in this PNA file photo, Mar. 2021

Rice officials are inept. Everyone but they knew that price control would trigger shortage. Forcible enforcement like jailing will only make poorer both ends of the supply chain, farmers and retailers.

Still they capped rates: P41 per kilo for regular milled, 25-percent broken; P45 for well milled, five-percent broken. At once palay farmgate prices collapsed and polished grains vanished from public markets.

Early harvesters were dismayed. In Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, traders bought their palay for only P20 a kilo instead of the agreed P25. That’s P250 suddenly lost per 50-kilo sack, or P5,000 per ton.

Retailers cowered. An assistant secretary had ordered: “Government asks you to sacrifice. You should help. From our computations, you can sell not at a loss, but no profit.”

Officials don’t know the numbers. Retailers get regular milled for at least P42 and well milled for P45 a kilo. They mark-up P8-P10 a kilo for overhead – helper, stall rental, utilities, plastic bags – and some profit. At government’s price, they’ll lose P8-P10 a kilo, or P400-P500 a sack.

Consumers lose too. There’s no P41 a kilo regular milled for sale. Perhaps there’s some P45 well milled, but mixed with 25-percent broken. For the rich there’s P62 a kilo special rice, but adulterated with five-percent broken.

Traders also are victimized. Their legitimate warehouses raided, they’re pictured as hoarders and price manipulators.

In government, the incompetent and corrupt are twins. After this price control folly will follow the racket – government-sponsored rice import cartel.

They did it with onion and sugar, from which they raked in billions of pesos. They’ll do it in rice, for billions more.

The country is short of four million tons of rice per year. A $10 kickback per imported ton spells $40-million loot, or P2.28 billion.

Plus, 10-cent kickback from the supplier per jute sack. That’s $8 million, or P456 million from 80 million empty sacks alone.

They’re setting the stage. The National Food Authority is shrieking that it has only one day’s buffer stock left. But that’s because it didn’t do its job of stockpiling local rice good for nine days. Now Malacañang claims that government must import for emergency.

NFA already did that last year, when it wanted to import in breach of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL). Despite its P7 billion for 300,000 tons nine days’ buffer, it bought only 140,354 tons good for four days, state auditors noted. Critics foiled its illegal import scheme through government-owned Philippine International Trading Corp.

Government crooks are ready this time. They’ll replicate NFA’s import modus prior to RTL prohibition. To make it look clean, they’ll again feign to negotiate government-to-government. But Vietnamese, Thai and Cambodian counterparts know the “kalakaran” (kickbacks).

Timing is perfect. Congress will adjourn Sept. 30-Nov. 5 for All Saints’-All Souls’ Day. During that break the Executive can slash rice import duties from 35 percent to zero.

Designated cartelist importers will look like heroes bringing in affordable rice. Imported Vietnamese 25-percent broken costs $628 per ton, or P35.80 per kilo; Thai is $607 per ton, or P34.60 per kilo (Food and Agriculture Organization update, August 2023). They’ll profiteer the difference between those rates and Malacañang’s P41 per kilo cap.

Same with Vietnamese five-percent broken at $643 per ton, or P36.65 per kilo; and Thai at $646 per ton, or P36.82 per kilo. Multiply their loot by four billion kilos (four million tons).

Rice officials make this plunder possible by ignoring warnings. In July-October 2022, Marcos Jr.’s first 100 days in office, world and local news reported the makings of a perfect storm:

Ukraine War, North China floods and Europe heatwave wiped out wheat and other cereal harvests, turning the world to rice. Drought scorched India, the biggest rice exporter. Those recurred this 2023.

China continued to divert Mekong River into 13 dams, choking Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia rice paddies. Russian aggression disrupted natural gas supply, main source of nitrogen fertilizer whose prices tripled. El Niño drought was forecast this 2023-2024.

Smart officials would’ve done the obvious. Strict collection of 35-percent rice import duty; no room for Customs “tara” (bribery) for under-declaring volume, price or type.

The multibillion-peso collection could’ve been used for farmers in the form of suitable seedlings, irrigation, cold warehousing and mechanized drying. Fertilizer import duties could’ve been slashed, while subsidizing local makers.

Yet what happened, farmers were left to buy the cheapest although inapt seedlings. With no drainage, irrigation flooded rice lands. With fertilizer thrice the cost, farmers planted only a third of rice plots. Costly electricity made cold storage and mechanized driers unworkable.

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Mula sa bank robbery ay leksiyon sa negosyo

Google Earth map

Pointless to speculate which of two pro-China presidents promised to remove BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. already rescinded such deal, if it existed at all.

Just drill oil and gas at Recto (Reed) Bank. Do it now, or suffer economic collapse.

Malampaya offshore gas field will dry up by next year; 2027 at the latest. It fuels 40 percent of Luzon’s electricity. With no replacement for Malampaya, Luzon will suffer daylong blackouts.

That’ll be disastrous. Factories, offices, shops, telecoms, trains, schools, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, cinemas, churches will close. No work or classes from home either. Foreign investors will leave. Jobs will vanish. Urbanites will flee to provinces for scarce food. Linked to Luzon, even Visayas’ power grid will be disrupted.

Recto has proven reserves. In 2013 the US Energy Information Administration estimated it to hold 5.4 billion barrels of oil and 55.1 trillion cubic feet of gas. That’s 63.5 times more oil and 20.5 times more gas than Malampaya, whose lifespan is only 24 or so years.

“We’ve long known that,” says Benny Gan, retired petroleum geologist of the Department of Energy’s precursor, Office of Energy Affairs. In the 70’s OEA explored Recto’s Sampaguita field, only 250 feet deep. “It’s the main study in a roomful of reports, photos and videos.”

Recto is 120 miles from Palawan, well within the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone. It’s 650 miles from Hainan, China’s nearest province, thus outside its EEZ. The Hague arbitral court affirmed that in 2016. China can’t claim it by imagined “nine-dash line.”

Although China snubbed the hearings, it’s bound by The Hague ruling under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Its state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. has no right to drill there.

CNOOC cannot subcontract to private exploration firms, retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio says. Shell, Occidental, Exxon, among others, are bound by international law, so will shun CNOOC.

The Philippine government has long awarded Service Contract-72, covering Recto. Manuel V. Pangilinan’s PXP Energy Corp. and subsidiary Forum Energy Ltd. are ready to drill.

Trespassing Philippine EEZ, Chinese gunboats chased Forum’s vessels away several times. In 2020 the Duterte admin contemplated joint exploration with CNOOC. Talks failed as CNOOC’s terms violated Philippine Constitution.

Forum remobilized foreign partners to drill. President Rody Duterte stopped it after receiving a call from Beijing, Carpio recounts. “Twice Forum lost millions of pesos in false starts. Let it proceed now under Philippine Navy protection. National survival depends on it.”

Beijing anticipates drilling resumption. Its naval and coast guard ships, reinforced by maritime militia trawlers, are massing up at Del Pilar (Iroquois) Reef at Recto’s westside. Same at Escoda (Sabina) Shoal eastside. It wants to drive away the beached BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal inside Recto.

Defy China. “Let’s do it the way Malaysia and Indonesia did two years ago,” Carpio proposes.

Beijing also claims Malaysia’s EEZ and Indonesia’s Natuna Isles. Invoking our Hague ruling as support, Malaysia held naval exercises with the US and Australia while drilling oil nearby. Indonesia invited a US aircraft carrier to sail by while drilling in Natuna.

On both occasions Beijing shrieked about owning the entire South China Sea by historical right. Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta ignored it. They’re reaping benefits from their petroleum resources, Carpio notes.

The Philippines can install rigs while holding drills with the US Navy under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. As well, with the British Admiralty because Forum was incorporated in London. A petroleum-sufficient Philippines will ease world demand and prices.

Beijing will avoid military confrontation, Carpio calculates. An attack on Filipino government vessels escorting Forum drillers will trigger the Phl-US Mutual Defense Treaty. China Communist Party’s National Congress and Politburo have decided to take control of SCS by intimidation, not war.

“Oil and gas from Recto will save our economy,” Carpio says. “Let Beijing howl. We’ll have our fuel. What better way to assert our EEZ sovereign rights!”

Sampaguita field can pump petroleum via pipeline 150 kilometers northeast to Malampaya. The latter can in turn pump to Batangas in mainland Luzon via its existing 504-kilometer pipeline.

“If not for us circling Malampaya, China would have annexed it long ago,” a ranking PN officer confides. In 2020 a Chinese warship aimed weapons at a PN patrol there. “We’re ready to defend Recto too,” another admiral assures.

Upon operationalizing Sampaguita, other sovereignty measures can follow:

• Erect an Ayungin lighthouse to replace disintegrating Sierra Madre. The 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration of Conduct among SCS disputants bars military buildup. A civilian lighthouse is allowable, says geopolitics expert Renato de Castro, PhD.

• Sue China for damages at The Hague or the International Tribunal for Law of the Sea. The Philippines and Forum can compute opportunities lost from China’s menacing since 2007, says international maritime lawyer Jay Batongbacal, PhD.

• Exact recompense for China’s fish poaching and destruction of reef resources, like rare metals and new medicines, at Escoda, Del Pilar and Recto. Also, for concreting nearby Panganiban (Mischief) Reef into an island-fortress since 1992.

The late foreign secretary Albert del Rosario had totaled it at $662 million per year. Assisting him, marine scientist Deo Florence Onda, PhD, calculated the wrecked resources at $353,429 per hectare per year, based on the 2012 Studies on Global Ecosystems by Dutch firm Elsevier, world leader in scientific-technical-medical information.

* * *

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Placards express Mindoro Occidental residents’ woes, Apr. 2023 – PIA photo

Junk franchises of inept power producers and distributors. Oust electric cooperative mis-managers. De-monopolize areas of operation.

More and more lawmakers and local officials want those done fast. Constituents are fed up, they say. Despite lower demand post-summer, customers suffer hours-long blackouts, steep rates, poor service.

Leading the charge are Rep. Faustino Dy V (Isabela, 6th district), House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan (4Ps party) and Deputy Minority Leader Mujiv Hataman (Basilan).

Also Davao del Norte Gov. Edwin Jubahib, Bohol Gov. Aris Aumentado, Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Benitez and Nasugbu, Batangas Mayor Tony Barcelon.

“Stop abuses by electric cooperative officers,” Dy declaimed Aug. 8. “Stop their policies that bankrupt ECs and distress our people.”

Dy zeroed in on Isabela Electric Cooperative-1. Quoting the assistant general manager’s report to members, he said Iselco-1 collected P130-million “service fees” for late payments – without Energy Regulatory Commission consent.

ERC must make Iselco-1 refund customers the P130 million, Dy replied to interpellating Rep. Ramon Gutierrez (1-Rider party).

ERC in October 2022 halted the unauthorized charges. Iselco-1 in turn suspended mortuary, financial, livelihood and educational assistance to member-consumer-owners.

Iselco-1 paid P2 million monthly for three years for an info-tech firm’s unrendered services, Dy alleged. Another contractor is unable to deliver paid supplies and services.

Iselco-1 had P740-million uncollected consumer account receivables, Dy added. Plus, P69-million receivables unaccounted for. “If EC funds were not misused, customers would’ve received good service and Isabela 100 percent electrified.”

“Don’t let this happen in the 151 other ECs and distribution utilities,” Dy appealed to National Electrification administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda.

Iselco-1 employees’ monthly salaries are deducted P100-P500 for four years now without their consent, Dy said. Those supposedly went to a foundation of the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Associations.

Dy blamed politics. Philreca is affiliated with a party of the same name, led by Rep. Presley de Jesus, Iselco-1 ex-president and director.

In 2019, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Greco Belgica accused the party of exacting election campaign contributions from ECs. Then-NEA chief Edgardo Masongsong allowed EC boards to pass resolutions for the contributions, Belgica said.

De Jesus chairs the House committee on cooperative development and co-chairs the joint congressional oversight committee on cooperatives. He is vice chairman of the House committees on energy and on disaster management, and member of the joint congressional oversight committee on energy.

Isabela is part of Cagayan Valley Region, which has among the highest electricity rates in Luzon. Eastern Samar, from which Libanan hails, is part of Eastern Visayas Region, also among the highest.

Libanan has filed a resolution to investigate his province’s power crisis. He laments frequent outages and stiff rates of Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative Inc.

Basilan Electric Cooperative owes Petron P1.2 billion for fuel, Hataman stated in another resolution. Basilan island province suffers blackouts five to seven times daily.

Governor Jubahib accuses Northern Davao Electric Cooperative Inc. of negligence. Replace it with Davao Light and Power Co., he says.

Bohol province owns 30 percent of Bohol Light Co. Inc. Governor Aumentado wants it to grant more shares, lower rates, prioritize renewable energy and untangle “spaghetti wires” – or be replaced.

Mayor Benitez wants Central Negros Electric Cooperative Inc. to tie up with Prime Electric Holding Inc., subsidiary of Iloilo City’s More Power. That’ll improve Ceneco services and lessen charges, he says.

Mayor Barcelon wants Batangas Electric Cooperative-I to leave. Relaying constituents’ wishes to ERC and NEA, he invites Meralco to take over.

“How can livelihoods and commerce thrive with spotty electricity?” Rep. Zaldy Co (Ako Bicol) told Gotcha. “Agriculture can’t modernize, businesses can’t run, foreigners won’t invest.”

As chairman of the powerful committee on appropriations, Co says he’ll check the Energy Department’s power development plans for 2024. Co used to construct power facilities. He built for Antique province one of the country’s best, a combination of river hydro-diesel-solar plant.

Last April, Mindoro Occidental declared a state of calamity. Vice Gov. Diana Tayag deemed 20-hour-long daily blackouts a disaster.

Occidental Mindoro Consolidated Power Corp. could provide only seven of the needed 30 megawatts a day. It blamed delayed subsidies from National Power Corp., paralyzed by surging fuel prices. Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative had nothing to distribute.

NEA chief Almeda authorized Omeco to use two other power plants to cover the production deficit.

* * *

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            “Gotcha: An Exposé on the Philippine Government” is available as e-book and paperback. Get a free copy of “Chapter 1: Beijing’s Bullying and Duplicity”. Simply subscribe to my newsletter HERE. Book orders also accepted there.