BARELY three weeks after my visit to Masungi Georeserve, the foundation had to deal with hostilities from an armed group which claims they have legal rights to occupy the land. Last Sunday, September 18, we saw footage and photos of about 30 armed people occupying the side of the Maharlika-Infanta Highway in the outskirts of the Masungi Georeserve. Before I continue with the story, this area is legally protected from invaders, loggers and landgrabbers by a multitude of laws and agreements.

Presidential Proclamation 1636 enacted by President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. in 1977 declares this part which sits on 46,310 hectares of Rizal, as well as specific parts of Bulacan, Laguna and Quezon, a national park, wildlife sanctuary and game free reserve.

Presidential Proclamation 573 from 1969 declares the area as part of the Kaliwa Watershed Forest Reserve. The ecosystem and natural assets of this area must remain protected as they ecologically serve the needs of Antipolo City, Baras, General Nakar, Rodriguez, San Mateo and Tanay.

The Nipas Law of 1991, or Republic Act 7586, defines the management, scope and coverage of the National Integrated Protected Areas System, of which Masungi is a part. Under Section 20, squatting, mineral locating and occupying any land, as well as constructing any structure or fence and conducting any business enterprise, is prohibited.

In 2017, the Masungi Georeserve Foundation and the national government through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, then headed by then Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, entered an agreement for the expansion of the reforestation project. Under this landmark agreement called the Masungi Geopark Project, 3,000 hectares of degraded land was to be restored and reforested by the funds generated from the low-impact ecotourism experiences offered at the Masungi site.

I have been through both the Discovery Trail and Legacy Trail and it was an unforgettable learning experience for me and my children. They saw the degradation of the forest, largely from illegal loggers and poachers. But they also saw a lot of hope in the new native trees they planted themselves. The success of the Masungi Geopark Project has given the group a lot of attention globally — from National Geographic to Vanity Fair to the United Nations. There are collaborations with private sector groups and international agencies. My visit last week was to celebrate the Environmental Champions sponsored by the embassy of Canada in the Philippines.

Masungi has become the darling of reforestation success stories, to be emulated and celebrated in similar environmental crisis areas around the world. Despite all the high profile attention and support, Masungi continues to be threatened literally and figuratively. Last Sunday’s altercation between the armed “invaders” and the young foundation trustees felt like a Netflix crime series unfolding with a cliff-hanging he-said-she-said episode.

The Masungi Foundation said there were more than 30 armed people on site on September 18. On September 19, the Rizal Provincial Office issued a rather lackadaisical statement that said there were only six security guards from Sinagtala Security Service Inc. The press statement said Sinagtala Security were “posted in the said area through the instruction of Biatriz Sonquipal (claimant) and the main issue is the land conflict between Masungi and the alleged claimant.” (Rizal PPO PIO Facebook Page, Sept. 19, 2022)

A press statement from Masungi, dated September 20, said the “provincial police seemed to downplay the incident and frame it as a common ‘land dispute’.” However, at around 2 p.m. on September 19, another police unit found and confiscated several unlicensed firearms inside the camp of the invaders. This was witnessed by our team members and cannot be denied or covered up. For reasons still unknown, the invaders were not arrested for illegal possession of firearms for possessing and brandishing unlicensed firearms. At this moment, they remain encamped on Km 48.”

This is where Masungi is while I write this article. Yesterday, I met with Masungi’s president Ben Dumaliang and his daughter Billie. I expected to see a distraught and desperate pair as they asked for help to get the attention of President Bongbong Marcos, DENR Secretary Toni Loyzaga and Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos. But instead I was greeted by a gracious father and daughter who were prepared with documents, had urgency in their eyes, but were also used to dealing with these threats and abuses which used to be worse before.

The Dumaliangs and Masungi Foundation trustees are hopeful that the lowest hanging fruit — the lack of enforcement of existing laws, most of which President Marcos Jr’s father enacted himself — would be immediately addressed once any of them pay a visit to the site. The work is far from over. More varieties of native trees need to be planted and cared for. In Masungi, the model reforestation project, reforestation does not stop with a tree-planting event. Their forest rangers, biologists, tour guides, and volunteers continue guarding the baby trees.

Ben told me the Benguet pine trees in the Legacy Trail were planted by the former first lady Imelda Marcos. Before the reforestation project, the pine trees kept being illegally cut and faced near extinction on site. But since the Geopark Project of 2017, the rare Benguet pine trees have had a chance to propagate seedlings. Perhaps it is time the next generation of Marcoses visit Masungi to see one of the celebrated legacies of their mother and father.