While Masungi has been successful in raising public awareness about the dangers its workers and the protected area have faced, threats continue to persist. Read the NewsX report:
— Months before Masungi Georeserve Foundation forest rangers were shot in July, tension had already been in the air.
“I was told, ‘just go home, don’t work here or else your boss will find you stinking and surrounded by flies,’” he said in an interview, two days before colleagues Kukan and Melvin were shot. For eight consecutive years, the Philippines has the ignominious reputation of being the worst place in Asia for land and environment defenders, according to a Global Witness report.
The proclamation means the watershed should be free from destructive human exploitation. But by the time it was issued, structures had long been set up, while quarry companies had been given rights to operate in the area. “So when Masungi began their reforestation efforts, there were already built-up areas there,” said Aida Ceniza, UMRBPL assistant protected area superintendent.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau Calabarzon said the contract areas under the three MPSA were “established to be embraced by private rights.” In March, the Upper Marikina Watershed Coalition—a network of over 60 groups, including Masungi—urged the Duterte administration to rescind all MPSAs to halt destructive activities in the area.Masungi Georeserve Foundation, a private entity, is planting and maintaining trees in the protected area at no cost to the government in a bid to heal the watershed under the agreement with DENR.
“For rangers like us, we hope for protection from the government so we can conserve and save the watershed,” Policarpio said. It also seeks to empower rangers to carry firearms for enforcement operations and personal security, a proposal that environmental groups say could lead to abuse. Masungi workers do not carry firearms.
They just need to implement the law. It’s already there. They need political will to implement the law without fear nor favor,” she said.Olalia used to make a living by cutting down trees in Quezon province. The flash floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Depression Winnie, which swamped his hometown Real as well as neighboring Infanta and General Nakar and killed more than 1,500 people in 2004, forced him to move to neighboring Rizal.
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