Senator Raffy Tulfo lamented several structures that are also built in the protected area of Mt. Apo in Davao City.

In his privileged speech during the Senate’s plenary session on Monday night, Tulfo expressed alarm over the existence of resorts situated outside Mt. Apo’s buffer zones.

“When it comes to the environment and our natural resources, we have to remember that we cannot turn back time,” he said.

Tulfo lambasted the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) for allowing the construction of the establishments in the area “instead of coming up with measures to protect Mt. Apo.”

Citing the statements of several mountaineers that called his attention, Tulfo flagged the Twin Mountain View Resort, MonteFrio Resort, and Villa Recurso which are established within the buffer zones of Mt. Apo National Reserve in the Digos City.

“I am concerned about this because just last year President Bongbong Marcos ordered the preservation of Mt. Apo as it vies for its inclusion in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) list of World Heritage Sites. This statement of President BBM was sometime in October 2023,” Tulfo said.

According to Tulfo, the PAMB called for a meeting in November last year to “supposedly address the construction of structures without permits in the Multiple Use Zones of Mt. Apo and look into the decline in the forest cover.”

“Ang tanong ko, paano nakalusot itong mga illegal structures? (The question is, how did the illegal structure get through it?),” he asked.

Tulfo criticized the PAMB for only implementing “band-aid solutions” to resolve the mess of environmental violators.

According to Tulfo, PAMB chairperson Merceded Dumagan told him that the agency is implementing a two-year phase-out of illegal structures and occupants in the identified Strict Protection Zone within the declared protected area.

In 2018, he said, the Protected Area Superintendent conducted a survey of illegal establishments in the area.

Tulfo, however, questioned the slow response of the agency over the violations, as five years later, the 2-year phase-out period has not yet been completed.

He also lamented the Mindanao Development Authority flagged illegal mining operations and illegal cutting of hardwood trees inside the Mt. Apo Protected Area in 2020.

“It was confirmed at that time that local officials, protected by some Army soldiers, were behind the mining and clearing operations of forest areas,” he said.

According to Tulfo, the clearing operations were part of the establishment of a banana plantation in the area.

He also exposed that the protected Mt. Apo was also subjected to conversion for settlements, water pollution, introduction of foreign exotic species, presence of large communities, increasing population, destructive and inappropriate livelihood, and poverty in the area.

“Ano ba talaga silbi ng PAMB? Bakit parang display lang sila sa mga protected areas natin? (What’s the real use of PAMB? Are they just a display in our protected area),” Tulfo asked.