The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Saturday reiterated that the statement of account presented by the construction company that built the resort in the environmentally protected Upper Marikina River Basin in Rizal province has no legal basis.

The latest statement of account submitted by Blue Star Construction and Development Corp. (BSCDC) to the DENR, dated 11 April 2024, indicated the government had incurred more than P1 billion in arrears, supposedly for its failure to deliver land within the government’s territory.

The BSCDC cited expenses incurred from the DENR’s “unrealized delivery” of a 10-hectare parcel of land allocated for the National Bilibid Prison. The allocation was covered by Presidential Proclamation 1158, signed on 8 September 2006.

The billing cited legal, security, and miscellaneous expenses, damage incurred from the delay of the delivery of the lot, and even a monthly rental of P100,000 paid to a “professional squatter.” The statement also indicated that the expenses were incurred starting in June 2018.

A DENR investigation committee formed in 2019 to look into the contracts found the billings by Blue Star unwarranted.

“The contracts entered into by BSCDC had legal infirmities ranging from unlawful excise of land for housing purposes in a national park to the award of contracts without a bidding,” the investigation committee said.

Same owners

According to DAILY TRIBUNE sources, there were three previous contracts before the one with Secretary Lopez.

“And Sec. Lopez signed with Masungi Foundation, not Blue Star. But both companies have the same owners.”

In 1997, Blue Star entered into a joint venture agreement with the DENR to develop and operate Garden Cottages. In 2002, 300 hectares were added to the JVA through a Supplemental Agreement. A memorandum of agreement in 2008 followed to offset the houses built by Blue Star in Dasmariñas City, Cavite, from the agreed 5,000-unit Garden Cottages intended for Rizal province.

“The land is government owned and in a protected area, unlike Captain’s Peak (the controversial resort in Bohol), which was in an alienable and disposable land and his 6 hectares were previously titled,” said the sources, who requested anonymity.

“Actually, the story is that they don’t have permits and a legal contract; they are still charging for it,” they added.

The most recent of a series of questionable contracts involving the DENR was the Memorandum of Agreement entered into by the late Environment Secretary Gina Lopez and the Masungi Georeserve Foundation (MGF) on 25 April 2017 to protect the nature reserve and wildlife sanctuary.

The area covers 2,700 hectares in Antipolo and the towns of Baras, Tanay, Rodriguez, and San Mateo, all in Rizal. The memorandum of agreement gave MGF a “perpetual land trust” over the area, now a resort referred to as the Masungi Georeserve. MGF’s key officers and trustees are Ben Dumaliang, Ann Adeline Dumaliang, and Billie Dumaliang.

The Masungi Georeserve resort collects entrance fees from tourists — P1,500 per person on weekdays and P1,800 on weekends. It offers accommodations starting at P5,000 a night and hosts weddings and company events with rates starting at P120,000. The resort has a restaurant.

Tourists trek to caves, stone formations, and trails over rope bridges and a spider web-like elevated platform that gives a 360-degree view of the Sierra Madre mountain range.

Apart from this, the DENR investigative team cited several violations by the foundation. They include: No clearances from the Protected Area Management Board; No free and prior consent from the ancestral domain owners and the National Commission for Indigenous People; No Environmental Clearance Certificate; and No accreditation from the Department of Tourism

Masungi Georeserve resort is part of the Upper Marikina River Basin Watershed, which covers 27,980 hectares in Rizal province. It was declared by executive order of the American governor-general in 1904 and has since been covered by several presidential proclamations, republic acts, and administrative orders.

Challenge

Ben Dumaliang, president of Masungi Georeserve Foundation Inc., has challenged Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga to visit the site and point out the alleged resort and hotel or resign.