AFTER prolonged deliberations over the agency’s handling of the growing controversy—and potential violence —in the land claims in the world-acclaimed Masungi protected area in Rizal province, the budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was approved by the Senate.
Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change, defended the proposed P23.13-billion 2023 budget of the DENR and its attached agencies at the Senate plenary session Wednesday.
This, even as Senator Raffy Tulfo also took the floor to raise concern over reports of roaming “armed goons” wielding high-powered firearms, “unlike regular forest guards” prompting a motion to create a task force to look into the matter.
Tulfo also admonished the DENR to more actively “protect the welfare” of indigenous peoples (IP) who were displaced in the continuing tug of war for land.
The Senate temporarily suspended its rules to allow Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga to directly respond to queries of senators on matters concerning not just the DENR proposed budget, but also the reported presence of armed men in the Masungi Georeserve.
Minority Leader Koko Pimentel and Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda also weighed in on the controversy arising from the DENR’s agreement with the Masungi Georeserve Foundation on the management of the ecotourism and conservation site.
Asked by Pimentel if it was the DENR’s official stand to void the agreement forged with Masungi Georeserve Foundation during the term of the late DENR Secretary Gina Lopez, Yulo-Loyzaga said it was DENR’s position, adding that a study it conducted showed the contract with the foundation was, despite the accomplishments of Masungi Georeserve in growing the forests, disadvantageous to government and legally infirm.
At the same time, the senators were informed that Office of the Environment Secretary got the lion’s share of the total DENR budget for 2023, with P17.94 billion while P2.328 billion of the DENR budget went to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).
The DENR 2023 budget pie was further divided into the following agencies: Mines and Geosciences Bureau (P1.25 billion), National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (P1.378 billion), National Water Resources Board (P142.72 million), and the Palawan Council For Sustainable Development (P87.87 million).
“We are hopeful that this proposed budget, once approved, will be efficiently utilized toward the conservation, management, development, and the proper use of environment and natural resources, which constitute the primary responsibility of the DENR and to fulfill the constitutional duty of the State to protect and advance the rights of the people to a balance and helpful ecology,” Villar assured colleagues.