Secretary Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga will expel forest conservationists from the Upper Marikina Watershed. She stated this at the very Senate inquiry Wednesday on the neglect of protected areas by her Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources.
The 40,000-hectare public domain is ten times larger than Manila. President Marcos Sr. proclaimed in 1975 the Busuanga Pasture Reserve off limits to hunting, settlement, agriculture, commerce and industry. No portion may be sold or given away. As such, she defends the Yulo family’s private interest. Yet DENR secretaryship requires her to enforce environment laws, including those on protected areas.
Noli de Castro interviewed Palawan officials on Monday in his program Kabayan on Teleradyo Serbisyo 630. Coron Mayor Mario Reyes Jr. was but a lad when Marcos issued Proclamation 1387. But he recalled his father saying they lost their farmland to it. He has a child photo with his mom beside YKR cattle.
A dozen swimming pool resorts operate without business permits in the portion of Baras town. DENR officials claim to have ordered their closure, but look the other way as the resorts continue to divert rivers into swimming pools and accept customers. A police general provides goons who maul Masungi park rangers.
In October 2023, Yulo-Loyzaga launched in Rizal her Transdisciplinary Approach for Resilience and Environmental Sustainability through Multi-stakeholder Engagement . Masungi trustees, watershed NGOs and indigenous tribe leaders were uninvited. For the past several weeks, Beijing has making hay over the supposed “official commitment” of the Philippine government to tow BRP Sierra Madre out of the Ayungin Shoal.
Thanks to the propensity of many people to post anything and everything about themselves on social media, Filipinos can get a glimpse of what our government officials are doing when our taxes send them overseas on...