Senator Raffy Tulfo on Thursday called for a legislative inquiry on the implementation of the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System (E-NIPAS) Act over an alleged conflict of interest of the chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
However, Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga vehemently denied her family’s ownership of 40,000 hectares of land called the Yulo King Ranch in Coron and Busuanga, Palawan.
Tulfo filed Senate Resolution No. 985, saying there were multiple reports of illegal structures and business establishments in declared protected areas and conservation sites as he questioned the ability of Yulo-Loyzaga to lead the agency because of conflict of interest.
He cited in his resolution a newspaper column by Jarius Bondocalleging that Loyzaga’s conflict of interest involved her family’s40,000 hectares of land in the towns of Coron and Busuanga in Palawan called Yulo King Ranch (YKR).
In 1975, then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. issued Presidential Proclamation No. 1387 declaring the 40,000 hectares land area in Busuanga and Coron as pasture reserve — a protected area owned by the state.
But one year later, in 1976, the Yulos allegedly obtained said property.
According to the Bondoc article, the YKR has been branded “the largest agrarian anomaly.”
Tulfo noted that every year, from 2015 until now, hundreds of farmers would hold a protest in Palawan as they request that the small 900 hectares land that is part of YKR be distributed and shared with them so that they can benefit from it.
In his resolution, Tulfo cited as example the Captain’s Peak Garden and Resort which drew flak and public uproar, being nestled at the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, declared as a protected area on July 1, 1997.
Tulfo also said there were 97 operating establishments in Mt. Apo Natural Park, also a protected area.
According to the senator, at least 10 resorts and swimming pools continue to operate illegally in the Sitio San Roque, Baras, Rizal, inside the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape.
In November last year, it was discovered that a wind farm project was being developed by the Rizal Wind Energy Corp. owned by Vena Energy, on top of the Masungi Rock Formation, a natural heritage.
“These circumstances have sparked concerns and public outrage to the detriment of the protected areas from destructive human exploitation and to the extent of which environmental laws relating to sustainable land use are meant to be enforced,” Tulfo stressed.
Tulfo said Section 8 of the Republic Act No. 11038 or the E-NIPAS Act of 2018 provides that the DENR Secretary shall carry out the mandates of the law to take care of protected areas.
Loyzaga recently issued a statement saying the DENR does not intend to close down resorts built within the protected areas like in Mt. Apo and will look instead look for common ground, considering the workers’ welfare.
But Tulfo relayed the question by environmentalists on the need to declare a protected area in which a resort can later be built.
After Senator Cynthia Villar conducted her Senate Committee on Environment hearing last April 3, Tulfo said more people came to his office to report other protected areas that have been occupied by illegal structures, such as the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape and the Ticao Burias Pass Protected Seascape, in addition to Mt. Apo and Chocolate Hills Natural Monument.
The secretary, meanwhile, stressed: “I wish to clarify that the Busuanga Pasture Reserve has always been government-owned. The Yulo family has never owned this land and has no interest in owning it. Neither are we a party to the negotiations being undertaken by the Department of Agrarian Reform for its utilization or distribution.”
“I hope that this puts to rest all false allegations that came out only after I joined the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and started cleaning up the place to make sure only public interest prevails and is served,” she added.