DURING the Senate Hearing on the budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), we heard Sen. Cynthia Villar, who was defending the agency's 2024 budget, allege inaccurate information about the nature of the status of the Masungi Georeserve in Tanay, Rizal. Villar echoed the main allegation that was propagated by no less than many top officials of DENR, that the Masungi Georeserve Foundation Inc. (MGFI) tenure as land trustee is perpetual and therefore violates the Constitutional provision that sets a limit to private use of natural resources to 25 years, renewable for another 25 years.
I have already challenged this claim in this space and would again reiterate the basic inaccuracy and gross misrepresentation of the nature of MGFI's status. Item 7 of the 2017 memorandum of agreement (MoA) signed between DENR, through then Environment Secretary Gina Lopez and MGFI, clearly states: "It is the intent of both parties that the project shall be constituted as a perpetual land trust for conservation subject to law. Masungi will be the Trustee and shall continue to be so for as long as there is no neglect or violation of the agreement."
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