BARAS, Rizal – Flourishing forests, preserving ancient rock formations, and protecting more than 400 species of flora and fauna. Masungi Georeserve is indeed one of the last green frontiers in the Philippines, shielding Metro Manila from the onslaught of disaster.

However, the Masungi case is emblematic of what it costs to protect the environment and biodiversity in the country. It stands in the way of the greed of powerful entities and even the government itself.

“There are a lot of vested interests here, particularly powerful people. They are trying to block the restoration efforts because there is something else that they want to do, especially with the lands,” said Masungi Georeserve Foundation Inc. (MGFI) cofounder and advocacy director Billie Dumaliang in an interview with Bulatlat.

Masungi has been recognized as a protected area since 1904. In the history of its legal landscape studied by Antonio Contreras, it took effect when Executive Order No. 33 established the Marikina Watershed with an area of almost 28,000 hectares located in Teresa and Baras in the province of Rizal. It was later expanded to include parts of San Rafael and Wawa in Montalban.

In 2021, Masungi Georeserve won first place at the 2021 Water Changemakers Award for its efforts to protect and restore the Marikina Watershed Area from large-scale threats, and a special commendation in the 2018 UN Convention on Biological Diversity for its innovative approach in conservation financing.

Despite international acclaim and national recognition, Masungi’s defenders remain locked in a relentless struggle for human rights and environmental protection, combined with legal and political battle: a fight that has not only intensified public outcry but also fueled the urgent call to #SaveMasungi.

Human rights violations

“The threat is real, especially in the watershed areas that are literally holding the line,” Dumaliang said. She recounted her experience in responding to the violence their forest rangers had been subjected to. In 2021, two of their rangers were shot, one in the neck and one in the scalp while sleeping in their station. “It was pandemic time. We almost lost them.”

The forest rangers who survived the gunshots, Khukan Maas and Melvin Akhmad, filed a criminal complaint of frustrated murder against GSB resort in Sitio San Roque in Brgy. Pinugay, Baras.

“Until now, our rangers are still there despite the threats. It speaks about their resilience as environment defenders. We need to support them. Slaps suits, we have a lot, I have ten,” Dumaliang said.

The conservationists and the indigenous peoples-forest rangers are the first line of defense of Masungi Georeserve. They are, both in international and national terms, considered as environment defenders. However, the international organization Global Witness reported that the Philippines is the most dangerous country for environment defenders in Asia, with crimes and human rights violations involving killings and enforced disappearances. Moreover, the country’s deadly record for frontliners has been steady since 2012.

“We have to frame environmental issues as human rights issues. First, the people in the frontlines are severely at risk. We are still in survival mode but we need more than that. We need to thrive,” Billie added.

In the Philippines, the state of civic space in the country is rated as “repressed” by the international organization CIVICUS. The documented incidents include arrest and detention of environment and human rights defenders. They also cited the final report of United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Irene Khan, to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Environmental violations

The human rights violations are largely intertwined with the encroachment of the environment and Masungi’s conservation efforts. Threats, harassment, and violence have been documented by the group against their forest rangers, reportedly committed by resorts operating in Masungi’s assigned reforestation site.

Over 30 armed men were encamped along the Marikina-Infanta Highway, within the vicinity of the conservation area, on September 19, 2022. They were apparently employed by Sinagtala Security Agency Services which the Senate called on to probe the same year.

“The owners are businessmen and also former government officials, based on our information. One was formerly associated with DENR-PENRO (Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office), one is a celebrity coach, while one is a former general,” Dumaliang said.

Last year, the MGFI sounded the alarm over continuous operations of resorts. They call attention to two resorts: Erin’s Place and Lihim na Batis. These resorts are located in portions covered by the Upper Marikina River Basin. 

It further revealed that at least seven additional resorts and private developments have also been established within the 26,000-hectare basin, overlapping with their efforts for ecological restoration. The identified sites spotted and documented using a drone are Joeylot, Damun Bakery, Eastside Resort and Campsite, GSB Farm, and Bangui Farm.

“One more thing, it is not just the resorts, there are quarries that we had campaigned to cancel. They filed a motion for reconsideration, meaning, they still want to quarry, that’s why they persist in pestering us,” Dumaliang said in a mix of English and Filipino.

On August 6, documents given to Bulatlat show that Quarry Group Inc. (QRGI) and Rapid City Realty and Development Corp. (RCRDC) filed a motion for reconsideration with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), seeking to reverse the 2022 cancellation of their Mineral Production Sharing Agreements. The permits had been revoked after the DENR intially declared the companies “no longer operational since 2003.”

This confirmation, Dumaliang said, signals continued commercial interest in an area where residents and environmental advocates have long warned of the risks posed by extractive industries, which may further exacerbate the severe flooding in Metro Manila.

In a separate decision, the DENR also rejected a petition to cancel the environmental compliance certificate of the 603-megawatt Rizal Wind Power Project, operated by Singapore-based Vena Energy through its subsidiary Rizal Wind Energy Corp. (RWEC). 

The petition, filed by the Masungi Georeserve Foundation Inc. (MGFI), cited RWEC’s own environmental impact summary (EIS), which identified at least 18 bird species threatened under international conservation lists, including the IUCN Red List and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). 

Beyond biodiversity concerns, the EIS also flagged multiple hazards within the project area: soil prone to erosion, seismic vulnerabilities, structural weaknesses, and the risk of displacing both wildlife and human communities.

In February 2024, Makabayan bloc lawmakers called on the House of Representatives (HOR) to investigate alleged violation of conservation laws and ecological damage caused by RWEC in the Masungi Karst conservation area. 

“Recent drone surveillance has revealed drilling operations by RWEC, supported by Veena Energy, within the pristine Masungi Georeserve limestone formation, threatening the ecological integrity of the area,” the resolution read.

The lawmakers also underscored the prohibition of such commercial activities under the DENR Administrative Order 33 (series of 1993) since it is a protected area, as authored by former Secretary, National Scientist, and Karst expert Angel Alcala. This supposedly prohibited the quarrying and suspended applications for large-scale commercial or industrial developments within the vicinity.

“They (companies) even said they bought it, but that cannot be bought in the first place,” Dumaliang said, adding that the companies want the existing memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the government cancelled because half of it is being claimed by the quarrying companies. “We are up against powerful forces, and they are unwilling to let go.”

Niña Fegi, current coordinator of Panatang Luntian and researcher of Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC), said in an interview with Bulatlat that the protection of Masungi from extractive projects is crucial to protect and preserve the remaining flora and fauna in the area. 

“Here in the Philippines, we need an ideal forest cover of 40 percent. But right now, we only have 24 percent,” said Fegi in Filipino. “[Masungi] serves as our natural drainage system in times of typhoons. If we fail to protect the watershed, disasters will cause severe impacts in the communities. It is also near Metro Manila.”

Legal and political struggle

This March, the DENR unilaterally cancelled the 2002 Supplemental Joint Venture Agreement (SJVA) with Blue Star, founder of the MGFI, without consultation or dialogue. The latter was even asked to vacate the premises within a “non-extendible period of fifteen (15) days from receipt of the notice.”

In response, Blue Star stated in its letter that the original terms in the supplemental agreement could not be fulfilled because the DENR failed to make a delivery of their obligations.

“To be clear, DENR committed to deliver the area subject of the Supplemental Agreement (Lot 10) to Blue Star free and clear of claims, liens, encumbrances, and occupants, further agreeing that project implementation would start within fifteen (15) days from delivery of Lot 10 in that condition,” Blue Star noted, adding that they could not push through with the construction.

The letter also stated that DENR ignored repeated requests for assistance, including fully clearing the site and conducting a relocation survey necessary for Blue Star to proceed with the project. It alleged that 25 free patents were illegally issued—some overlapping the project area—yet only seven reversion cases were filed. There were also statements that DENR ordered the cancellation of two mining agreements located in the project area, but Blue Star is unable to confirm whether the cancellation has been, or can be, effected.

“Thankfully, we have been able to file a motion for reconsideration with the DENR. There is also a change of leadership in the agency. There has been a breathing room as of the moment,” Dumaliang said, allowing them to continuously operate while the appeal is ongoing.

This is only one of the contracts that the two parties have signed. There is a 1997 Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) between the DENR and property developer Blue Star, which was designed to deliver a sustainable housing project for government employees, mandating 70 percent green space and just 30 percent development, to curb rampant land speculation in the area. Blue Star secured the deal through a bidding process. 

The long-delayed government housing project at Masungi was stalled from 1996 to 2000 amid persistent conflicts with logging operations and quarry firms eyeing the karst limestone terrain. These delays cost the developer to lose its market opportunity. In 2000, the DENR formally authorized Blue Star to reorient its efforts toward converting, conserving, and rehabilitating the Masungi area into a conservation park—marking the start of a private environmental protection initiative in the region.

In 2015, Ann and Billie Dumaliang—daughters of Blue Star founder Ben Dumaliang—formalized their conservation push by creating the MGFI, positioning geotourism as a sustainable funding model for protecting the fragile limestone landscape. 

Two years later, with the backing of then-Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, the foundation signed a landmark agreement with the DENR to launch the Masungi Geopark Project, a bold plan to rehabilitate 2,700 hectares of heavily degraded watershed around the reserve. However, since there have been changes of leadership in the DENR, the sustainability of conservation efforts remains uncertain.

Community and solidarity

Community engagement and expressions of solidarity are key to pushing back despite the attacks. The campaign to Save Masungi has involved various sectors to intensify their information and education movement.

Panatang Luntian, a coalition of around 30 environmental organizations, is one of the networks actively engaging in the campaign. It also led the formulation of an 11-point environmental agenda in the 2025 elections which includes biodiversity and natural resources conservation. 

“The solidarity of civil society organizations and the communities directly affected by campaigns is crucial, because the key to winning these campaigns are dependent on the mass movement,” Fegi said. “It is their lived experiences, and the solutions we need also come from them.”

The MGFI has also been hosting educational trail visits for schools and academic organizations to involve the academe and the youth further in the campaign. Dumaliang added that it is the involvement of forest rangers, some of them Dumagat indigenous peoples, that remains their biggest community engagement.

“We are most proud of the forest rangers who have taken this as their own. In the discovery trail, the caves are named after the rangers. When they find other natural features, they take care of it. They’re part of the project. They’re not just employees,” Dumaliang said, highlighting the participation of forest rangers in the daily operations. “They have ownership in the work they do and their creativity.”

The supply chain also involves the local community. The food they provide inside the trails are in partnership with the local community in Baras and the seedlings they buy for the reforestation are from indigenous peoples of Rizal and Quezon. 

“I think sustainable tourism, if done correctly and responsibly, can create multiplier effects in the community,” Dumaliang said. Their current effort follows the UNESCO Geopark Model where sites and landscapes of international significance are managed with a holistic concept of education, environmental protection, and sustainable development.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said that environmental protection is a state obligation in the Conventions they ratified. Among these treaties are the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement. In the Philippines, all these legally-binding treaties are ratified so the government is accountable for the failure to uphold environmental protection.

Read: ‘Historic’ | World Court reinforces environmental protection as State obligation

“If we work together, we will have a stronger chance to fight off these things that we are fighting,” Dumaliang said. “Climate change is a human rights issue, what we’re trying to prevent is threatening all our human rights, our very existence.” (DAA, RVO)

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Disclosure: This article is written in partnership with the Trail X Change program of Masungi Georeserve Foundation, allowing the Bulatlat team to visit the conservation site and verify the ongoing efforts. Bulatlat maintains its editorial independence in writing this article.