NEWS

By Marita Moaje | Philippine News Agency | March 21, 2025 10:10PM

Masungi Georeserve (PNA file photo)

MANILA – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Friday it would enforce an eviction notice issued to Masungi Georeserve developer Blue Star Construction Development Corp. after the 15-day deadline.

In a message to the Philippine News Agency, DENR Assistant Secretary for Legal Affairs and Enforcement Norlito Eneran clarified that only Blue Star is subject to eviction and not the Masungi Georeserve Foundation, Inc. (MGFI).

On March 7, the DENR announced the issuance of a 15-day eviction notice for Blue Star after canceling its 2002 supplemental agreement with the government housing contractor due to illegality, failure to go through a bidding process, and failure to execute.

“If Blue Star will not comply, we will implement the cancellation by informing the COA (Commission on Audit) and informing all concerned offices that the 2002 Supplemental Agreement is already canceled,” Eneran said.

In its letter to Blue Star owner and Masungi Georeserve proponent Ben Dumaliang, the DENR announced the cancellation of the supplemental agreement due to the lack of the required Presidential Proclamation declaring the subject matter of the contract for housing purposes; no document to prove that the proposed construction went through regular procurement or bidding process; and failure to deliver the 5,000-unit Garden Cottages housing project within five years from signing on Nov. 15, 2002.

Eneran said in 1997, Blue Star and the DENR signed a joint venture agreement to construct 5,000 housing units on 130 hectares of land in Tanay, Rizal.

In 2002, the contract expanded to include an adjacent lot covering 300 hectares through a supplemental agreement for another 5,000 housing units, and in 2017, another contract was made with the DENR but with a different entity, the MGFI, for the entire 2,700 hectares.

The housing project was intended for employees of several government agencies, including the DENR, Department of Education, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of National Defense, Department of Transportation, and the Office of the President.

“So those are the legal issues na ni-resolve namin (that we resolved), plus violations of the contract. One violation is that, as I’ve mentioned earlier, wala siyang accomplishment. Walang natayo ni isang housing unit (they had no accomplishment. Not a single housing unit was built),” Eneran said.

“Pangalawa is that instead of pursuing the housing unit, iba ang pinursue na activity, and that is the operation of the Geopark area. So, when they established the Geopark, may corresponding fees na sinisingil sa (Second is that instead of pursuing the housing unit, another activity was pursued – the operation of the Geopark area. So, when they established the Geopark, there were corresponding fees charged to the) public.”

Masungi Managing Trustee Ann Dumaliang called the eviction “unjust and reckless” and without due process, prompting them to seek Malacañang’s intervention to allow open dialogues with all stakeholders.

Eneran said the DENR welcomes dialogues but emphasized that agreements must comply with the law.

Source: Philippine News Agency

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