Tribal leaders of the Kaksaan Ne Dumaget De Antipolo, Inc., cried foul over accusations, supposedly from the Masungi Georeserve, that the Dumagats are land grabbers, squatters and illegal loggers who caused the flood in Marikina recently.
Masungi Georeserve is headed by Benjamin Dumaliang, President of the Blue Star Construction and Development Corp,
“Masungi is lying. They were the ones, together with the military, who forcefully intruded into our property and fenced it off as part of the Masungi last October 2020. And if it were not for the help of Retired Gen. Luizo Ticman, we would have lost by force most of our ancestral homeland,” stressed tribal chieftain Ernesto Doroteo, a Bayaning Filipino Awardee in 2006.
Enrico Vertudez, Kaksaan president; Alex Bendaña, chieftain; and the security guards of the Dumagats corroborated this, as they showed the map of their ancestral domain and the areas intruded and fenced off by Masungi, which includes their sacred grounds.
Doroteo said that the Dumagats and Ticman, who owns the Rublou Group of Companies, a family-owned corporation, have long been partners to conserve and protect the environment of their homeland through livelihood projects, and now, through the latter’s daughter, Loise Ticman.
He said they formally approached Ticman last 2019 for more help in the sustainable development of their land, which resulted in the project called Sustainable Integrated Development Plan (SIDP). He added: “Gen. Ticman is a very kind and honorable man. We hope that there will be more like him in our society who treats us like his family.”
“We are seeking the help of President Duterte, the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to uphold the rule of law and not to believe the lies peddled by Masungi. We, as the legal and real stakeholders, are culturally and legally-bound to preserve and conserve our ancestral domain,” stressed Reynaldo Doroteo, chairman of Kaksaan.
The younger Ticman, Rublou’s CSR director and project director of the SIDP, explained that she has since took over in the projects for the Dumagats. The SIDP focuses on sustainable livelihood projects, reforestation, and protection and conservation of the environment and the watershed.
Then a police major in Rizal in the 1990s, her father, she said, was sought for help by the Dumagats. Through the years, they became friends and allies against land grabbers, intruders and illegal activities in the area, she narrated.
Atty. Juancho Botor, the counsel for the Dumagats, stated that charges will be filed against Masungi for forcefully and illegally intruding the Dumagats’ ancestral domain. He explained that a mere Memorandum of Agreement between Dumaliang and the DENR back in 2017 cannot supersede Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) Law of 1997 that protects the rights of indigenous people.
The Dumagats showed their certification issued by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). Under the same law and RA 11038, or the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS), the Dumagats are given the authority to protect, preserve, and conserve the forest and the watershed within their ancestral domain, he said.
Definitely, their ancestral domain is not and cannot be part of the Masungi, notwithstanding that the two distinct lands are bounded by a wide highway,” Atty. Botor said.
Published records showed that in 2016 the municipal government of Tanay ordered the suspension of the operations of the Masungi for alleged violations and over charging of more than 100 percent entrance fee to tourists and guests. It is unknown what happened to the order, while Masungi attacked the Tanay government, particularly its mayor, through postings that they are alleged protectors of landgrabbers.
On the same year, Masungi, led by Dumaliang, figured in a 30-minute gunfight with the elements of the Philippine Army’s 80th Infantry Battalion when apprehended for allegedly carrying firearms during an election gun ban. Dumaliang and his men were charged by the Army with frustrated murder before the Rizal Prosecutors’ Office.
The Masungi Georeserve said a statement dated October 30, 2020 (original story on Manila Bulletin, November 16, 2020) was signed by 24 tribal elders, chieftains, and officers of the Tribong Dumagat-Remontados ng Antipolo, “denying involvement in the deployment of armed guards by a private firm, which the company earlier claimed that the tribe asked for help in the deployment of security guards.”
The Dumagat chieftains denied signing such statement. Masungi Georeserve, meanwhile, have yet to issue a formal reply to the Dumagats’ claims.