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Masungi to lose geological heritage if BuCor relocation pushes through - official

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Park rangers show visitors the landscape in Baras, Rizal from the “Sapot” at the Masungi Georeserve on Oct. 24, 2019. The conservation area was recently recognized for its sustainable tourism practices at the UN World Tourism Organization Awards last September. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/02/21/20191024-masungi-georeserve-md-0534.jpg"/><figcaption>Park rangers show visitors the landscape in Baras, Rizal from the “Sapot” at the Masungi Georeserve on Oct. 24, 2019. The conservation area was recently recognized for its sustainable tourism practices at the UN World Tourism Organization Awards last September. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — An official of the Masungi Georeserve Foundation on Tuesday raised concerns over the environmental effects of the Bureau of Correction&#x27;s plan to relocate its headquarters in Tanay, Rizal.</p><p>While they welcome a collaboration with the Department of Justice and the prisons bureau, the project should still ensure the protection of the area&#x27;s ecosystem, said Ann Dumaliang, trustee of Masungi Georeserve Foundation.</p><p>&quot;We stand to lose a geological heritage that has already been restored in the last 2 decades,&quot; she told ANC&#x27;s &quot;Rundown&quot;.</p><p>&quot;That it is a coarse formation, it’s level of importance. That it is a successful reforestation project that the civil society and the government has worked on is another.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/02/17/23/masungi-georeserve-foundation-kontra-sa-pagpapatayo-ng-bucor-facility">Masungi Georeserve Foundation kontra sa pagpapatayo ng BuCor facility</a></li></ul><p>Dumaliang stressed the Masungi is a unique landscape that is home to different forms of biodiversity.</p><p>&quot;The priority [in this] area should in fact [be] non-use. It should be [for] conservation and protection,&quot; she added.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2475297" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>Meanwhile, BuCor acting Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr said they are looking at other possible relocation sites for their headquarters and among them is the Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.</p><p>&quot;If a presidential declaration can be made, declaring some portions of Fort Magsaysay as a prison and penal farm, we would like to build there. Now, I&#x27;m faced with a bigger problem of what to do with our PDLs (persons deprived of liberty),&quot; he told ANC&#x27;s &quot;Headstart&quot;.</p><p>BuCor wants to meet with President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to iron out issues on their planned relocation.</p><p>&quot;Hopefully we will be able to have a meeting together with the Secretary of Justice, meeting with the President to iron out these issues,&quot; Catapang said.</p><p>BuCor is also looking at possible penal colony in Quezon Province.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m looking down south in Quezon also so that those who are from south of Metro Manila, they can also be very near,&quot; he said.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2475301" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>The DOJ has said BuCor&#x27;s plan to put up a headquarters and housing project in Masungi is not yet final.</p><p>But Justice Secretary Boying Remulla added there should be no problem as any construction plan on the protected area would respect the environment.</p><p>He has said the Masungi is among the options BuCor is looking into to solve the congestion problem in their jail facilities.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/02/20/23/pagtatayo-ng-bucor-facility-sa-masungi-pag-aaralan-ng-doj">Planong pagtatayo ng BuCor facility sa Masungi pag-aaralan ng DOJ</a></li></ul><p>The Masungi Georeserve is a protected area covered by a memorandum of agreement between the Masungi Georeserve Foundation and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2017 during the term of former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez.</p><p>But BuCor holds the land title to 270 hectares to the property after it was identified by a presidential proclamation of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a relocation site of the New Bilibid Prison.</p><p>Environmental groups are concerned that BuCor&#x27;s plan could damage limestone formation and other natural resources in the area.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/02/18/23/bucor-plan-to-build-facility-in-masungi-georeserve-draws-flak">BuCor plan to build facility in Masungi Georeserve draws flak</a></li></ul>

A Masungi Georeserve Foundation trustee raised concerns over the environmental effects of BuCor's plan to relocate its headquarters in Tanay.