News Roundup 18 September 2022
Sep 18, 2022 • 4 min Read
‘This is an invasion’: Armed men encamps Masungi conservation site | INQUIRER.NET – A group of purportedly armed men has encamped in Masungi Conservation site since last week, allegedly planning “to take over huge tracts of land in the protected area” and sell them to third parties, the site’s management revealed. In a Facebook post, the Masungi Georeserve Foundation on Saturday said more than 30 plus armed men from a security agency have encamped on the roadside of Km. 48 of the Marikina-Infanta Highway since last week. “LET’S BE CLEAR. THIS IS AN INVASION,” the Foundation said in its post. “They arrived last week and continue to grow in number,” the post further said. “They reportedly plan to take over huge tracts of land in the protected area and are selling them to third-parties.” The armed men are still encamped in the area as of Sunday noon, according to Ann Dumaliang, National Geographic Explorer and trustee of the foundation. “Yes, they are still encamped there,” Dumaliang told reporters in an interview. The foundation pointed out that the area is part of Masungi’s conservation site, the Kaliwa Watershed protected area, and has been legally titled to the Republic of the Philippines since the 1950’s. “It is being conserved and reforested by our team under an agreement with the government,” the foundation said in their Facebook post. “This is a critical area for the wildlife sanctuary and the consequences of losing this area once again will set back forest protection and be a huge injustice to Filipinos,” they added. However, the security agency claims to hold a survey plan named after a certain Beatriz Sonquipal that was signed by a director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’s (DENR) Regional Office in the early 2000’s, according to the foundation. “Obviously, a mere survey plan is not proof of ownership,” they stressed. The foundation further said that the hired security men all also refuse to disclose any details such as their names and contact details “so that we might check the legitimacy of their claims and arrangements.” “If this is not shady business, there is no need to obstruct the verification process by withholding even basic information and avoiding accountability,” they said. Dumaliang said they already informed the DENR but they have yet to see the presence of DENR or police personnel. The Masungi Georeserve, which is within the rainforests of Rizal, is a 400-hectare land in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range. It can be recalled that last April, two forest rangers were injured after they were attacked by alleged residents of Baras, Rizal.
‘Some POGOs kidnap, kill own workers’ | PHILSTAR.COM – Some Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) licensed by the government are involved in illegal activities and reportedly kidnap and kill their own personnel to protect the business, a security official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it is not only clandestine POGOs that are involved in nefarious activities such as kidnapping their employees and in some cases, killing their own workers. “Yung mga POGO, sumusobra na rin sila (These POGOs, they are getting to be too much),” the source said in an interview. There was one case wherein government agents raided a POGO in Metro Manila to rescue a foreigner who was being held against his will by his employers. The official said they were surprised when they saw cell phones and other gadgets that the workers used for a fraudulent dating app, telecom fraud and identity theft. When authorities conducted a background check, the source said the POGO has the necessary documents to operate from the government, such as a business permit. Another legitimate POGO in Calabarzon detained one of its employees who wanted to quit. The source said that investigators are suspicious of reports that some of the POGO’s employees supposedly committed suicide by jumping from the building. “When the employee wants to quit, the management claims the employee committed suicide but they were reportedly pushed,” the official said.
Bigger price cut for diesel seen | PHILSTAR.COM – Motorists may see a bigger reduction in diesel prices than previously expected, as well as a slight rollback in gasoline prices this coming week. Unioil, in its fuel price forecast yesterday, said diesel could go down by P3.80 to P4.00 per liter, while gasoline could either have no price change or a rollback of P0.15 per liter. The expected decrease in diesel is higher than the earlier forecasted reduction of between P2.50 to P3 per liter as of Friday. As for gasoline, Friday’s estimates of industry players pointed to no adjustment to a P0.50 per liter increase. This would be the third consecutive week of rollbacks if the projected decline in prices of fuel products pushes through. Oil firms will announce tomorrow the final price adjustments, which will take effect on Tuesday. Last week, oil companies implemented a P0.45 per liter decrease in gasoline, P1.45 per liter for diesel and P1.70 per liter for kerosene. These has resulted in a year-to-date net increase of P16.50 per liter for gasoline, P34.80 per liter for diesel and P29.90 per liter for kerosene, based on data from the DOE.
