CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan — Major Gen. Felimon Santos, commander of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, has ordered an investigation on the presence of an armed group reportedly harassing volunteer Dumagat forest rangers within the Angat watershed in Bulacan.
The area is under the jurisdiction of the 48th Infantry Battalion of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.
Santos instructed soldiers in Bulacan to locate a certain Rey Alcaraz who led a group of men that introduced themselves as members of the Philippine Army and Marines, and allegedly armed with pistols in threatening volunteer forest guards and Dumagat families living at the Punduhan ng mga Dumagat Resettlement in Sitio Suha, Barangay San Mateo in Norzagaray town.
Bro. Martin Francisco, chairperson of the Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society Inc. (SSMESI), reported to Santos that Alcaraz’s group threatened the Dumagat families in the settlement, which is being used as base camp for SSMESI Sagip Forest Guards composed mostly of Dumagat people.
SSMESI and its forest rangers are part of the provincial anti-illegal logging task force that successfully confiscated illegally cut lumbers and apprehended several illegal loggers within the Angat watershed in four operations since January this year.
The Army general said Francisco reported to him that the armed men were in civilian clothes.
The harassment was brought about by a land dispute that was reportedly being claimed by the armed group.
The Army general advised Francisco to file charges against Alcaraz and his group.
An SSMESI volunteer forest guard was also manhandled after he was caught by the group documenting the incident in his cellular phone and forcefully deleted the pictures and videos that were taken, Francisco said.
He added that the group also destroyed the electrical wirings on the anti-illegal logging monitoring perimeter security that was donated to the provincial anti-illegal logging task force, of which the SSMESI and its forest guards were members.
Francisco said that the land of the Punduhan ng mga Dumagat was situated within the Angat Watershed under Presidential Decree 599 and was awarded by the National Power Corp. to SSMESI under a memorandum of agreement in 2014 not only as a reforestation site but also as a center of assistance for the Dumagat indigenous people. (Manny Balbin/PNA)
