DENR cancels deal with Socorro group, to relocate settlers from protected area

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Monday said it has canceled its agreement with Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc. (SBSI) in managing a part of a protected area in Surigao del Norte.

“Today, we serve the closure order to SBSI,” DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said in a press conference.

She said the DENR is set to have a meeting with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the provincial government.

“After this press conference, we're actually going to be meeting with the DILG and DSWD as well as the provincial government to finalize the plans for the reintegration and resettlement of around 1,425 households that are going to be affected by the cancellation,” she said.

According to the DENR, Socorro group’s Protected Area Community-Based Resource Management Agreement (PACBRMA) has been canceled due to the following reasons:

• establishment of settlement/residence in the protected area;
• establishment of checkpoints strictly regulating the entry of people;
• failure to submit monthly, quarterly or annual report; and
• establishment of infrastructures that are not in the plan like new access roads, basketball court, wave pool, recording studio, radio station, among others.

A PACBRMA is a legal instrument between the DENR and tenured migrant groups to develop and conserve a portion of a protected area for 25 years, the department said.

In 2019, the DENR started its investigation into the group due to violations of the agreement.

SBSI submitted its updated projects but the DENR rejected it due to non-compliance with certain provisions of the deal.

In 2021 and 2022, the DENR called the attention of the Socorro group on the recurring violations but it did not respond.

In September last year, the DENR said it has suspended its agreement with the SBSI in managing a part of the protected area in Surigao del Norte. It added that it was investigating possible violations of the group on the terms and conditions of the PACBRMA.

A Senate committee meanwhile conducted a hearing on the alleged abuse and illegal activities of the supposed cult SBSI.

Its leader Jey Rence Quilario or Senior Agila and three other members were cited in contempt after repeatedly denying that child marriages took place in their group despite testimonies by victims.

Senator Risa Hontiveros revealed in a privilege speech the existence of the supposed religious “cult” nestled in an enclosed and heavily guarded area at Sitio Kapihan, a mountainous portion of Socorro town.

Hontiveros said the Senate received “alarming” reports of alleged rape, sexual abuse, forced labor, and forced marriage of minors in SBSI.

The group was a people’s organization with 3,560 members including 1,587 children, according to Hontiveros.

Meanwhile, the DENR said it is reviewing its 131 deals in 36 protected areas in the country. The DENR is expecting that more agreements will be canceled after the review. —KG, GMA Integrated News