DENR moved too slow to suspend land deal with Socorro ‘cult’ — senators

MANILA, Philippines — Senators leading a probe into an alleged “cult” in Socorro town, Surigao Del Norte lamented the delay in which the Department of Environment and Natural Resources revoked its land agreement with the group despite discovering the area had checkpoints and military training as early as 2019.

During the Senate’s budget deliberations on the DENR, Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked why the agency did not suspend its agreement with Socorro Bayanihan Services, Inc. (SBSI) four years ago despite initial findings that SBSI violated the terms and conditions of the Protected Area Community-Based Resource Management Agreement (PACBRMA).

A PACBRMA is a protected area agreement between the DENR and tenured migrant groups to develop and conserve a portion of a protected area for 25 years. This legal instrument allowed the Socorro group — which currently faces accusations of child abuse and rape — to have had control over 353 hectares of land in Socorro since 2004.

DENR has now temporarily revoked this agreement with SBSI, with DENR Chief Toni Yulo-Loyzaga confirming that the suspension order was served to the group in person Tuesday night.

"Why did it take four years? I mean a long time to suspend the PACBRMA of SBSI?" Hontiveros said.

DENR CARAGA’s regional director, Nonito Tamayo, said that they postponed the cancellation of the agreement for "humanitarian reasons" after the onslaught of the pandemic, an earthquake and typhoon Odette.

“While we've been doing our monitoring in the areas, I must admit that for humanitarian reasons, we considered not recommending its cancellation. But then we wrote the letters twice in 2020 and 2021 reminding them of their obligations,” Tamayo told senators.

DENR’s investigation into the area in 2019 revealed issues with the Community-Based Resources Management Plan (CBRMP) submitted by SBSI for 2019-2023. 

DENR Undersecretary Joselin Fragada said a probe led by then-DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu with Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ed Ano found evidence of the following:

SBSI had repeatedly ignored the DENR’s orders to revise its CBRMP in 2021 and 2022, Fragada said.

Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa said that the DENR could