BY JOVEN TUNGALA
Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga on Friday denied claims that her family owned the 40,000 hectares of land ranch in Palawan, which was allegedly attained through land grabbing.
In a statement, Yulo-Loyzaga stressed that her family does not intend to own the land, which falls within a protected area.
“I wish to clarify that the Busuanga Pasture Reserve has always been government-owned. The Yulo family has never owned this land and has no interest in owning it,” she said.
“Neither are we a party to the negotiations being undertaken by the Department of Agrarian Reform for its utilization or distribution,” she added.
By addressing the issue, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources chief expressed her hope that the allegations against her and her family would be resolved.
“I hope that this puts to rest all false allegations that came out only after I joined the DENR and started cleaning up the place to make sure only public interest prevails and is served,” she said
Earlier, Senator Raffy Tulfo questioned Yulo-Loyzaga’s ability to lead the DENR through his Senate Resolution No. 985.
Tulfo stressed that the allegations of the Secretary’s conflict of interest, involving her family’s ownership of about 40,000 hectares of forests and ancestral domains in the towns of Coron and Busuanga in Palawan, “potentially compromise the objectives of the department tasked with enforcing laws regarding protected areas.”
According to the article published by the Philippine Star, Yulo’s family owned the said land in Palawan which they called Yulo King Ranch.
In 1975, then President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. issued Presidential Proclamation No. 1387 declaring a 40,000 hectares land area in Busuanga and Coron as pasture reserve — a protected area owned by the state. But one year later, in 1976, the Yulos allegedly obtained said property.
The YKR has been branded “the largest agrarian anomaly.”
Every year, from 2015 until now, hundreds of farmers hold a protest in Palawan as they request that the small 900 hectares of land which is part of YKR be distributed and shared with them so that they can use and benefit from it.
Citing Section 8 of the Republic Act No. 11038 or the E-NIPAS Act of 2018, Tulfo questioned Yulo’s ability to lead the DENR. He also questioned the latter’s position on structures erected in protected areas.
“The question from environmentalists is, why do we declare areas as protected if they can later be used for resort development, with the DENR’s justification being for job creation? They also point out that the Philippines is vast and there are other places where resorts can be built that would also create jobs,” he said.
