Usufruct contracts of Ipo settlers questioned

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Elisea Gozun has ordered an investigation into the usufruct contracts issued to some 47 individuals, allowing them to occupy areas in the watershed of Ipo Dam in Bulacan.

Gozun directed the Forest Management Bureau (FMB) to immediately review and evaluate the contracts.

She fears that the settlers might contaminate the water in Ipo Dam, which serves as the impounding reservoir of water coming from the Angat Dam, which supplies water to Metro Manila.

Gozun also directed the Central Luzon (Region 3) office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to discuss the matter with the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS).

This, after MWSS Administrator Orlando Hondrade requested the DENR to rescind the usufruct contracts, saying the continued stay of the 47 individuals and their families in the watershed might pose a threat to the Ipo Dam water due to improper sanitation practices.

"The FMB’s evaluation will determine whether the MWSS request warrants approval," she said.

In a report to Gozun, DENR-Region 3 executive director Regidor de Leon, however, said that under the agreement, the usufruct contract holders were strictly prohibited from using any kind of hazardous chemicals that could contaminate the water at Ipo Dam.

De Leon said the usufruct contract holders have planted forest and fruit-bearing trees as stipulated in the agreement.

He said the 47 individuals are DENR employees who were awarded the usufruct contracts during the term of former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Antonio Cerilles.

Under the contracts, they may stay in the area for 25 years or even more since the agreements may be renewed.

The usufruct contracts cover a total of 164 hectares in the watershed.

"The structures reportedly found in the area are not permanent dwellings, but only temporary, makeshift huts used by the caretakers assisting the usufruct contractors in developing the area," De Leon said.

De Leon also reported to Gozun that the 10 slash-and-burn tillers (kaingineros), who were found living in the area some years back, are now actively helping the DENR reforest the area, having been trained in nursery and tree plantation.

But besides risking the dam water due to improper sanitation, Honrade said the usufruct contracts should be immediately terminated because of the following reasons:

• The Ipo watershed is a protected area, and thus, should not be inhabited;

• Fruit-bearing trees, programmed to be planted, are not advisable since they are attractive or appealing to scavengers; and

• Degradation of forest cover will be high due to agricultural tilling, which will lead to soil erosion and siltation of the river bed and reservoir.

"The usufruct contracts should only be applicable to a watershed which serves as a source of irrigation, and not to a watershed which serves as a source of domestic water supply such as the Ipo Dam," Hondrade said.