MASUNGI GEORESERVE operator Blue Star Construction & Development Corp. urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Tuesday to reconsider its eviction order and resolve matters via dialogue, asserting that its 2002 contract with the government complies with procurement law.

In a statement, Blue Star added that it is not responsible for failing to build 5,000 housing units, citing an unresolved squatter problem.

“To date, the contractual project timeline has not commenced due to the DENR’s inability to clear the site of illegal occupants and claimants,” it said.

The DENR on March 7 canceled its 2002 supplemental agreement with Blue Star, citing the company’s alleged failure to execute the housing project and calling the deal illegal. It also ordered the company to vacate its 300-hectare site within the georeserve.

Blue Star said it formally received the notice of cancellation and eviction on March 17.

Blue Star said the 2002 contract explicitly states that the project will begin 15 days from DENR’s delivery of land free from encumbrances and adverse claims, “conditions essential for peaceful, safe and lawful project implementation.”

“These safeguards were specifically designed to prevent the setbacks encountered in the previous, similarly encumbered site.”

Blue Star signed a joint venture agreement with the DENR in 1997 for the survey, design construction, development and marketing of a project called “Garden Cottages” on a 130-hectare government property in Tanay, Rizal, according to a DENR statement.

The DENR said Blue Star obtained a supplemental agreement in 2002 that increased its project area by an additional 300 hectares “despite no substantial housing units built on the original 130 hectares awarded.”

Blue Star reiterated that its Supplemental Joint Venture Agreement with the DENR in 2002 adhered to applicable government procurement laws. 

“Public bidding is not required for repeat orders or supplemental agreements within the original contract cost, as provided under Presidential Decree 1594, which governed procurement rules at the time,” it said.

“The reference to an expansion area of 300 hectares — compared to the original 130 hectares — is largely due to the presence of unbuildable karst terrain,” it added. “The contract value, not the land area, is the relevant benchmark.”

DENR Assistant Secretary for Legal Affairs Norlito Eneran has said the 2002 supplemental agreement is “now without basis” since the original joint venture agreement for the housing project was “never executed, and no bidding process occurred despite the five-year timeline.”

Blue Star said the 2002 deal is valid and enforceable, and “does not require the prior issuance of a Presidential Proclamation alienating Lot 10 at the time of contract execution.”

“The agreement reflects DENR’s express undertaking to enable such alienation. Any absence of such proclamation is not attributable to Blue Star but rather falls under the DENR’s purview,” the company said.

In 2008, Blue Star negotiated to exchange the unbuilt 5,000 housing units in the 130-hectare project site for only 145 housing units in a 1.5-hectare site in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

The Masungi Georeserve Foundation recently said the eviction order threatens not only years of forest restoration, wildlife protection, and geotourism but also the livelihoods of up to 100 rangers and their families. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza