Award-winning actor urges Marcos to protect Masungi Geopark Project
Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio has joined the growing calls for the protection of the Masungi Geopark Project, a conservation area located 640 meters above sea level in Baras, Rizal.
The area is within the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape. It is 51 kilometers from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
In an Instagram post on Thursday, DiCaprio urged Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to "intervene and continue to protect Masungi."
He warned, "This success is in jeopardy, as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources threatens to cancel the agreement that protects this area from prolific land grabbing activities."
The Masungi Geopark Project, located in Rizal province, is an award-winning conservation initiative that aims to restore a significant area of the Upper Marikina Watershed.
However, its future is threatened due to a recent announcement by the Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga that she plans to cancel the 2017 Memorandum of Agreement between the Masungi Georeserve Foundation and the DENR.
"This cancellation would set back the success of an internationally acclaimed conservation effort and leave the area vulnerable again to mining, logging, and illegal developments," DiCaprio added.
Earlier in June, over 10,000 Filipinos signed a petition urging President Marcos to protect the project. Masungi Geoserve
