P5B Japan ship-recycling plant project in Negros Occ hits snag
BACOLOD CITY — The proposed establishment of a P5billion Japanese shipbuilding recycling facility of Japanese firm Tsuneishi Heavy Industries at Barangay Bacuyangan in Hinobaan, Negros Occidental got stalled, after it was found out that a portion of its site, has been covered by the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.
Initially, the Negros Occidental provincial government allocated P20 million for the relocation of 249 affected families, while the Hinobaan municipal government already passed an ordinance reclassifying the 282-hectare proposed site of the plant, from agricultural to an industrial area.
But environmentalist Green Alert group and Save Hinobaan Movement— consisting of progressive people’s organizations—have opposed to the construction of the shipbuilding facility, insisting that it will destroy the environment and displace residents in the area, who are depending on fishing and farming as their livelihood.
Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said local officials of the Department of Agrarian Reform are answerable for covering a section of an industrial area in Hinobaan, Negros Occidental, which are under CARP, but is subject to eñpropriation proceedings by the provincial government.
Marañon said the property in question is formerly the site of the Insular Lumber Company (ILCO), thus an industrial area, not an agricultural land, and not subjected to CARP.
The governor said the local DAR officials knew the province filed expropriation proceedings, but they went ahead with their move of putting the land under CARP, which is against the law.
The Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Office-Negros Occidental had earlier informed the Provincial Board that about 122 hectares of the property has been covered by CARP and it has already distributed 44.23 hectares to agrarian beneficiaries.
Hinobaan Mayor Ernesto Estrao said they have already acquired land for the relocation of the affected families at the border of Barangays Poblacion 1 and 2, and Bacuyangan, which is near their original place. He added that the P5 billion project is eñpected to generate at least 6,000 jobs.
Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, who met Wednesday the representatives of Green-Alert, Save Hinobaan Movement and Defend Patrimony groups, said the Provincial Board is not yet ready to act on the reclassification of a 282-hectare property from agricultural to industrial in Hinobaan, which will be used as the site of the Japanese ship-recycling facility.
Lacson said they assured those who are opposing the proposed project that the PB will continue its dialog to hear the sentiments of stakeholders, especially those who will be affected by it.
Green Alert-Negros coordinator Randy James Rojo said it was agreed during the dialog that there will be no development in the area, until the issue is resolved.
Jimwell Cañedo of the Save Hinobaan Movement said they also requested the PB not to concur with the Hinobaan municipal ordinance. Rojo and Cañedo said they want a status quo in the place, and just maintain it as a farm and tourism site.