The Enforcement Division of the Environment Management Bureau 6 is validating a report that earthmoving activities are still ongoing at the palm oil plantation in Candoni, Negros Occidental.
Forester Vicente Losbañes, head of the Enforcement Division, said they have received information that despite the EMB Cease and Desist Order issued versus Hacienda Asia Plantations Inc. (HAPI), which operates the palm oil plantation, the earthmoving activities are still ongoing.
Candoni Mayor Ray Ruiz told DIGICAST NEGROS that during their monitoring, there was no movement of the company’s bulldozers. Only the cultivation of oil palms continue, Ruiz said, but he will also validate the information.
HAPI in a letter to Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson earlier assured that it would comply with the CDO and obtain an Environmental Compliance Certificate.
Losbañes said HAPI is already implementing appropriate measures to comply with the ECC but they should also pay attention to the issues raised by members of indigenous peoples.
EMB cannot release an ECC if the issue of the IPs is not resolved, Losbañes said.
He made it clear that the ECC is not a permit but a planning tool to ensure that the company complies with environmental laws.*