• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau Region 6 (EMB-6) is validating reports on the continued earth-moving activities at the palm oil plantation in Candoni, Negros Occidental despite the issuance of a cease and desist order.
Vicente Losbañes, head of EMB-6 Enforcement Division, said on Thursday (June 26) that a team was already formed to validate the information sent to them.
The management of project proponent Hacienda Asia Plantations Inc. earlier assured Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson that they will stop earth-moving activities and will comply with the requirements to secure an environmental compliance certificate.
Losbañes said they cannot issue an ECC until the complaint of the indigenous peoples (IPs) regarding the ancestral domain is settled.
The palm oil plantation project covers 6,652 hectares, with sites in barangays of Gatuslao and Agboy.
The IPs have claimed that the 1,000 hectares of the plantation are part of their ancestral domain. | GB
