• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Multi-sectoral groups are calling for the cancellation of the Integrated Forest Management Agreement (IFMA) between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Hacienda Asia Plantations Inc. (HAPI) in Candoni, Negros Occidental.
The Negrosanon Initiative for Climate and the Environment (NICE) said Aug. 27 that the call was made by civil society organizations, church leaders, indigenous groups, environmental advocates, and affected local communities during the “Promises vs. Reality: A Public Forum on the Social and Environmental Impacts of the Palm Oil Plantation in Candoni”, Aug. 26 at Vianney Hall of San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod.
Noel Aguirre of N. Aguirre Business Consultancy Services, who prepared the project description for HAPI’s environmental compliance certificate (ECC) application, earlier said that the company has been issued an IFMA by the DENR on Oct. 14, 2009.
The IFMA grants HAPI the “rights to manage 6,652.30 hectares of forest land in barangays Gatuslao and Agboy in Candoni, Negros Occidental for 25 years, with a possible extension”, Aguirre said in his letter to Atty. Ramar Niel Pascua, regional director of the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau Region 6, dated June 17, 2025.
The project area is characterized by forested and grassland regions which have been identified for conversion into oil palm plantations under the IFMA, he added.
But NICE, in a press release, said that, as early as 2011, the DENR regional office had already recommended to its central office the cancellation of HAPI’s IFMA, per DENR Negros Island Region assistant RD, Engr. Joan Nathaniel Gerangaya, who spoke at the forum.
Gerangaya also said that HAPI’s request to lift the cease-and-desist order (CDO) was denied, as the company has yet to complete its ECC application, NICE added.
HAPI was issued a Notice of Violation Feb. 28 for implementing the oil palm plantation project in Candoni without an ECC, as well as a CDO June 5.
The CDO was served June 13, following a letter from Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, who stressed that HAPI failed to secure an ECC, which is “a critical document that ensures that projects likely to have significant environmental impacts undergo a thorough assessment and implement measures to mitigate adverse effects”. | CGC
