Bioethanol plant to displace farmers in Isabela

Green Futures  Innovations, Inc. (GFII), a joint venture between Japan’s Corporation and JGC Corporation, together with the Philippine Bioethanol and Energy Investments Corporation and Taiwanese holding company GCO are planning to build a P6 billion bioethanol plant in San Mariano, Isabela which will be operational by March 2012.

According to GFII president Reynaldo P. Bantug, the plant will produce 54 million liters of bioethanol  and generate 100,000 megawatt-hours of electricity annually.

However, the said bioethanol project will result in the displacement of farmers and IPs, based on the National Fact Finding Mission (NFFM) conducted by Danggayan Dagiti Mannalon ti Isabela  (DAGAMI), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP). The FFM was carried out in San Mariano, Isabela last February 22-23. An International Fact Finding Mission (IFFM) was later organized by the People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS), Ibon International, Asian Peasant Coalition (APC), KMP and DAGAMI last May 30 to June 3 to confirm the findings of the earlier mission and to bring the issue to the global arena.

Of the 6,000 hectares planned for the nursery site, 2,200 hectares were already used which resulted to one thousand families being displaced in 8 baranggays of San Mariano. A total of 11,000 hectares are intended for the bioethanol project. They plan on making it the country’s biggest producer of bioethanol.

Among the findings of the FFM were: widespread landgrabbing in areas intended for the sugarcane plantation, anomalous land titling, foreclosure by the Landbank of the Philippines on farmers’ land and CLOA cancellation. Military presence has also been observed in places where there are strong opposition to the bioethanol project.

Contrary to what the proponents of the project say, the land intended for the project is not idle. They are productive lands planted with rice, corn, banana, root crops and vegetables. Farmers and indigenous people alike earn their livelihood from planting these crops.

Furthermore, farmers say that planting sugarcane will result in rodent and locust infestation that will destroy their rice and corn crops. It will also result in the loss of soil biodiversity due to monocropping.

Agricultural workers for GFII and Ecofuel Land Development Inc. also reported labor rights violations. They experience exploitation in the sugarcane plantation such as spraying toxic fertilizers and pesticides without proper work gear, working for 6 days a week with no contract, and frequent occupational safety hazards. They are also paid severely low wages which is based on pakyaw system.

While there is a pressing need to obtain alternative fuel sources in order to combat the skyrocketing prices of oil, there is a more urgent need to address the hunger and poverty experienced by millions of Filipinos.

Thus, PNFSP supports the recommendations made by the FFM. Among them are: that the lands which have been forcibly seized from the farmers and IPs must be returned peacefully to them, an investigation on the different government agencies involved in the anomalous land titling, and that public consultations/hearings must be conducted in the areas    affected by the project.