Workers at the Tadeco banana plantation (Photo from the Tadeco website)
The provincial board of Davao del Norte has expressed support for the joint venture agreement between the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and the Tagum Agricultural Development Co. Inc.
In Resolution No. 364, a copy of which was sent to the BuCor and the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is currently reviewing the deal, said the agreement has benefitted some 181,000 residents.
“Tadeco has provided them with the skills that will enable them to eventually re-integrate into society as productive and responsible citizens. Under the JVA, the inmates are able to earn money for their personal expenses and for their families…,” read the three-page resolution.
“The JVA rehabilitation program has brought pride to the province of Davao del Norte because its success is well known in the entire Philippine penal system. As a matter of fact, BuCor wanted it replicated in its Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan.”
Earlier, then BuCor Director Benjamin delos Santos admitted that the bureau was not capable of managing the 5,308.36-hectare banana plantation inside the Davao Penal Colony reservation currently being managed by Tadeco.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has sought a legislative probe into the JVA which he claimed was grossly disadvantageous to the government. He questioned, among others, the firm’s annual payments for both lease and profit sharing as only a fraction of the prevailing market rate.
There is still 12 years remaining under the JVA, which provides that the government should receive a guaranteed payment of P26.542 million per year for the lease of the land or P5,000 per hectare.