Workers at the Tadeco banana plantation (Photo from the Tadeco website)
Local officials in Davao del Norte are urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to act in favor of the joint venture agreement between the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and the Tagum Agricultural Development Co. (Tadeco) Inc.
The city and town councils, as well as the leagues of barangay of Carmen and Braulio Dujali towns, have issued separate resolutions affirming their support for the BuCor-Tadeco deal for the management of the 5,308.36-hectare banana plantation inside the Davao Penal Colony.
The resolutions were submitted to the DOJ and its attached agency, the BuCor.
“The presence of banana companies like Tadeco boosts the economic activity not only in the Municipality of Carmen but throughout the Davao Region. It is one of the resources considered that made Carmen a first class municipality in the province,” read the resolution of the Sangguniang Bayan of Carmen.
At least 50 percent of Carmen’s labor force are working in agro-industrial establishments. Of this, 70 percent are hired by Tadeco alone.
The Sangguniang Bayan of Braulio Dujali noted how Tadeco had become instrumental to the development of the towns close to the plantation.
“It helped develop, construct, and maintain road networks and drainages and protection dikes by providing heavy equipment and correspondent operator, which helped mitigate the flood problem of the locality,” the council resolution noted.
“Some parts of this town were also once barren while other lands were uninhabited. With Tadeco developing and eventually turning them into productive spots where exportable bananas are grown, people started to flock (to Braulio Dujali municipality)… and at present (Tadeco) employed thousands of individuals from this town,” read the resolution.
The towns Panabo, Samal, and Santo Tomas also submitted their own resolutions to the DOJ.
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has sought a legislative probe into the joint venture agreement, which he claimed had been grossly disadvantageous to the government. He questioned, among others, the Tadeco’s annual payments for both lease and profit sharing as only a fraction of the prevailing market rate.
There are still 12 years remaining under the deal, which provides that the government should receive a guaranteed payment of P26.542 million per year for the lease of the land, which amounts to P5,000 per hectare. /atm