Tadeco to sue after losing plant disease barrier

DAVAO CITY—Banana firm Tagum Agricultural Development Co. (Tadeco) said it was preparing to file charges against those responsible for the destruction of the company’s biosecurity barrier in the village of Tanglaw in Braulio Dujali town, Davao del Norte, last Monday.

Alex Valoria, Tadeco president, described the destruction of the barrier as an act of abuse by personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

A DPWH team, said Valoria, destroyed the barrier with the help of policemen and Edwin Jubahib, chief of staff of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

The DPWH was supposed to conduct an inventory of public roads surrounding the Tadeco plantation, he said.

The inventory was ordered by the House good government committee, chaired by Rep. Johnny Pimentel, amid claims that Tadeco—owned by the family of Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr.—had blocked at least two provincial roads leading to the Davao Penal Colony.

The biosecurity barrier, he said, was meant to prevent the entry of disease and was required by the government for banana plantations. —ALLAN NAWAL