Date: September 13, 2007 at 11:38:19
From: Funman, [ip-193-19.travedsl.de]
Subject: Politische Querelen um Bioethanol Farmgründung auf den Phils

Hallo, Tschüß, Hajo Thursday, September 13, 2007 Land dispute linked to biofuels program BACOLOD City: Task Force Mapalad (TFM) said it discovered another reason why Malacañang and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) have been flip-flopping on the resolution of the controversial land case in the 446-hectare Hacienda Velez-Malaga in Barangay Robles, La Castellana, Negros Occidental. Task force president Jose Rodito Angeles said businessman Roberto J. Cuenca, former landowner of Hacienda Velez-Malaga and a close friend of the president’s brother-in-law Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, is a major investor in a newly formed biofuels company that has entered into a joint venture agreement with a Chinese firm for manufacture of sugarcane-based bioethanol in Negros Occidental. Angeles said that while TFM has nothing against the government’s biofuels program, it is questioning the moves of landowners like Cuenca to use the program to avoid the distribution of their landholdings already covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). “It also appears that, since the biofuels program is a major concern being pushed by the government, Malacañang is not keen on resolving the Velez-Malaga land case in favor of the farmer-beneficiaries but in favor of the landowner instead,” Angeles said. Angeles said B.M. SB Integrated Biofuels Company, Inc., with an authorized capital stock of P100 million, was formed by a group of landowners in late 2006 and was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in July. The company’s biggest stockholder is Aurelio L. Lacson, with subscribed shares amounting to P10.8 million, while the two second biggest stockholders are Cuenca and Miguel S. Hinojales, both with subscribed shares of P3 million each. Angeles revealed that on January 15, the company signed a memorandum of agreement with the Chinese firm Nanning Yong Kai Industry Group Co., Ltd., in which the Chinese firm shall invest in the company at least 40 percent of the authorized capital. The agreement was signed by Lacson as president of B.M. SB Integrated Biofuels Company and by Lai Kebin as president and chairman of the Chinese firm, which is based in Guangxi, China. Before this, the company had signed a memorandum of agreement with the China CAMC Engineering Company Ltd. for the supply of machineries and equipment to manufacture ethanol. Documents indicate that the agreement was signed in Nanning, Quangxi on October 30, 2006, in the presence of President Arroyo. Angeles said that with landowners and Malacañang involved in the Filipino-Chinese joint venture in the bioethanol production in Negros Occi­dental, they are getting a clearer idea why the farmer-beneficiaries in Hacienda Velez-Malaga are not being allowed to enter and cultivate their land until now. --Panay News