Environmentalists Slam Arroyo’s Sellout of Lands to Foreigners

The news of a United Kingdom firm, Pacific Bio-Fields Holdings Plc., acquiring 400,000 hectares of land in northern Luzon which it can use for 50 years for free may be staggering but not surprising, according to green groups.

“This is just another case of sellout of our patrimony to foreigners, which the Arroyo administration is very good at,” said Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of militant environmental group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment.

According to Bautista, “This is not the first time the Arroyo administration gave vast tracts of agricultural lands to foreign biofuel corporations. In May 2007, state-owned PNOC-Alternative Fuels Corp. signed a US$1.3 deal with British company NRG Chemical Engineering Pte. The Arroyo administration committed one million hectares of agricultural land to the project.”

NRG Chemical will own a 70 percent stake in the joint venture and provide the bulk of the equity requirement in building a biodiesel refinery, two ethanol plants and a million-hectare jatropha plantation, making it a foreign-owned venture.

The group pointed out that the selling of lands does not stop at biofuel projects but extends to other industries Pres. Arroyo is adamantly promoting, like mining.

“Arroyo has legalized foreign corporations to fully own our lands particularly transnational mining companies (mining TNCs). Such as the case in the mining projects of Swedish corporation Xstrata and New Zealand’s Oceana Gold which own 31,600 hectares in South Cotabato and 21,465 hectares in Nueva Vizcaya, respectively,” Mr. Bautista explained.

Based on government data, as of July 2008 almost 600,000 hectares of our lands is under 544 mining concession which most of it are directly and indirectly owned by foreign mining TNCs.

The group cited other instances like in 2006 when the Arroyo administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a $1 billion mining deal with ZTE Mining Corporation allowing the said company to own thousands of hectares of mineral lands and 90% of gold reserve in Mt. Diwalwal in Mindanao.

Another was in 2007 where President Arroyo signed a bilateral trade agreement with Chinese and Vietnamese corporations, which is the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU). Many legal luminaries and politicians saw the JMSU illegal and equivalent of surrendering our sovereignty in Kalayaan group of islands.

The group warned that based on Arroyo’s track record and greed for power and wealth, she will continue to make dubious agreements with foreign corporations and sell our natural resources.

“This is one of the reasons why the Arroyo administration is so adamant in pushing for charter change (cha-cha) through constituent assembly (con-Ass). By eliminating nationalistic provisions in the constitution, foreigners will have their free way to own and exploit our lands and natural resources,” stated Bautista.

He furthered that, “If President Arroyo and her minions would be successful in their Cha-cha initiative and in extending their rule in Malacanang, they will continue getting the lion’s share of kickbacks by brokering our natural resources and lands to foreign capitalists.”

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