This webpage follows the events concerning RD Tuna and their Madang cannery. Not all articles have been included and we would like to include further information as it comes to hand.
Madang: Angry landowners who have shut down work on the RD Tuna Fish cannery here, are prepared to take Madang Interim Government to court, if it does not redress issues on landrights affecting them.
According to landowners, they have tried every possible venue to settle the matter out of court, but due to the Deputy Governor's ill mannered responses, they may reconsider the matter.
"We wrote to the Prime Minister, as head of the executive arm of the government for his consent on the matter. He replied and referred our case to the Interim Government and the Deputy Governor to handle, however, what they have done is not to our liking,"said Chairman of the Landowner Association, John Kumai.
"Deputy Governor, Mr Mathew Gubag was to assist us in our best interest and see that we were given back the land, however, did not do so and allowed construction to begin on the site without our consent," said Mr Kumai.
The Deputy Governor, with the help of the Madang Development Corporation (MDC) developed a Memorandum of Consent (MOC) which the landowners refused in its entity, on the grounds that the MDC was an illegal owner of the project area. The landowners reconstructed the MOC and produced it as their counter proposal; however, they claim that the Interim Government did not use their proposal and used the original MOC for the signing ceremony.
With no legal interpretation of the deed done prior to the signing of the agreement, the landowners refused to sign the deed as legal, and a supposed inquiry into the matter by the Interim Government was to be carried out.
Nothing has, so far, emerged from these enquiries and the landowners now wish to call for a review of the MOC and see that a transfer of title is done.
The closing down of work on the Project Area yesterday was the second since work began on it last year. The first incident occurred on Nov 13, when young men from the surrounding villages were refused employment by the investors, who told them, would appoint persons according to their liking.
The Siar Landowners - 17/12/96
To: The Deputy Governor Madang Provincial Government PO Box 2108 MADANG Madang Province
Dear Sir Subject:
NOTICE OF THE PEOPLE'S ACTION's
This is to inform you that, after having given ample time for your government to act positively to our concerns, we the landowners at Siar had unanimously decided upon forcing to a closure, the construction work of the RD Tuna Cannery that is underway.
We are taking such an action as a last resort, after your government had failed to attend to our request for further consultation with us, to renegotiate for a better deal between our two parties, following our land title claims.
We believe very strongly that a government of the people, for the people, and by the people, is meant to always make decisions and act as much as possible, to the best interest of its people.
We have yet to witness your government's acting in line with this principle of democracy.
Sir, we look forward to seeing positive developments stemming from your government's initiative to resolve this great concern that is ours to tackle and live with.
A peaceful solution to this concern will serve the best interest, not only of the local landowners, but also Madang province, as well the country as a whole.
Siar Landowners cc Provincial Police Commander cc RD Tuna Cannery.
Fisheries chief accused of giving Madang cannery special treatment
The Independent http://www.niugini.com/wordpub/inde080598/independent.html may 8 1998
DENNIS Renton, the executive director of the National Fisheries Authority allegedly received merchandise from the Philippines via the Madang-based RD Tuna Cannery without properly declaring them to Customs.
According to information received by The Independent, the merchandise, a furniture set, arrived at the Madang main wharf on December 12 last year aboard Dolly 779 which is a carrier vessel belonging to RD Tuna (PNG) Fishing Pty Ltd.
The cargo was then on-shipped to Neil Stanton of Nako Fisheries Pty Ltd, in Alotau on Lutheran Shipping vessel Wewak. Industry sources claim that Mr Renton has "interests" in Nako Fisheries. Officials from the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) also claim that Mr Renton is associated with the company.
NFA officials who boarded Dolly 779 in Madang and questioned crew members were told that the furniture set which included a rattan round chair, a rattan chair, a rattan centre table and a round foam, belonged to Mr Renton.
According to the captain of Dolly 779 the furniture set was loaded at sea from Dolly 888. Inward coasting manifest from the Philippines Bureau of Customs however showed that the furniture was loaded on board Dolly 779.
However, Mr Renton told The Independent this week that the furniture was not his and belonged to Mr Stanton, who he described as a friend he had known for years. He said that he stopped in the Philippines on the way back from a Tuna Conference in Bangkok, Thailand and was asked by Mr Stanton to "pick up his furniture" and bring them to PNG. Mr Renton then asked RD Tuna Cannery, whose head office is in the Philippines, to transport the furniture to PNG.
"They came from my house in Manila," said Mr Stanton when he confirmed that the furniture belonged to him. He said he got a bill of lading which came from Lae and picked up the furniture.
This development has fuelled allegations that Mr Renton has been giving RD Cannery special and preferential treatment. An industry observer said that this is not surprising as Mr Renton, by "asking favours" from RD Tuna Cannery may have placed himself in a compromising situation.
An industry source claims that Mr Renton has approved RD cannery to conduct transshipment at sea, when such practise is totally banned, without proper and adequate monitoring. According to the source, such an act, together with the lack of proper monitoring of fisheries activities, could seriously affect the future stock of tuna in Papua New Guinea.
The source further claims that the approval to conduct transshipment at sea is a further breach of the Forum Fisheries Agency to which PNG is signatory to. The industry source also alleged that RD Tuna Cannery is allowed to get away with many breaches and ill-fishing practices, one of which includes fishing within the 3 mile zone. The source further claims that Madang villagers have complained to the NFA of RD Cannery fishing within the 3 mile zone, however nothing has eventuated.
However, according to Mr Renton RD Tuna Cannery has not been given special treatment. He said that transshipment is illegal for distant water fishing vessels (DWFV) which operates in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and are not PNG-based.
"We are applying that consistently for DWFV," he said, adding that this does not apply to domestic or PNG-based boats of which RD Tuna Cannery's boats come under.
On the allegations of fishing within the 3 mile zone, Mr Renton said that there was a report which the NFA investigated but found to be unfounded. He said that a RD Tuna Cannery had actually come ashore near Karkar island to shelter from a storm and was reported. NFA, a sorry state: Officials There is a general feeling of helplessness and low morale within the NFA. According to interviews conducted by The Independent that is the situation since Mr Renton was appointed the executive director of the NFA.
One official, when contacted by The Independent said he did not know what was going on within the NFA.
"We officers are left in the dark about many things that are happening within the industry. Only the executive director and two other senior officers know the finer details of various projects within the country," said one officer.
Another officer said the situation within the NFA is such that the officer cannot continue working there anymore and is trying to leave as soon as is possible.
NFA chairman Joshua Bakiri, when contacted by The Independent yesterday said he was aware about the furniture allegations but refused to be drawn into commenting on the state of affairs within the authority, saying that was out of "his jurisdiction".
However, Mr Renton denied that there was any problem within the authority. He said that the allegations were coming from a number of disgruntled officers who had other motives. He said that these were "old" officers from the former Fisheries department who have continued but were not ready for the changes.
Mr Renton said that since taking over the authority in 1995 the NFA has made a number of significant achievements. These includes the increases in PNG exports, the growth in domestic fleets, and the encouragement of the "domestication" of distant water fishing vessels. He said PNG exports has grown from K20 million in 1995 to K82 million in 1997.
"Industry is telling me now that we will increase this to K100 million in 1998. This is the indication of part of the success since I took over," Mr Renton said.
There are currently 25 long-line fishing vessels however, when Mr Renton took office there was almost none. He encouraged this growth by encouraging local ownership and participation. Next week The Independent will present a report on the RD Tuna Cannery in Madang.
Tuna firm hooked for K300,000 fine - 16th August 2000.
RD Tuna Limited has been ordered by the Madang District Court to pay Pangtel more than K300,000 for not following laws to obtain radio apparatus.
Senior magistrate Cosmos Bidar in his ruling on August 8 found RD Fishing Ltd guilty of three offences under the Radio Spectrum Act 1996 and Radio Spectrum regulations 1997.
The offences are maintaining an unlicensed radio apparatus and radio apparatus for the purposes of making unauthorised transmission or reception and failing to comply with directions with respect to licensing requirements of redio gear.
He said: "the offences, for which the defendant has been found guilty, are no doubt serious offences as penalties prescribed reflect their seroiusness."
He said RD Tuna did not try to apply for the appropriate licenses in its joint application with RD Canning Ltd. The application was not approved due to certain technical requirements.
Pangtel had advised RD Tuna Limited to take corrective action. Mr Bidar said RD Tuna had ignored Pangtel's advice to rectify ot take corrective action, despite being "a guest in this country".
Tuna Earnings set to double by Ennio KubleOctober 31, 2000 The National?
Madang-based RD Tuna Canners, producer of Diana Tuna tinned fish, could double its foreign exchange earnings to $US2 million next year if it fully utilised its production capacity, managing director Peter Celso said.
Mr Celso said the processing plant had the capacity to produce more than its current production of 18 metric tonnes of fish per day. The plant had space for another 500 workers to add to the 2000 already working, he said.
Diana Tuna, the local brand, had a shelf-life of four years and all production processes and handling followed international food safety rules, Mr Celso said.
He said RD Tuna had also compiled with European Union guidelines on environmental practice since the plant went into full operation in July 1997. The company had already begun exporting some brands of canned tuna to American and European markets.
Plant manager Alex Bernardino said the company also had a localisation program where it aimed to replace the 40 supervisors with locals over the years. He said training packages had been put in place following an agreement with the PNG Government before the company was granted its operating licence.
Out in the ocean off PNG, a fleet of 49 fishing vessels operat around the clock to catch 120 metric tonnes of tuna per day for the processing plant. The tuna, which are caught in the 200 nautical mile exclusive zone, are frozen offshore and transported to land by carrier vessels.
The company's vice president and controller Jun Autentico said the fishing method was an environmentally friendly traditional Philippines style called "peyeo". He said it used nets with bigger netting eyes that let smaller fish pass through. He said the nets were set in waters where tuna migrate through. The nets are shaded with "lumo" leaves and the growth of moss attracts tuna as they swim from north to south when the waters in the north are warmer. The bigger fish are netted and transported ashore while the smaller ones slip past the net eyes, Mr Autentico said.
Kakaraya probes fish cannery's price increases - 21 May 2001
Kevin Pamba Price Contoller Dan Kakaraya has asked Madang-based fish cannery, RD Tuna Canners Ltd, to justify three seperate price increases on its products since June last year, noting that fish was a price controlled item under government regulations.
Mr Kakaraya wrote to RD Tuna Canners last week expressing his concern "that price increases will be reflected on the final price at the retails shops".
He also queried notices sent by the Filipino-owned cannery to wholesalers under which four price structures have been implemented to provide bigger reductions for larger bulk purchases, a normal action in many industry sectors.
"While these are purely commercial decisions taken by the company, to an extent, these may allude to discrimination of the smaller wholesale operators, mostly nationals, who are struggling to survive in a competitive trading sector," he said.
Mr Kakaraya told the company that fish in any form was a price-controlled item under Section 10 of Price Regulations Act, which had been gazetted by the Government on Nov, 9 2000.
Government Gazette No G143 identifies price-controlled items specified by the Price Regulation Act, including fish, which is identified as "all types and brands including fresh or frozen fish".
In his letter, Mr Kakaraya said: 'There are claims that since June 2000, the company has applied three price increases. The dates: June 2000, Jan 1 2001 and the recent increase on April 15, 2001.
"Added to that are complaints of minimum purchase requirements and the setting of four different price levels based on sales volumes."
Mr Kakaraya asked the company to provide explanations "with relevant costing documents to support or verify the price increases."
Mr Kakaraya warned that the price changes without his consent or approval as Price Contoller "is deemed illegal".
Attempts to obtain comments from managing director of RD Tuna Canners, Pete Celso, or his subordinates were unsuccessful.
CANNERY 'CAUGHT' 25th September 2002A spot check of RD Tuna Cannery's operations in Madang by Environment and Conservative Minister Zibe Sasa last Friday found the company illegally operating a bore water well. Mr Sasa directed the company to immediately obtain a water use permit in consultation with the Office of Environment and Conservation (OEC).
"Laws are there to safeguard everyone and you must immediately consult the OEC to obtain your water use permit," Mr Sasa told company plant manager Alex Bernardino. Mr Bernadino asked Mr Zibe to "allow us to go through records to comply with the law".
However, Mr Sasa directed Acting Assitant Secretary for Enforcement and Comliance Branch of OEC Kumaras Kalim, who accompanied him to the cannery, to help get a water use permit issued promptly.
Mr Bernardino said on Monday that the company had submitted applications for three permits to Ms Kalim for processing and approval. The OEC is now processing the application for approval. RD cannery has five bore wells of which three have dried up and two in use without a water permit.
Second tuna loining plant being built in Papua New Guinea Thursday January 23, 2003
A second tuna loining plant is being built on Papua New Guinea's northern coast, this one in Lae by Philippines interests. Construction of the US$1.5 million (K5.8million) plant - being built by Frabelle Fishing Corporation - will start soon after a groundbreaking ceremony set for February 5.
Loining factories are where fish is prepared for canning elsewhere. Frabelle (PNG) Limited resident director Nestor Defensor said the company supplies markets in American Samoa, Australia, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain and Thailand.
Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare and other leaders were at Wewak earlier this month for ceremonies marking start of construction of a US$21 million American-backed loining plant there.
There are two fish canneries in Papua New Guinea, the International Food Corporation, which operates out of Lae, and the RD Tuna Cannery, in Madang. (http://www.hellopacific.com/news/general/news/2003/01/23/23f.htm )
RD Tuna seeks treble production Friday, February 21, 2003 - The National
Second plant to process 200 tons of fish by 2004
By BAEAU TAI
PRODUCTION at Madang-based RD Tuna is set to double once its second 200-ton tuna canning plant gets into full swing early next year. The new facility will employ an additional 4,000 to 5,000 people and generate more foreign exchange for the nation.
The world-class facility will complement the company's current 100-ton cannery in Siar plantation, which can process 100,000 kilos of tuna a day.
Construction on this new K50 million plant is expected to start in the third quarter of this year at the proposed Marine Economic Zone at Vidar Plantation on the north coast of Madang.
RD Tuna's executive vice president, Ritche C Rivera, said he was pleased that the company's new cannery would employ many more people and help Papua New Guinea bolster international recognition of its role as a leading tuna exporter.
He said the RD Group was keen to push through with major expansion, subject to the Government ability to provide an additional fishing license and a package of fiscal incentives.
The company, which now has a workforce of over 3,000 people, is also upgrading its existing 600-metric ton cold storage capacity to 2,000 metric tons at Vidar wharf.
The US$1.4 million expansion will make it the biggest such facility in the South Pacific. The new facility would support the increasing capacity of RD Tuna's canning operations as well as those of other long liner operations.
Europe opens doors to more PNG tuna
The Independent 20 March 03 p4
(Above) RD Fishing Vessels at the Port of Vidar
In December 2002, the European Commission (EC) approved the import of fish and fish products from Papua New Guinea to the European Union countries.
PNG's quota of fish and fish products has been (1,000t) of canned tuna per year. However, for the first year of agreement, October 2002 to September 2003, PNG has been given an additional allowance which means that PNG can export 2000 tonnes of canned tuna to Europe between now and September.
This access to the lucrative European market was made possible following an inspection of RD Tuna Canners' facilities by health inspectors from the EC. The inspectors reported that the conditions under which tuna is being handled, from the time of catch to delivery at the cannery, are of acceptable standards and the conditions at the cannery in Madang were found to meet the standards set by the EC.
In particular, the inspectors reported that "the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is capable of effectively verifying the implementation of the legislation in force".
This is a vote of confidence in the management and staff of NFA and is a further demonstration of the European Union's desire to support the institutional structures put in place by ACP member countries.
The NFA will be required to issue an appropriate health certificate with each shipment of fish to Europe. All fish packages will have to be clearly marked 'PAPUA NEW GUINEA' together with the registration number of the factory, cold store or freezer vessel.
The NFA has drawn up a list and supplied to the EC the list of approved factories, cold stores and freezer vessels. Any new list of fish factories, cold stores and the fishing vessels approved by NFA will be regularly supplied to the EC.
This announcement is timely and compliments the EU funded Rural Coastal Fisheries Development Project (RCFDP) which started in October 2002. The RCFDP is designed to strengthen the participation of Papua New Guineans in the fisheries industry and create viable links between fishermen, processors and exporters.
LIST OF ESTABLISHMENTS AND VESSELS
Dolly 888, Dolly 757, Dolly 767, Dolly 777, Dolly 778, Dolly 780, Dolly 889, Dolly 152 (RD Canners Pty Ltd). Dolores 831, Dolores 832, Dolores 827, Dolores 828, Dolores 829, Dolores 830, Dolores 834 (RD Fishing (PNG) Pty Ltd).
15 Freezer Vessels registered under Office Journal of the European Communities.
Violence Against Land Owners Haven Village
PO Box 64
MAIWARE NCR MADANG 511
29/3/03
THE ADMINISTRATOR MR GALUM. B. KASSAS ADMINISTRATION MADANG PROVINCE.
PO BOX 2108 MADANG DISTRICT
Dear Sir, REF: Certified estimation of unlawful eviction raid destructons. We would like to submit to your attention the above subject matter for consideration.
On Friday 7th March 2003, a mobile squad 12 in company from Goroka. Four vehicles entered Haven village and destroyed both Agriculture and Livestock. Properties were burnt down including 41 houses and looted some valuable properties.
This merely an act of arson, an unwarranted exercise without prior issue of court order and proper legal actions and apart from that, Haven village area is not a state land.
In response to the destruction we have taken initiative with I.I.U. For investigations. However to further that, we furnish you estimations of Agriculture and live stock properies and others lost as compiled and certified for valuation. We acknowledge your assistance and support in dealing with the Lands and D.P.I in this matter.
Enclosed are lists of respective raid victims and accounts of destruction as self explanatory.
Thankyou very much for your time and attention and your kind help would be greatly appreciated.
Rice RD Tuna Ventures Moves Into Rice Farming Papua New Guinea, April 10, 03 http://www.atuned.biz/public/ViewArticle.asp?ID=571
In Madang, Papua New Guinea, RD Tuna Company is also venturing into rice farming at the 860-hectare Vidar Plantation.
The company has started clearing the bush over an initial six hectares out of 100 hectares that is to be planted with rice under its '48 Rice Plantation Project'.
"The work started two weeks ago by cutting coconut tress, clearing bush, and preparing the area for irrigation. We are preparing the ground and the dykes and this work should finish in five weeks time," a spokesman for RD Tuna said, adding that Madang province was blessed with land highly suited to rice projects.
He said the plantation was well located near rivers that made it easier to provide good irrigation. If successful, rice farming can prove to be quite a lucrative business activity. Until now most of the rice consumed in Papua New Guinea is imported from overseas.
This import activity is limited to a few companies, which hold special import licenses. Consumer prices in PNG for rice are much higher than other countries in the region, such as Indonesia and Philippines. Only recently the PNG government started issuing permits to start rice projects.
RD Tuna Ventures, which is part of the Philippine RD Group of companies, wants to pioneer this project in Madang as a catalyst for the "untouched opportunities" for communities living in the area. "God willing, the produce will be supplied to our own people and eventually, as the project increases its production, we will consider supplying Madang commercially," RD Tuna said.
At a later stage the company will consider selling rice to other provinces and eventually look at exports that could assist the country reduce its annual rice import bill, which is estimated at K260-K300 million according to the latest official brief from the Department of Agriculture and Livestock.
Eddie Tejano, a rice specialist at the Pacific Adventist University, is providing expert advise on the rice project. He said the plan was for irrigated rice production covering 100 hectares, although initially six hectares was being prepared for planting in April and May. "We are expected to harvest 111 days from planting because we will be using early maturing variety IR64 coming from International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Philippines."
First Report of Ammonia Spill at Vidar Harbour. As Of 11 May 2003.
On Saturday 26 April 03, RD Tuna Fishing's Catcher boat Dolores 829 at around mid-afternoon (estimated time = 1400h) disposed of a substantial amount of its poisonous waste, including more than the usual amount of AMONIA gas (all catcher boats normally use this ammonia gas to defrost frozen fish for unloading from catcher boats onto the wharf and into the cool storage).
On this particular afternoon and that particular disposal of waste by Dolores 829, turned out to be literally devastating to all the marine life off the Vidar wharf and throughout the Doilon passage. Countless fish died as if from a dynamite blast (a banned method of fishing) and the villagers as well as Vidar workers including security guards and policemen jumped off and gathered as much fish as they could and took to their families/homes without giving any thought to the cause of the 'dying fish'.
On the night of 26 April a young school boy who had eaten some of the fish could not sleep due to 'food poisoning'. And the very next day his brother, also school age, experienced what his brother had gone through the night before.
On the next Monday 28 April 03, with Idawad leaders as our guide, we were able to visit the family and take pictures of one of the boys. Before that we went into the Vidar facility to confirm with police officers there about the incident. Idawad is making follow-ups on that incident, with the policemen as key witnesses to the 26 April incident.
On Tuesday 29 April we received a phone-call from Idawad reporting that a woman was critically ill and admitted at the Alexishafen health centre. Cause of the illness is without doubt (according to Idawad), the very same AMONIA gas (in the poisonous waste) that was disposed at Vidar on Saturday 26 April 03.
It so happened that on the afternoon of that day (as is a normal daily activity at Vidar) the particular woman was one of the many women who were there for the bartering/exchanging for RD fish. The weather was not as pleasant as normally that afternoon, the sea water was quite rough, and the woman was caught off balance during the exchange activities and her canoe capsized which meant that she had to be in the sea water for no less than a quarter of an hour or so. As she was struggling in the sea water to get back onto her canoe, the woman took in some of the already contaminated sea water through her mouth, eyes, and nostrils. Getting off balance on the canoe and taking in some sea water is not a new thing for the woman and her companions. BUT in the morning hours of the very next day, straight after mid-night, the woman's family had to rush her to the health centre. It was reported that she had gone through a night of chronic vomiting and diahrea.The report we got also indicated that at the health centre, she was put through a total of seven (7) drips, which is clearly NOT normal.
I am forwarding you a letter that appeared in the viewpoint (letters) section of yesterday Monday's (12 May 03) Post Courier. Except for the alleged deaths, much of what is contained in the letter is reliable as we at BRG had gathered from reliable sources and have seen/heard for ourselves. I am cutting and pasting and sending off to you all, both that post courier letter as well as our own report on that particular incident at Vidar and related incidents....just another update.
Keep up your good work ****** ******
Toxic acid spill in Alexishafen killing fish and people 12/5/03
A huge amount of concentrated ammonia acid was washed into the Doilon Bay at Vida Point at Alexishafen in Madang by a fishing vessel owned by a Madang-based fishing company resulting in the killing of thousands of fish as well as other marine life in the bay.
Already some human lives have been lost and many more are in seriously condition after coming in contact with the dangerous chemical. Some women and children were admitted to the Alexishafen Health Centre after swimming for the dead fish and drinking the contaminated sea water in the bay.
The captain and the crew of vessel ignorantly hosed the dangerous chemical into the Doilon Bay after unloading tuna at the jetty. The police officer employed by the company was present at the time and witnessed the incident but did nothing, not even reporting it to the authorities. The quarantine officer, also employed by the company failed to perform his duties as well and even the medical officers at Alexishafen Health Centre cannot not release the diagnostic results of the patients.
There seems to be a great network of conspiracy among all of these different officers who are either employed by the company or have some reason to be serving the interest of the company and not protect the human dignity of all those affected.
The foreign fishing company has a bad record of environmental damage in their own country as their company search records shows. This incident has been hushed up by the company and responsible authorities in Alexishafen. There needs to be a full investigation into the matter It is a serious concern and the company must face the consequences under PNG laws.
Can someone in the Department of Madang check this out and take proper action?
****** ******
Duty-free tuna export to Europe Local exporters to expand operations By MARGARET DAURE
THE PNG tuna industry has made a marketing breakthrough, with the granting of duty-free access to European Union markets. Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Sir Rabbie Namaliu told a press conference yesterday this was a most important breakthrough for the tuna industry here as it would further encourage the onshore processing and export of tuna, increase export earnings and create more employment and spin off benefits for locals.
The approval to export tuna duty free was given by the European Union at the recent Asia Caribbean Pacific - European Union (ACP-EU) meeting in Brussels. Previously tuna was not exported duty free from PNG because they were caught and processed by non-ACP and EU companies.
Sir Rabbie said the approval means export earnings from tuna would be boosted to $US75 million annually. He said RD Tuna could expand their operations, triple their production and increase their workforce to about 5,000. Sir Rabbie said PNG has had restricted access to the EU market for tuna since 1998 when 1,142 metric tonnes of tuna imports was allowed on a quota basis because canned tuna was manufactured by a non-ACP or EU company.
He said the PNG quota was part of the total quota shared among eight other ACP countries and was therefore restricted. Sir Rabbie said in 2001 PNG applied to the EU to have tuna caught in the archipelagic waters of PNG as those of PNG origin, which would enable the nation's processed tuna production to be exported to the EU duty free. He said the request got a positive response from the EU.
Sir Rabbie said the approval means tuna processed by RD Tuna in Madang and the future loining operations in Wewak and Lae could be exported to EU markets free. RD Tuna's quota is only 16 per cent of what it can potentially export to the EU market. Sir Rabbie said the Government appreciated the EU's decision and was confident it would provide considerable long-term benefit to the tuna industry and the nation's export performance and income.
The National 28 May 2003.http://www.thenational.com.pg/0528/business1.htm ======================================================
RD Tuna pollution allegationsTuesday 29th of October, Post Courier - 3/6/03
By Brenda Peter.
Madang Governor James Yali will approach the Department of Conservation to look into allegations of pollution against RD Tuna. Mr Yali said he was petitioned by a group from Kananam village near Vidar port to look into the matter.
"If it is a serious matter, I will call the environmental specialists to come and investigate," he said.
The group alleged RD Tuna was polluting the waters and that people were getting sick from eating fish caught in the waters of Vidar port.
The Idawad non-government organisation also alleged that there was a large ammonia liquid gas spill from fishing vessel 829 reportedly owned by RD Tuna Fishing Company.
NGO chairman Francis Gem said two young boys were the first victims from the ammonia liquid gas spilled from the fishing vessel after eating fish that were caught in the waters near the vessel. He said the boys vomited, had diarrhoea and developed stomach swelling and aches after eating the fish. Mr Gem said three other people were severely affected after contact with the liquid gas in the water. All the victims were rushed to Alexishafen Catholic Hospital for treatment.
Sabina Sarea, 22, from Kananam village said she experienced diarrhoea and stomach aches after swimming ashore from the same water where the fishing vessel was when her canoe turned over. North Ambenob Local level Government Member James Sumgai urged RD Tuna to seriously consider the issue, however, company representative June Aitiku said there was no spill in the area.
"There are people making up stories to get free money from the company. There is no oil spill because there is compulsory inspection by environmental specialists," Mr Aitiku said.
Madang tuna excesses unveiled Viewpoint Thursday 05th June, 2003
I REFER to the RD Tuna pollution headline which appeared in the Post-Courier issue of Tuesday, June 3 and would like to thank Madang Governor James Yali for receiving the petition and announcing his decision to approach the Department of Environment and Conservation regarding the allegations.
I heard about these allegations last month through your esteemed newspaper and it appears that those allegations are not unfounded should this issue be put into perspective.
Firstly, RD representative June Aitiku does not deny that there is ammonia liquid gas spill.
Secondly, he went on to raise the issue of oil spill which was never raised by parties concerned.
Thirdly, the medical history at Alexishafen will show that the type of sickness experienced by those people who were rushed to the Alexishafen Catholic Hospital is not common and may be attributed to the activities of the company.
It appears Mr Aitiku can only manage a counter attack on those serious allegations with his comments that people are making up stories to get free money. We do not know of companies giving out free money but Mr Aitiku has raised an issue which should not go unchallenged.
I can sense that free money seems to be the tactic the company adopted to solve its problem. So, it would appear that the local knowledge of the company may be willing to pay people to get what it wants is not unfounded after all. I did not say RD Tuna has been bribing people but it appears that Mr Aitiku may have revealed some company secrets.
I am from Kananam and I know RD Tuna does not give free money so who is Mr Aitiku trying to fool? Mr Aitiku should stick to the issue and address the issue head-on instead of evading the real issue of ammonia liquid gas spill from RD Tuna-owned fishing vessel 829 in Doilon Bay. At last the National Government, through Mr Yali is fully aware of those allegations.
Rudolf Ayu Kananam villager
PORT MORESBY, NCD
Performance of Madang pollution investigators slack.Viewpoint. Post Courier. Thursday 12th June, 2003.
I express my dissatisfaction and that of the entire Kananam villagers at the below standard performance of the team that is supposed to investigate and verify our complaints on pollution and environment damage against a Madang-based fishing and fish canning company's performance.
How can that team genuinely carry out a truly independent investigations when they had in fact informed the company ahead of time about the team's visit. My recommendation is that if there is ever a truly independent investigation that needs to be done then it better be through making at least one surprise visit to the cannery and the wharfing facility. Then and only then will such a team truly see what we the Kananam villagers are concerned about.
This investigating team is really a joke! They had informed the company well ahead of time but they had not informed us about their visit. Such action speaks for itself . . . the message is very loud and clear that this so-called 'review or investigation' is either sponsored/endorsed by the said company, or by some agency that has a strong pro-company bias. Where does such an attitude leave us the rightful land/ resource owners? This team is here with clearly a strong pro-company, pro-investment bias, and they have no consideration whatsoever for the people. Either the team's terms of reference is a joke or else their performance is below-standard.
One thing that is perfectly clear here in Madang is that the fisheries authority, the quarantine, environment and wildlife, provincial health authority and such other relevant authorities and such other relevant authorities are apparently non-existent. That is why we the people had resorted to other 'authorities' to assist in addressing the issues affecting us and our heritage (land, lagoon and resources). Do we in the end get blamed for being vocal about our experiences of violence and exploitation inflicted on us by the company's below-standard operations and non-performance of the agencies listed above?
Do we have any laws in this country that defends citizens' rights to freedom of expression, specially when they need to express being violated against?
Alois Kubulan Panusian Kananam Village MADANG
Mindanao firm goes onlineThe Manila Times June 26, 2003
www.manilatimes.net
RD Corp., one of the largest conglomerates in southern Mindanao, is now on the Worldwide Web.
www.rdcorp.com.ph contains the latest information about RD Corp. And its subsidiaries, product lines and even short video clips.
The page aims to increase awareness of RD Corp, and Mindanao, particulary Socsksargen (South Cotabato, Sultaran Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City), th growth corridor in the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines East Asia Growth Area).
The web site will allow RD Corp. to provide up-to-date news to its subsidiaries and the public.
Among RD Corp.'s business interests are in fishing, real estate and the hospitality industry, canning, agribusiness, food processing and banking.
Its subsidiares include Peninsula Bank Inc., RD Pawnshop, RD Tuna Canners PNG Ltd, RD Fishing Industry, RD Tuna Ventures Inc., RD Floating Dry Dock, RD Credit Corp., RD Realty Tropicana Express, RD Tuna Canners Ltd, PhilBest Canning Corporation, RD Prawn Farm and RD Ranch.
Aside from the main webpage, each subsidiary will have its own page.
There will also be other linkages and other pertinent information will also be provided such as the day's currency rates and RD Corp.'s corporate directory.
One of the site's objectives is to attract investors to Sockksargen, particularly General Santos City.
One of the country's fastest growing cities, General Santos is a major fish-landing center for tuna.
The city is also home to commercial deep-sea fishing companies and seven multi-million dollar fish canneries.
RD Tuna to bring in foreign investments - 11/7/03
By COLIN TAIMBARI THE National
The RD Group, producer of Diana canned fish brand - is serious about its investments in Papua New Guinea and is here for the long haul, according to its chairman and president Rodrigo E Rivera.
Mr Rivera said the Somare Government's export driven economic policy was in the right direction and the Government should use that to bring in more fish processing plants onshore. He said this would create thousands of employment opportunity, bring in much needed foreign exchange to boost the PNG economy and more importantly reduce the price of canned fish by creating a healthy competition, adding that there was room for five or six more canneries in PNG.
He said the cannery does not operate any US Dollar account overseas for its export receipts, as 100 per cent of their receipts are brought back and pumped into the economy of the country. "We are bringing into the country, we are not taking money outside of the country,'' he said, adding that "RD is here to stay for the long haul, these are honest to goodness investments in PNG''.
The group, which operates the RD Tuna cannery in Madang, employs more than 2500 people - mainly local women - as well as another 500 on its fishing vessels catching the highly migratory tuna species in our waters.
Mr Rivera said since 1995, the group has invested about K100 million in its cannery, cold storage, infrastructure including wharf and an ice plant. The ice making plant, which produces 40 tonnes of ice per day, was built mainly to assist the local fishermen - an idea, which has now being further developed in conjunction with the European Union. The company exports more than 100 containers of canned fish to Europe and the United States as well as Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu.
Despite criticisms by non-Government organisations about its quality control and standards, Mr Rivera said it is one of the best in the world today. "We are being criticised for what we are doing but our cannery is being accredited by the United States Food and Drug Administration so does the European Union,'' he said.
Part from that, it catches only three per cent of the total tuna catch of PNG, while Taiwanese, American, Korean and Japanese vessels harvest the rest to be processed abroad. He said the company has spent its own funds and also gone out of its way to obtain 24 per cent duty free for exports from PNG to Europe, which all companies from PNG can utilise.
Mr Rivera has recently been appointed by PNG Government as its honorary consul-general in the Philippines and he is going out of his way to bring in more investors from Philippines, especially in tourism, food processing, banking and other major investments. Only last week, Mr Rivera brought to PNG a major banker and two big businessmen, who were impressed with what they saw here.
Madang Governor going off line Post Courier 25/7/03 p10
So, Madang Governor James Yali is telling landowners and non-governmental organisations to shut up and let RD Tuna do what it wants in Madang Province.
Forget the people, forget the environment; its all about investment, full stop. Who cares about the people? Who cares about the environment? As long as RD makes money and convinces people they are such wonderful citizens - that is all that matters.
When will we in Papua New Guinea ever learn? for one, support the landowners who have the guts to stand up to the company and full support goes to WWF and the other non-government organisations who support the landowners. If we had the more of these NGOs, maybe the country wouldn't be in the mess it's in now.
There is not a person in Madang who doesn't know of RD's presence and it is not due to its wonderful work. You can smell them all over town and see their ships everywhere.
That, Mr Yali is a fact - and you know it. Mr Yali talks about protecting "his" province and country. Another laugh from another blow-hard politician.
When are we going to see thse two things in PNG. First, a politician talking about protecting the people instead of the companies, and second, actually doing it.
Until we see this, full support must go to WWF and the NGOs who speak up for the people of Madang. That is the kind of foreign investment we need - not the kind which takes our hard work and destroys our environment!
Let's get the agenda right, Mr Yali.
Randel Mime Madang.
TOKSAVE Post Courier - 31st July 2003
The landowners of Kananam represented by the Idawad Association and Sek/Kananam Ward Councillor James Sungai, the elected representative of the Sek/Kananam people are being sued by the Filippino owned RD Tuna Canneries Limited and RD Fishing (PNG) Limited.
Idawad and the people's representative James Sungai were served a Writ of Summons filed by RD lawyer JR Shepherd and Blake Dawson Waldron on 27 June 2003.
Idawad and Councillor Sungai welcome this opportunity. We will strongly be defending the charges and we will be representing ourselves in this court case.
Francis Gem (Chairman) Idawad Association Ward
Councillor James Sungai Ward 10 Sek/Kananam
TOKSAVE Post Courier - 21st August 2003 - p9
This is to inform the public that the landowners of Kananam represented by the Idawad Association and Sek/Kananam Ward Councillor James Sungai, the elected representative of the Sek/Kananam people who are being sued by the Filippino owned RD Tuna Canneries Limited and RD Fishing (PNG) Limited, filed an Intent to Defend in The National Court on Friday August 15th.
We have been deeply moved by the public support and encouragement not only in Madang, but throughout PNG.
Thank You,
Francis Gem (Chairman) Idawad Association
Ward Councillor James Sungai Ward 10 Sek/Kananam
Diwai Environment and Forestry News July - August 2003
Issue No.4
Conservation Melanesia, Monian Haus, 2nd Floor, Tabari Place (Boroko), PO Box 735, Boroko. NCD 111 PNG.
RD Tuna takes landowners to court
Filipino based RD Tuna Canneries has filed a defamation suit against local landowners, the local level government representatives and a non-profit organisation in the Madang area.
RD Tuna has been under constant criticism since it began operations in Madang over five years ago. The criticism has been focussed on a variety of issues ranging from air pollution, reef destruction, spilling of oil to social problems which include encouraging prostitution in a 'sex for fish' trade with local women.
The most outspoken critics have been the people of the Sek/Kananam area who claim it is their land that is being used and misused and who never consented to RD using their land. They formed an association called Idawad everal years back to address the constant problems, which have arisen since RD began operations. They have been relentless in their criticisms of RD and the problems the company has created.
Early last year Idawad chairperson Francis Gem had said that the strong push for economic development by the government had pushed aside concerns for the village people as well as the environment.
The lawsuit is believed to the first time in PNG where a company has taken landowners to court. Previous cases have seen landowners taking companies to court.
The controversial OK Tedi 9th Supplemental Bill had prevented landowners from seeking compensation from OK Tedi. Landowners and supporters complained strongly aginst the Bill saying the Bill supported the company and was effectively making the landowners the criminals for even seeking compensation against environmental damage.
The landowners association and the local level government representatives took out advertisements in two local newpapers (Post Courier and Wantok Nius Pepa, 31/7/03), anouncing the lawsuit, stating they welcolmed the opportunity and they would strongly be defending the charges against them.
They also announced they would be representing themselves in the case.
Among the claims from RD Tuna is that the defendants had created and distributed a website (http://lorikeet.and.com.au/RD/rdtuna.html) which was defamatory to RD Tuna.
Re: FOREIGN COMPANY TAKES LANDOWNERS TO COURT: RD TUNA UPDATE by Anonymous. August 14 2003.
This is a tremendous task for the humble people of Kananam. The RD Tuna experience has been a very bad one since the Agreement was first signed in 1995 between the Provincial Government, Landowners and the Company.
The social upheavals as pointed out are gruesome and sad. The health risks are appalling: You walk into a local market and there you see women selling big chunks of smoked or boiled tuna. You really like to buy them in order to help these women earn honest money, but on the other hand you realize that the meat has been laid in the hot sun and dust for the best part of the day, so the appetite is simply killed by this thought.
I know a lot of young girls who worked briefly in the cannery and their stories are very much similar: very bad pay, the working conditions suck. In 1998, there was a petition presented to the RD Management and a stop work was successfully organized. The petition pointed out absence of local training and management, unfair pay system, long working hours, lack of medical benefits and worker safety. After some weeks, the management responded in a well thought-out prose attacking the petition as unreal and untrue. Copies of the response can be obtained from the Provincial Administrator's Office and the Governor's Office in Madang - if it is there at all.
Sexual predation is a way of life for some of those "2-inch" Filipinos. On Sundays the good ones (?!) go in their plush 15-seater bus to Jomba Parish Catholic Church and donate if not offer one huge tuna fish. Provincial government officials who visit the cannery and the foreign workers have found that some of them are labourers and unskilled workers who had been lured to Madang to take up positions like "section managers", "accountants", and even "quality controllers". Their living conditions are just as appalling - a bunker as bed and a common mess.
The RD public relations strategies are very effective in that they have succeeded in "shutting up" government officials who monitor their financial and environmental activities. The RD Tuna management makes very good friends with the elite in the Madang Provincial Government and Administration so in a sense their arses are well covered. Provincial Authorities rarely raise effective fingers to sort out disputes between the concerned parties. So it's gonna be a daunting and discouraging task for the good people of Kananam.
For a start, they could go around and start identifying those former employees who live around Siar, Riwo and Nobonob and collect their personal data and statements and document them well. And then they must go to the Provincial Government offices, especially the Governor's Office and the Provincial Administrator's office and seek out copies of correspondence and documents relating to RD Tuna. They would also find correspondence from the National Government, espceially the Dept. of Trade & Industry calling for a review of the Agreement. They will not miss the many well-argued responses that carries on every page, a signature of the RD Managing Director, Pete Celso.
I am sure the public servants would be helpful to get rid of old papers and documents from their offices. By the way, find out from the Daghan Company (Nobonob Land Owner Co. for spin off purposes) whether a review has been done and if not when is the next review. Good Luck. Stap wantaim yupla!
RD Tuna company wants to silence its critics by Wantok 21 August 2003.
Below is a story from Wantok - Papua New Guinea's weekly Pidgin English newspaper - that deserves your attention. What RD Tuna are doing is classic exploitation of a natural resource together with exploitation of the local PNG community.
This community, known as Kananam, are being shafted by this export focused development that offers no benefits to the local population. The fishing boats are polluting the environment with the effluent they pump into the lagoon drastically affecting fish stocks that are the main source of nutrition. As a result the young girls in the community are forced into selling sex for fish.
The Philippino company, RD Tuna pays no tax under a deal with the Government that will last at least 10 years, the wages they pay are amongst the worst in the world and the working conditions at the cannery are horrendous. RD are now trying to silence their critics, a group of local landowners who are very strong and committed, through the courts.
RD Tuna company wants to silence its critics RD Tuna company from the Philippines and RD Fishing PNG are taking court action against a not-for-profit community group in Madang. One report says that RD Tuna has been receiving plenty of complaints since the company came to Madang Province five years ago. There have been a wide range of complaints including pollution in the local villages, destruction of coral reefs, oil pollution in the water and social problems including women being forced into prostitution; performing sexual acts in return for fish.
One group that has been voicing its opposition to the tuna company is the local Sek/Kananam community who complain that the company is illegally occupying their ground. These local landowners formed their own association called Idawad to voice their concerns about the RD Tuna operation and the group has been vocal.
Last year the groups chairperson, Francis Gem, said that because the government is committed to economic development it is failing to see and does not care about all the problems local people are suffering and the damage to the local terrestrial and marine environment. The report said Mr Gem would welcome anybody who was prepared to come to his village and see for their own eyes all the damage that the company was causing.
Now RD Tuna are suing the local people in a legal first for PNG as before it is only the people who have taken legal action against companies. The Ok Tedi Act prevents all landowners affected by the Ok Tedi mine from seeking compensation from the mining company. The Ok Tedi people and their supporters were vehemently opposed to the law as they said that it benefited the company and made the local people look like criminals for asking for compensation for all the damage that the mining company had done to the local people's ground and their forests and water./
RD Tuna's court action against the local landowners promises to become a big story in PNG and overseas. The landowners association and the local level government council published two newspaper adverts on July 31st declaring that they welcomed the company's court action and that they would strongly defend the action. One of the complaints of RD tuna is that the local people have put up a website to damage the company name. The Wantok, August 21 2003.
NGO fails to account for funds September 19, 2003 p7
A MAJOR funding agency has asked the Madang-based non-governmental organisation Bismark Ramu Group to account for the K16,000 grant it received sometime in May 2001.
The funding agency is the Port Moresby-based Small Grants Program of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which hands out and monitors the spending of all money it gives to the country's various NGOs. Such grants are to be used only on development-oriented projects that will help improve people's living condition in the area where the NGO operates.
The SGP said Barry Lalley, the BRG manager-consultant, received the initial K16,000 on May 28, 2001 out of the agreed total funding grant of K24,300. But until now, Mr Lalley has not accounted for the money, the SGP said, so they decided not to release the balance of the K24,300.
In a recent letter to Mr Lalley, an American exaptriate, SGP said that his (Mr Lalley) failure to account until now for the K16,000 supposedly used for the NGO's landuse planning workshop has disturbed the funding agency.
Stressing that “it is not accusing” Mr Lalley of “stealing” the money, SGP has demanded that Mr Lalley observe the “procedures and processes” in the use of the money grant.
In his faxed reply to SGP, Mr Lalley said he has complied with the agency's requirements when he submitted on April 3, 2002 the official receipts of expenses for the two workshops he allegedly held in1999 and 2000. But the SGP has rejected them, saying that the money Mr Lalley received was to be used only on BRG activities after May 2001 as provided for in the funding agreement and “not before May 2001”.
The National has obtained a copy of said letter to Mr Lalley, which the agency sent to him in five occasions during the past two years as he chose to ignore the previous four letters completely.
The SGP sent the same letter to Madang-based People Centred Development Consultants to inform the agency of Mr Lalley's failure to account for the money until now.
SGP wanted the CDC, the office that coordinates with all NGO's in the province, to press Mr Lalley to deliver BRG's spending report.
Should Mr Lalley fail to account how the money was used, the Madang government, the local MP's and the local NGO coordinator can take him to court for fund misuse, a source at UNDP-Port Moresby told The National yesterday.
Clans slam NGO over tuna cannery September 22, 2003 p7
Clan leaders say the cannery will bring jobs
Leaders of five clans in Kananam village outside of Madang are up in arms against NGO Bismark Ramu Group who they say is depriving their people of badly-needed jobs.
BRG is a non-governmental organisation operating in Kananam village. It is run by American consultant-manager, Barry Lalley.
Speaking for the clan leaders, Mathew Masbud questioned the legitimacy of BRG's attempt to block a new tuna cannery proposed to be built in the village. He said it would bring jobs to his people.
“BRG is supposed to help my people improve their living conditions but the way it looks, it is now causing misery,” says Mr Masbud. He is chairman of the SSD Corporation Ltd, representing 3,000 villagers from five clans.
He said BRG through Mr Lalley secured a funding grant from United Nations Development Program (UNDP) purportedly to help the villagers find ways to make their land productive in a sustainable way and give them regular source of income.
“But what BRG does now is instigate a small group of villagers to prevent the new cannery from being built here in Kananam,” Mr Masbud said.
The anti-cannery group called Idowad is composed of 15 villagers led by Francis Gem and James Sungai who are closely working with BRG in an alleged smear campaign to shut down the acnnery and to prevent the construction of a new one.
Located at Kananam village just next to the company's private wharf, the cannery' will give jobs to about 5,000 people.
“We badly needed these jobs, which BRG is denying us,” Paul Basan, a village leader told The National. He added that should the cannery project materialise, they expect to benefit from spin off businesses.
Construction of the US$70 million tuna cannery plant should have started last year but plans remain in limbo. Owners RD Tuna Canners, shelved the project because of Idowad's campaign against it.
On September 8, Mr Masbud and nine clan leaders sought an audience with Mr Lalley at the BRG office in Jais Aben Resort Hotel outside of Madang to ask him why his NGO was preventing the construction of the cannery. Mr Masbud said Mr Lalley ignored them.
Last February, Mr Gem and Mr Sungai led a group of villagers to press cannery owner RD Tuna, to shell out K100,000 monthly :for the use of the fresh water lake” in Kananam village, which would be increased further as soon as the cannery starts operation”.
However, the company ignored the demand saying the 20 kilometre lake is located within its 860 hectare property.
Meanwhile, Mr Lalley failed to account for a K16,000 grant from the Small Grant Program (SGP) from UNDP. Because of this, SGP stopped the release of the rest of the K24,000 it approved for BRG. UNDP is investigating Mr Lalley's case.
RD Tuna export hits US$23.42mby Alfredo Hernandez
September 22, 2003 The National - p20.
RD Tuna Canners, the country's pioneer in tuna canning, generated export sales of US$23.42 million last year, nine times more than exports in 1997, its first year of operation.
During the company's initial year of production, export revenue was only US$2.8 million when the volume of canned tuna only filled 61 containers.
RDTC, a subsidiary of Philippine based RD Group, is comprised of 18 corporations with interests ranging from tuna fish canning and fishing, prawn farms, to banking and pawnshop operations.
Figures made available by the company showed that it shipped a total of 1,132 full container loads (FCL) last year to domestic and international markets. Of this, 716 FCL accounted for export shipments, representing 24 per cent of the 2,962 containers shipped out during the year by PNG's entire manufacturing sector.
On a monthly basis, RDTC shipped out an average of 62 containers to various countries. With duty free entry for Papua New Guinea-produced canned tuna in the European market, RDTC wants to accelerate an incraese in its production capaciy. The cannery also hopes to meet a 2,000 metric tonne quota it won in the European market, which it needs to fulfil by the end of 2005 when the quota agreement would lapse.
To meet increasing demand for its 13 canned tuna products, which include the popular brand Diana Tuna, RDTC is right now thrashing out with the landowners in Kananam village some land issues that need to be resolved to pave the way for the construction of a second cannery.
The proposed cannery would cost at least US$70 million and would employ about 5,000 workers. The existing cannery located in a 6.5-hectare property at Siar village, operates with 3,500 workers and processes a daily average of 120 metric tons of fish.
A company report said that in the five years RDTC operated between 1997 and 2001, it had produced 1,923 FCLs for export markets worth US$71.4 m.
Meanwhile, in the domestic market, RDTCs low-priced home brand Diana has cornered an estimated 65 per cent of the total PNG demand for canned fish.
The Diana brand also boasts an export market in the neighbouring South Pacific islands.
The report has stressed that, “due to the lively business of the company, it was able to contribute a big chunk to the Government's dollar reserves, thus contributing to the Government's dollar reserves, thus contributing a good share in the stabilisation of the Kina”.
Since 2000 to the first half of 2003, RDTC contributed US$71.4 million to the Government's dollar reserves, the report said.
RD PNG Group export to US, Europe, Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu. Export sales of $23,420,000 in 2002.
Madang lagoon pristine: Study September 23, 2003 Alfredo P Hernandez.
(For correction of this article please see WWF's Press Release 25 September 2003)
THE Madang lagoon is in quite pristine condition, thus declares the latest study on the quality of water in the lagoon, disproving claims by an alleged non-government group (NGO) that it is critically polluted.
Conducted by he WWF South Pacific Program, Pacific Ecoregions Centre based in Madang in May 2003, the study said “from all the data exposed, we could say that the lagoon is in quite prestine stage”.
Study author Dr Ariadna Benet Monico said the level of pollution coming from various sources inland are within tolerable level but she suggested that serious efforts should be taken to keep it under control. Likewise, she said that new development projects planned along the coast of the lagoon should seriously consider effective effluent-waste liquid treatment industrial liquid wastes are potential source of pollution in the lagoon.
The Bismark Ramu Group, which claims to be an NGO, said the water quality in the lagoon has been endangered due to pollution and that fish catch has drastically decreased.
The BRG has gained notoriety lately after the funding agency Small Grant Program of the United Nations Development Program revealed last week that it failed to explain how its members used the K16,000 grant they received from SGP on May 28, 2001.The group's activities are run by its American consultant-manager Barry Lalley.
The study of the lagoon's water quality was prompted by concerns over the impact of flourishing of industrial, agricultural and tourism development during the last decade. All of this contributed much to the increasing volume of wastes going into the lagoon, the study pointed out. . .
The lagoon is 16km long and three kilometres wide and along its shore are the villages of Kananam, Malmal, Riwo, Siar and Kranket. The town's Nagada Harbour and a private wharf owned by RD Tuna Canners are also found along the lagoon's coast. Home to 858 species of reef fish, representing 57% of all fish species in Papua New Guinea, the lagoon has 11 per cent of the world's reef fish fauna.
Dr Monico said that due to its biological richness, the lagoon was designated a priority area by the PNG Conservation Needs Assessment (CAN) study in 1993. Dr Monico has recommended that the study be fully merged with all surveys planned along the Madang lagoon, such as reef, mangrove and sea grass.
She said that a rapid biological assessment of areas that are showing increasing levels of pollution due to urbanisation and increased industrial activities would give a general idea of reef health, which is always a stronger clue on the degree of pollution.
The study has noted that run off from logging and agricultural activities is one of the major problems at the lagoon but has not been addressed in the study.
“It would be very important to set up a parallel study to monitor the impact of sedimentation on reefs,” said the study.
SGP not concerned about NGO's activities September 23, 2003 p7
Port Moresby-based funding agency of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said it does not meddle in the affairs of NGOs it supports raising concerns of foreign investors.
The funding arm, Small Group Program (SGP), told the National “ we are not concerned about activities of NGOs outside of what have been signed in a fund grant agreement”, adding that :it is not for us to meddle in their affairs”.
SGP said its job in the country is to provide funding grants to NGOs and community-based organisations (CBOs) to help them pursue community based projects that protect the environment and improve rural people's living condition. The agency said if ever the NGOs misused grants or used them in other activities outside of the funding agreement signed with the UNDP, such as blocking from being realised those foreign-funded land development projects in the mining, logging and fishing sectors - it now becomes the job of the local stakeholders starting from the provincial governor to run after them.
On the other hand, “whatever drastic moves the NGOs are doing, they should justify that they are with-in the law and that have to convince the Government there is a need to stop such projects”, SGP said.
While confirming the Barry Lalley-Bismark-Ramu Group fund grant scandal was being investigated, SGP said it does not want to dwell much on the issue because UNDP does not want to antagonise the NGOs, and destablise its relation with them.
The Madang-based BRG headed by American consultant-manager, Mr Lalley failed to account for the K16,000 grant it received on May 28, 2001.
“We are here to help improve the living conditions for the rural areas and the NGOs are our only means to reach them” SGP said. SGP said that 10 to 30 per cent of the NGOs it has dealt with were “trouble-makers”.
Reacting to SGP comments, a top executive of a foreign owned corporation told this reporter: The UNDP guys should be more concerned than what they have shown so far. Otherwise, troublesome NGOs in the country would spread out.” He requested anonymity.
Meanwhile, the Christian Science Monitor quoted the head of the Melbourne-based Institute of Public Affairs, Mike Nahan as saying:
“NGOs are becoming very influential today - they sit on various committees and are seen to influence governments and big business. As global players, they need to be more transparent.” Mr Nahan has accused NGO's of helping to lead Papua New Guinea to bankruptcy by forcing out mining industries here, CSM reported. He also claims that British Petroleum sold out is shareholders by bowing to the concerns of aid and development agencies, CSM added.
Meanwhile, SGP said a steering committee scrutinises any funding proposals from the NGOs before such grant requests are approved. The committee is composed of 10 experienced and knowledgable representatives in the field of environment and planning.
“So we are confident that the funds would be used accordingly,” SGP said, adding that grant recipients have to account for any spending they made.
SGP said that for every 10 proposals the committee screened, only three or four are being approved for funding. During the years from 1999, a total of US$432,262 had been infused to local NGOs and CBOs out of the US$800,0000 alotted for PNG.
This year alone, the NGOs and CBOs were given a total of US$122,597 out of US$152,000 budgeted for the year.
RD Tuna: The Whipping Boy Sep 24, 2003
By Alfredo P Hernandez. Part 1
“The photograph looked innocent. It showed two small commercial fishing vessels that just sailed in from the Phillipines early that morning.. . But the pleasant early morning scene in a private wharf at Siar village depicted in this picture, when it appeared last May on the website of the Sydney based NGO-orientated website http://lorikeet.and.com.au, was maliciously distorted.Its caption read: “RD Tuna boats - the sex trade”. There was no photo credit.
Adolph Skarmai, 44, father of five boys and four girls and himself a clan leader in Kananam village, has gone ballistic. He had recognised from that Internet picture that a friend had shown him afterwards the small dugout canoe he built for his eight-year old daughter . . .
“This is outrageous . . . my little girl is not a prostitute, “ Mr Skarai told this writer. “Noone in our Kananam village is a prostitute . . . the women in Kananam are not prostitutes . . .”
Internet experts who tried to pinpoint the source of the webiste material found there were 30 layers of websites leading to the “sex trade” photograph. It was not possible to break through this subterfuge to determine the exact source.
An RD Tuna executive said it is common knowledge that a locally based NGO, the Bismark-Ramu Group, which is headed by ex-Vietnam veteran from the United States, Barry Lalley, was campaigning to shut down its big canning operations.
Mr Lalley, who works out of air-conditioned rooms at the Jais Aven Hotel outside Madang refused to be interviewed by this writer. He also ignored questions emailed to him on his activities in Kananam village.
Based on information gathered by this writer, James Yali, the governor of Madang has also politely invited Barry Lalley for a dialogue to discuss and clarify the same issues.
However, the Madang governor's invitation was likewise snubbed by Mr Lalley.
Although Mr Lalley's name doesn't appear on RBG's roster, Mr Skarmai said the former is actually the group's manager, the fund-seeker, the workhorse and the one orchestrating BRG's activities. Villagers said Mr Lalley was seen almost everyday in the village talking to landowners and taking pictures, some of which have been identified on the offending website.
Mr Lalley has ganged up with 15 individuals claiming to be landowners, and village leaders to wage a protracted war against RD Tuna Canners Ltd whose plant is located on a company-owned lot at Siar village, next to Kananam. The group, known as the Iduwad Association, is headed by Francis Gem and James Sungai and claims to represent the interest of 3,000 Kananam villagers.
With clandestine backing from Mr Lalley, the group wants to stop the operations of the cannery and its tuna fishing operations, which employs about 3,500 cannery workers.
Earlier, the Iduwad members wanted to squeeze K100,000 from RD Tuna monthly for use of water from the nearby freshwater lake for a new cannery. The company ignored the demand because the lake is within the company's 860-hectare property.
Through Mr Lalley, the Iduwads have made known to the international community their intent to shut down the entire operations of the cannery when they posted on the Internet website http://lorikeet.and.com.au a manifesto calling for an international boycott of RD Tuna's 13 product brands.
The BRG-Iduwad faction accused the cannery of polluting the air, the lagoon and other waterways; spilling huge amounts of ammonia from the cannery's fishing vessel's freezer into the lagoon which claimed “some human lives” and deaths to butterfly fish; non-payment of corporate taxes and low wages for cannery workers, among others. And the claim of prostitution.
The unverified ammonia deaths story was reported by The Post Courier on May 12 and was immediately picked up by Sydney based open-publishing website Independent Media Centre with further elaboration and speculation on the “worsening state” of the lagoon next to the cannery. . .
THE TROUBLE surfaced after RD Tuna acquired through a court-ordered bidding held in 1997 the 860-hectare property now comprising the Kananam village. It's where the cannery's cold storage facilities, wharf and the jealously guarded 20 hectare freshwater lake are located. Planted to coconut and cocoa trees, the property that also doubles as cattle grazing area, used to belong to the Catholic Missio under a 99-year lease.
Several years back, the Catholic Mission got tired looking after the land and feeding the cattle. So it sold the land to the Madang provincial government, which in turn sold it to ZZZ Canning Pty Ltd owned by Lawrence Zuanich, an American Ukranian. Mr Zuanich had a plan to put up a fish cannery on the property but it was dropped when he went bankrupt in 1994.
When Mr Zuanich failed to settle his debts to the contractors who had started land development in the area, the court ordered the land's foreclosure. A subsequent auction followed on January 27, 1997, handled by The Professional Realty while the Robert Southwell Partners, a KPMG chartered accountants, supervised the repaying of ZZZ Canning's debts from the property's sales proceeds.
Some private businessmen and corporate representatives bid for the property. A bid of K3 million gave RD Tuna the 860-hectare property known until now as the “Vidar plantation”.
Nobody could say how long the mission had held onto the property, but village elders said that as soon as the mission took ownership of the land, they began planting coconut trees. . .
RD Tuna: Time to fight back September 25, 2003 - p15
by Alfredo P Hernandez In Kananam and Siar villages, on the outskirts of Madang
(Continued from yesterday) (Part 2) MR RODRIGO E RIVERA, Sr, chairman and president of Philippine-based RD Group composed of 27 companies to which RD Tuna Canners belongs, loves ro read the Bible.
Although he shuns publicity, he was elected president of a huge Bible society called Gideon Society of the Philippines for three consecutive terms from 1991. As its head, he raised money to print Bibles for distribution in the country and at times to other Third World Countries. Not surprisingly, the RD Group corporate logo carries a picture of the Bible and tuna fish.
Obviously, when Mr Rivera saw the Internet manifesto accusing RD Tuna's fishing boat crews of being involved in the sex trade, he was shocked.
In a brief note to this writer from General Santos City, Philippines, the home base of his corporate flagship, Mr Rivera said that he doesn't give credence to the Internet allegations against his workers.
He said: “In every fishing vessel that carries the name of RD Tuna, there has always been a Filipino pastor on board. He conducts Bible studies even at sea whenever they can inspire crewmembers to put the Almighty ahead of everything they do and to do good deeds to their fellowmen.”
Reverend Pastor Romeo B Degolacion, who just sailed in after three days of fishing near in the Bismark waters, told this writer; “I really don't understand why there are people who want to harm the reputation of innocent girls and women in this (Kananam) village ...”
“Our crewmembes will never do what the have been accused of, my boys are God-fearing ... they read the Holy Bible almost everyday while waiting to catch the fish and engaging in sex trade as alleged is something that is just absurd...”
There are ten RD catcher boats regularly docking at Kananam wharf to bring in the tuna catch.
Back in the Philippines, Mr Rivera sought the help of a group of Filipino Internet experts to look into the source of the story and pictures posted on the website http://lorikeet.and.com.au and on www.sydney.indymedia.org.
After days of hacking and looking, the group came up with some 30 layers of websites through which the said stories and pictures went through by the time it reached http://lorikeet.and.com.au. But the group was unable to pinpoint the source.
Pete C. Celso, RD Tuna Canners Managing Director for PNG, speculates that some well-funded (foreign) groups with ulterior motives are orchestrating the smear campaign aginst his company.
Mr Celso says a local NGO< BRG, has been campaigning against the cannery.
“The tuna fishing and canning is a billion dollar industry... and one of the major commodities being traded world wide...” said Mr Celso. He noted that approximately 60 per cent of the world's tuna catch comes from the Pacific waters and of this, 20 per cent comes from the waters of Papua New Guinea.
At present, there are 205 international fishing boats licensed to fish in the Pacific region. These are the Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese, US, Filipino and EU fleets. RD Tuna just sails 10 licensed fishing vessels for PNG operations, backed up by some carrier vessels and skiff/ranger boats.
Fishing industry sources speculate that big foreign tuna canning companies try to make it difficult for new fish processing canneries to be built in Third World countries like PNG. More canneries being set up in PNG means lesser and lesser fish raw materials being made available to these existing foreign owned canneries located outside of PNG. And the best way to discourage new investors in the tuna procesing here in PNG is to bring up the issue of landownership, an issue that is exploited by NGOs.
It is enough to agitate landowners and to encourage them to block development on their land. Which brings our focus to the planned US$70 million cannery, RD Tuna's second cannery in the area.
Right now, NGO BRG and Iduwad are holding it up. The plant is to rise on a property belonging to the company just next to the wharf and cold storage facilities. It will give jobs to another 5,000 people in Madang. It is also one reason why the company has not paid its stockholders dividends since it began operating in 1997 since all profits have been ploughed back into expansion and diversification plans.
This is in total contradiction to claims publicised on the newswire website Sydney.indymedia.org that RD Tuna repatriates profits back to the Philippines every year. Until last year, the company enjoyed a five-year tax holiday as an incentive for being a pioneer canning industry investor in this country. This is an issue used by the detractors of RD in claiming that the company evades tax. They conveniently omit the fact that an income tax holiday is an incentive given not only to RD but to all pioneering industries approved by the PNG Government. The critics also forget to mention that RD Tuna has been paying other types of taxes like value added tax, excise tax, business taxes etc. Expectedly corporate taxes will be due effective this year. Moreover, there are a lot of income taxes and other taxes generated by the PNG Government out of direct and indirect business opportunities arising out of the RD project.
WHILE WAITING for its chance to put up the new fish canning plant, RD Tuna has to face - for the first time ever - many detractors. But Mr Celso has expressed confidence that the real truth will always come out and rectify the wrong done against the company.
“We have been quiet all along because we knwe there was no truth to all of this rubbish,” he told this writer.
“But when another local daily paper (not National) carried a report on May 12, 2003 about “massive deaths caused by Ammonia spill,” and the sex trade charges without verifying the facts, we decided “thats it”.
Mr Celso is very annoyed with the said article. “All it did was put a getaway disclaimer, saying “the reported deaths are yet to be confirmed ... But why in the first place report it when the facts have not been confirmed yet?” The “massive deaths” story carried by another local paper and subsequently picked up by the NGO website was enough reason, if they were true, for the Kananam clans to burn down the cannery, the fishing boats and the cold storage facilities.”
“But until now, not one family has confronted us, proving that the death story was all rubbish,” he said.
ONE LATE morning, 56 year old Mr Paul Basan, a village leader in Kananam, was pleased to see on his dining table a basketful of freshly gathered clams and mud crabs. His wife gathered them from the nearby mangrove. She said it was the clamming season again and there was plenty in the mangrove to pick. “And there has been a lot to pick in the mangrove ever since ...who says the water is poisoned? The wife asked.
While admitting that an accidental ammonia leak from one of the boat's refrigeration system had occurred, caused by a worn out joint on a refrigerant pipeline, Mr Danilo Zamudio, cold storage plant manager, said it was immediately rectified. He described the spill as a “quick” short burst of gaseous mist” which was immediately plugged.
He said the malicious charges made against RD Tuna as a polluter of the environment, particularly the Madang lagoon, was shown to be false when the highly respected WWF South Pacific Program, Pacific Ecoregions Centre, based in Madang, declared in its latest report that water quality was “pristine” in Madang lagoon.
In her environmental report dated May 2003, author Dr Ariadna Benet Monico concluded: “From all the data exposed....We could say that the lagoon is in quite pristine state.”
She further said that pollution indicators in the lagoon were all within reasonable levels. However, she suggested further monitoring around the area, particularly the rivers, creeks and the fresh water lake, which are continuously getting various pollutants from village households an run off from logging operations and big-scale agricultural activities.
For RD Tuna Canners, it's about time to fight back.
Pollution Concern in Madang Lagoon's Madang, Papua New Guinea.
WWF Press Release 25 September 2003
A recent media report asserting that WWF has declared the Madang Lagoon as pristine is misleading. And WWF is concerned that the newspaper responsible made the claim when water quality studies have proved otherwise.
WWF commissioned a water quality study of the lagoon, the study revealed that there are istes in the area which are affected by pollution.
WWF PNG Marine Manager Robert Vonole said the study revealed that river water is also affected. :Sites which are under great threat of water pollution are Vidar, Siar and the Madang town wharf area.
WWF believes that these areas need to be monitored and steps must be taken to avert further pollution,” said Mr Vonole.
He noted WWF's concern that the newspaper made references to the water quality report by Doctor Ariadna Benet Monico,
“The findings of the study are contrary to what was carried in the newspaper article. The report has not been finalised nor officially released by WWF and Doctor Monico has confirmed that she was never interviewed by the newspaper although the article was written as such.”
Mr. Vonole said WWF would continue with its work in the region, “Madang is part of the Bismark Solomon Seas Ecoregion, an area identified by marine experts during a biological workshop in July 2003 as being a unique centre of marine biodiversity and we will continue to work with Government and the locl communities to ensure that it is protected.”
For further information Contact Rovbert Vanole WWF PNG Marine Manager tel: 852 3720 oe email rvanole@wwfpacific.org.pg
Yali probes NGO mess By Alfredo P Hernandez September 29 2003 - p7 .
The scandal gripping the discredited non-governmental organisation Bismark-Ramu Group in Madang started to snowball yesterday, with Governor James Yali stepping into the controversy, bent on seeing to the bottom of the mess.
In an unprecedented move, Mr Yali wrote to Labour and Employment Minister Peter Yama urging him to scrutinise the nature of American expatriate Barry Lalley's engagement as consultant of BRG.
Mr Lalley is the acknowledged manager of BRG and the one orchestrating all the activities of the group, including fund-seeking from the Small Grants Program of the Global Environment Facility based in Port Moresby.
The same letter has been sent to Inter-Government Relations Minister Peter Barter; Foreign Affairs Minister Sir Rabbie Namaliu, and Parliament Speaker Bill Skate.
In the letter, Mr Yali has asked Mr Yama: “What would become of such a person who has become detrimental to the development and unity among our people?” Mr Yali was referring to the on-going bitter row between the 3,000 villagers in Kananam and a small minority group, Iduwad Association, backed by BRG over the proposed setting up of a new tuna factory in Kananam.
Also, the BRG-Iduwad is waging a smear campaign to shut down the present cannery at Siar village, also owned by RD Tuna Canners. The cannery has 3,500 workers who, along with 3,000 Kananam villagers, are fighting for its continued operations.
Mr Yali said that Mr Lalley “has created disharmony in my province, created bad relations with donors while working in my province, and now affecting the business community”.
He told Sir Rabbie, in a seperate letter, that his (provincial) government sees the NGOs as partners and “we have a nominated member of the provincial assembly who represents the NGOs”. Stressing that his government has worked closely with NGOs in various development projects, Mr Yali said he has formed a provincial NGO secretariat for coordination purposes.
The Governor zeroed in on three “oversights” which BRG committed:
*It did not use the funds for purposes which it was given, that is to do the land-use studies training;
*It did not properly accounted for the funds;
*It has not joined Madang's provincial NGOs that have representative in the provincial assembly.
Mr Yali said he personally tried to coordinate with BRG to tell him of its activities in the province. However, the members chose to snub him. While all other NGOs, including the churches, have worked well with the provincial government, the BRG has worked in isolation, raising suspicions on the nature of their activities, Mr Yali said.
“They have caused disharmony among the villagers in Kananam,” Mr Yali said.
WWF disputes report September 29 - p7.
The World Wide Fund South Pacific Program office in the country has disputed a newspaper report that the Madang Lagoon “is in a quite pristine stage”.
WWF said in a statement on Thursday that it was concerned about the newspaper claim “when water quality studies have indicated otherwise”.
The reports contained in the newspaper article were taken from the paper, Madang Lagoon Water Quality Monitoring, written by Dr Ariadna Benet Monico an prepared by WWF South Pacific Program's Madang office in May 2002.
In reference to a water quality tudy of the lagoon it commissioned, WWF said the study revealed that there are sites in the area that are affected by pollution. “Sites that are under threat of water pollution are Vidar, Siar and the Madang town wharf area,”
WWF PNG Marine manager Robert Vonole said in the statement. “WWF believes that these areas need to be monitored and steps must be taken to avert further pollution.”
Referring to Dr Benet Monico's study paper, Mr Vonole argued that her findings were contrary to what was carried in the newspaper article.
MP stirs up stink over RD Tuna by John Dau Oct 1 2003 - p5
“The Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare told Parliament yesterday a number of allegations raised against RD Tuna Cannery in Madang would be investigated and the findings made public.
Sir Michael said it would be an interdepartmental inquiry including officers from the Department of Environment and Conservation and Fisheries.
The Prime Minister was responding to allegations made by Bogia MP John Hickey. Mr Hickey claimed that foul smell emitted from the factory is polluting the air in the surrounding villages. Mr Hickey claims local employed at the factory were being paid wages lower than plantation labourers, and that expatriates, mainly Asians, have been employed in jobs meant for Papua New Guineans and there was no localisation program in place. He alleged that there was illegal export of fauna and for a out of the country, and that there was illegal sale of foreign beverages in Madang by RD Tuna Vessels.
Sir Michael said “. . . the findings would be presented to Mr Hickey in November . . . Sir Michael said he drove from Mai Wara to Talidik last year and knows of the smell. Pollution is a biggest problem in the Alexishafen passage and I know that too” he said.
“The Iduwads, a minority group of villagers in Kananam, are bent on proving their claim that the Filipino crew members of RD Tuna fishing fleet are engaged in sex trade with local girls and adult females.
The National has been reliably informed that certain persons were seen mobilising young girls to go and hang around at the RD Tuna wharf where the fishing vessels are docked, with instruction to entice the crewmen, however RD Tuna management got wind of this and sealed off the wharf compund just before the women arrived.
Concern about jobs and businesses in Papua New Guinea occupied by foreigners Post Courier - Thursday: October 2, 2003
Concern about jobs and businesses in Papua New Guinea occupied by foreigners - exasperated by some 10,000 illegal immigrants - may result in a major Government crackdown.
Labour and Industrial Relations Minister Peter Yama told Parliament he would propose to Cabinet a taskforce that would include Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Trade and Industry as well as the Labour Department.
Mr Yama’s plans for a taskforce comes amidst indications from outside Parliament that there has been a blanket ban on work permit extensions and the issue of new permits which has legitimate organisations seething over the fate of their expatriate managers.
Bogia MP John Hickey highlighted that RD Tuna had more than 600 expatriate employees - some of them doing jobs that locals could easily perform and wages lower than plantation labourers were being paid to some locals at RD Tuna.
Ijivitari MP Cecilking Doruba expressed security concerns on the higher number of illegal immigrants that makes it conducive for trans-national terrorism and criminal activities because PNG shares common borders with three countries.
Labour and Industrial Relations Minister Yama said the function of the joint consultative monitoring committee would be to ensure and remove any illegal immigrants in PNG.
“Now this is a big problem. I think we all must know that all these people do not have work permits; they do not have entry visas to come into PNG. Some have come in as tourists, they do not have a valid reason to stay in PNG. When their (visa) terms expire, they don’t leave but find a PNG businessman, or even MPs, to help them and associate with them and start to do business with them such as trade stores and buying sea cucumbers, ” he said.
RD Tuna has nothing to hide October 3
RD Tuna Canners yesterday denied criticisms of its cannery operations by a Member of Parliament. The company, however, welcomed Prime Minister Sir Michel Somare's suggestion that an inquiry is held because the company has “nothing to hide”.
Pete C Celso, RDTC managing director, said he welcomed Sir Michael's plan for an interdepartmental inquiry, which would involve officers from the Departments of Environment and Conservation and Fisheries. Bogia MP John Hickey said that a foul smell is being emitted from the cannery causing air pollution in the area. He also alleged that local employed at the cannery were being paid wages lower than plantation labourers and that there was no localisation of positions held by Asian expatriates.
Mr Celso said there is an existing localisation and training program as a matter of policy set up by the Department of Labour, so it is impossible for the company not to localise an expatriate's position. He said Mr Hickey's accusation about “600 expatriates” employed by the cannery was “just a figment of Mr Hickey's imagination”.
Mr Celso said the cannery employs 55 expatriates and 3,500 locals at the cannery and 36 expatriates and 200 locals at the cold storage facilities. Mr Celso said “the good MP should have referred the issue to the Department of Labour who would know better and who have jurisdiction over the matter, instead of making comments about it”.
Mr Celso said a fact-finding team composed of representatives from National Food Authority, Investment Promotion Authority, Trade and Industry Development, Minister of Labour's Regional Office and the Department of Environment and Conservation recently carried out a similar inquiry on the cannery operations. They had looked into the records of workers' wages, as well as working condition at the cannery. “The probe team was impressed to learn of the amount we were paying to our cannery workers as the wages were much higher than the government-set minimum wage,” Mr Celso said. “The probe team was shown payroll records and were satisfied about the wages being paid to the cannery workers.”
Mr Celso said that even workers with no education and no work experience are paid about double the set minimum wages. Besides that workers get subsidised meals at the cannery workers' canteen, free transport from home to workplace and back and an incentive pay of K20 per fortnight if the worker completes 10 working days in a fortnight. “This is higher than the national wage average as decreed in the minimum wage law,” Mr Celso said.
On the issue of air pollution, Mr Celso said the problem has been addressed and the anti-pollution measures the company uses are continually being improved to meet the needs of the cannery's expanding operations.
Duma looks into cannery row October 6, 2003
The National Environment and Conservation Minister William Duma has given RD Tuna Canners 30 days to remedy the alleged air pollution caused by the operation of its cannery at Siar, Madang province. Mr Duma said he will not hesitate to penalise the cannery with a fine of up to K40,000 should it fail to do so.
Mr Duma was reacting to issues raised by Member for Bogia John Hickey regarding the alleged pollution around the cannery site. Reacting to this, the RD Tuna management said such anti-pollution measure has already been in place long before Mr Duma became the new Environment Minister. The company said an inter-agency fact finding mission with representatives from the ministries of Environment, Labour (regional office), Trade and Industry, National Fisheries Authority and Investment Promotion Authority had gone to the cannery to have a first hand knowledge of the operations of the cannery.
“The anti-pollution measures now in place in the cannery has been the result of the interagency fact finding mission,: the management said in a phone interview with The National. RD Tuna said it was wondering “why there was a need for another directive when there's already one in place”?
The company said a report on the result of the fact-finding mission has been made, which recommended the current anti-pollution measure now being used at the cannery. “Being new in his job, Mr Duma should have consulted with his predecessor, the former minister Sasa Zibe who initiated such fact-finding mission, to avoid this ill-advised and unfortunate media statement,” the RD Tuna spokesman said.
On Mr Hickey's allegation, RD Tuna said “he should have inspected the cannery site first before making accusations against the company”, adding that the invitation for him to see the site remains open.
Sources from the NGO's in Madang said Mr Hickey has been lately working closely with Barry Lalley, the American consultant-manager of the discredited Bismark-Ramu Group in the NGO's drive to shut down the cannery.
Related to this, Mr Lalley has been restrained by the local court from making statements against RD Tuna.
On another issue, the Minister also charged that RD Tuna owed K100,000 in water use fees to the government. In a press conference yesterday, Mr Duma said the cannery must pay for extracting water for industrial usage from water bores-wells it had drilled.
Editorial Madang's Great Fish War - The National October 7, 2003.
The rights and wrongs of the RD Tuna Cannery debate continue to rage. The cannery, which operates from Siar near Madang, has been the source of controversy since it was established. Complaints persist of an all-pervasive smell from the factory, of the depletion of on-shore fishing schools normally accessed by local fishermen, of widespread pollution and of manual jobs well within the ability of any semi-skilled Papua New Guinean to fill, being held by foreign labour.
Certainly there is no lack of Madang residents prepared to voice their criticisms of what they claim to be an uncaring operation that has ridden roughshod over the law and local sensibilities. Lately, the waters have been modified further by the inclusion of a non-government organisation and its role in the matter in the debate. The very persistence of these complaints, and the wide range of people both Papua New Guinean and foreign that is making them suggests that this situation will simply not evaporate.
In recent weeks there has been a number of substantial articles in The National supportive of the cannery, which has predictably had the effect of bringing the now-familiar criticisms into focus. The subject is certainly topic of the month in the small seaside town.
Whether RD is the victim of an orchestrated plot to diminish its standing in the community, the victim of tunnel-visioned environmentalists, or a target for disaffected landowners with traditional fishing rights remains to be determined. But newly appointed Environment and Conservation Minister William Duma has made his stand clear. He has given RD Tuna 30 days to remedy the alleged air polluton of face substantial fines.
In noting that a fact-finding mission has already taken place, and claiming that the factory had implemented the recommendations of that mission, RD Tuna has only added fuel to the fire. It is surely inappropriate for the company to say: 'Being new in his job, Mr Duma should have consulted with his predecessor . . . who initiated such a fact finding mission, to avoid this ill-advised and unfortunate media statement.
Doubtless it was never the intention of RD Tuna to appear either patronising or arrogant, but no commercial enterprise, big or small, should tell a minister of State how to do his job, and by implication suggest that the minister is less than competent.
It is precisely this lack of awareness of PNG sensibilities that has bedevilled AusAID, and now threatens once again to engulf the foreign workers in this country. . . Neither RD Tuna nor any oter enterprise has the right to phrase a defensive response to a serving Minister in this way . .
Public Relations.
The National September 29, 2003 p17
Fortnight gold rush in Madang By Alfredo P Hernandez
Company fortnights in Madang town are like gold rush story with a rather odd twist: only four shops are pocketing the gold. And the gold rush come in the form of cheques that the 3,000 fish canning workers bring to these four shops - Best Buy, RabTrade, MST Supermarket and Madang Butchery - to buy various household items from rice, flour, salt, kakaruk, pikpok, to of course Diana Tuna.
The other 500, who do more complicated jobs at the cannery and offices, use Etfos cards. Bearing the name of RD Tuna Canners Ltd, these cheques have replaced the cash. It's now the currency that the cannery workers carry around when shopping. Cash would be a bit dangerous to handle specially when workers get their wages. Local raskols, some say, have matured enough overtime and won't dare touch RD Tuna cheques, for one reason of the other. “I would spend two days signing those cheques,” said an executive at RD Tuna, as he described how his poor signing hand went numb after writing his name on the blank line.
Lucky are these three shops because they are the only ones that have been anointed by RD Tuna to accept the cheques as payment, which later they deposit with the local ANZ Bank. In short, Best Buy, RabTrade, MST Supermarker and Madang Butchery, have for themselves a captive market in the 3,000 or more cannery workers who flood the shopping centre like a mob in the afternoon of their fortnight. It is only in Madang where you can see all the cash register counters being occupied by only one breed of people - cannery workers. . . . The cheques are like the real McCoy because you get the change if your purchase was less than the amount of the cheque.
RD Tuna's cheque scheme is also the reason why there is a price war among the three anointed shops. Price war in the sense that whoever offers the best price - gets the gold. See?
For instance, one shop offers buyone take one come-on. The other shop has thought of issuing discounts coupons to the cheque customers, which they could accumulate up to certain amount, after which they could accumulate up to certain amount, after which they can exchange for foodstuff and other items. Another has raffle draws. One shop would offer free one-bite sandwich an a watery juice in plastic cups. The next shop had thought of packaging together three or more items at a discounted price. . .
So the Madang gold rush has become a fortnightly notoriety as far as other shoppers - those working for other companies and government entities in town - are concerned. Better to stay away from these shops although the prices they offer are really that good, unless you are able to penetrate the cannery line. Which is impossible, however, because you've got to say the password: RD Tuna.
A staff at MST Supermart said there was nothing like this until that time a few years ago when the cannery workers came in waves from Siar village, where their canning plant is located, every fortnight. One recalled that before 1997, shops here were already closed by 3pm and remained closed till the next morning when they open up for the new day. Reason? No business to do. No people traffic - these are those who look- see the goods on the shelves to buy an item or two.
The reason was that those times, says Stotick Kamya, community relations officer at RD Tuna, used to be the sleepy days for the town. People couldn't move around, as there was no public transport to carry them like it is now, he added. “But even if there was one, if you don't have a kina in your pocket, what's the point going out and see the shops,” Mr Kamya, a former ranking cop in the province, told this writer.
Now, there's not only kina in the pockets of the 3,000 plus cannery workers, there's also 29 company hired bus-trucks that are ready to take them to town on fortnights - all for free - and takeover the shops for themselves - at least for the day. Just imagine how much business these cannery workers give to the three shops in two fortnights - about K500,000 - to the chagrin of the other shops nearby who are missing out on the windfall.
When these shops make lots of money from the shoppers, they also pay a huge VAT, which goes into the coffers of the Madang government ready for use on some social projects and the like. What goes around comes around, so they say. “Things have changed a lot for the better in Madang,” Mr Kamya said, “because we've got a cannery here that gives livelihood to over 3,000 people who love to shop.”
Landowners in Siar village where the six-hectare cannery is located operate most of these bus-trucks, a spin-off from the cannery business. RD Tuna bought four of these trucks and gave one to each of four clans - at a subsidised cost of K10,000 per unit - and let them pay the balance, also at subsidised interest rates, over five years. Some of the rest of the vehicles are either hired by the company from Madang operators or by the four clans themselves.
So instead of RD Tuna hauling over 3,000 workers to go see the shops on fortnights and to all points in Madang during work days, and back to the cannery 24-hours a day, it's the landowner - clans doing this. And for the services rendered, the bus-truck operators are paid a total of K100,000 kina a fortnight - the amount that the workers would have spent on bus fares combined. It is the same amount that is siphoned into the Madang economy from the bus-truck operators - part of the K2 million that the company pumps into the economy fortnightly.
Truck-bus operators also get big discounts on fuel when they draw it from the cannery's depot. RD Tuna cheques, free bus-rides, and course, subsidised meals at work, and good shopping, - all signs of progress for over 3,000 people. What more could one ask for?
Those were the days when Madang town didn't hear the cash registers banging merrily after 3pm. It does now.
The National (2) Oct 1, 2003. p15
“On their way to bright future. Madang children are beneficiaries of RDTC's scholarship program launched recently. By Alfredo P Hernandez.
“. . . The first batch of three scholar-candidates under the Company's scholarship program would be coming from St.Michael Primary School, which has been guaranteed with three slots every year. However, the number of scholars would be raised to six later. . . The three students with the highest average grades will make the first batch of RDTC scholars, a privilege to last till they've graduated from the University - as long as they make the grade. . .
Mercidita Laguesma, assistant Vice President for human resources and general services, said these children are the benficiaries of RDTC's scholarship program launched recently.
“It is a major component of our efforts to reach out to the people who live in the village.” Ms Laguesma said that in the next 10 years, they expect to see at least 30 or more scholars in various stages of learning. “They are PNG's future leaders, who 25 to 30 years from now, would become the pillars of the society, running the affairs of the government and private sector,” she added, adding that RDTC would want to help in nation building . . .
“Funding of this program will come from the training levy, which comes from the two percent of the company's total yearly gross payroll and deducted from the company tax payale for 2003 . . . scholars will also get regular health and medical attention from the company doctor. RDTC would want its scholars in tip-top health condition, Ms Laguesma said. . .
Meanwhile, Ms Laguesma said RDTC has provided St. Michael provisions for its 400 students, from writing pens, activity notebooks for all the subjects. It will be a yearly commitment. . . RDTC has also committed to provide the schoolchildren textbooks and reference books they needed for their five subjects. . .”
RD & Agriculture The National p28 October 1 2003. By Alfredo P Hernandez
“RD Tuna Canners is developing an irrigated six-hectare pilot rice farm at Kananam village in Madang to find out if the crop could be commercially grown in the area. Supervising Filipino agriculturalist Eddie Tejano said if successful, the area would be expanded to 80-100 hectares, providing another source of high quality but heap rice for the provice and also farm jobs to villagers. The farm is located on a 860 hectare property in Kananam owned by RD Tuna.
A team of Kananam villagers are working closely with another Filipino rice expert, Joseph Duco, to prepare the land for planting with high yield rice varities developed at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Banos, Laguna Philippines . . .
Known as IR64, this variety yields from nine tonnes to 6 tonnes per hectare on irrigated land an can be cropped three times a year depending on the availability of irrigation. It is harvested 100 days after sowing and has 65% rice grain recoverability. The seed variety has been successful in an experimental farm at the Pacific Adventist University (PAU) at 14 Mile carried out by Mr Tejano . . . sowing method requires about 80kg seeds per hectare . . . The pilot farm, to cost K6000 per hectare to prepare until harvest, will use water from the nearby Maiwara River. . . The harvest from the pilot farm would be supplied to RD Tuna workers canteens at subsidised cost.
Landowners under the business spin off scheme of the company are operating two canteens. . . Hopefully, projected harvest from the expanded farm would be sold in the local market, Mr Tejano said.
Allow officials to check allegations The National, Wednesday, October 08, 2003
I WISH to comment on a report in The National on Oct 6 in which certain comments and statements were made about me that need clarification and some explanation.
I have every faith in Minister William Duma. He is well qualified to effectively direct government policy and deal with matters that affect his ministry.
Regarding my association with foreign NGOs, there is absolutely no need for me to seek advice from any foreigner regarding issues that are obviously and adversely affecting those people whom I represent in the National Parliament.
I do not know Barry Lalley or the NGO persons I am accused of "working closely with". I have never met him, no do I know the so-called "discredited Bismarck-Ramu Group", nor those whom I am accused of in some way collaborating with.
What I said on the floor of Parliament was: "My questions are in relation to allegations that I have received from affected citizens."
I suggest that Hansard be consulted before any further comments are made on this issue. I can assure the RD Tuna Canners managing director that he will never direct, dictate or pressure me as to what questions I can or cannot ask on behalf of the citizens of my country on the floor of our National Parliament.
I consider it highly improper that a media war be waged against me, any minister of Government or departmental officer, while an official investigation is in progress into the questions that I have raised in Parliament.
I wrote to RD Tuna in June this year asking them if they could explain certain complaints and allegations that I had received. They have not responded to my letter to date.
I called them by telephone during the last week of September and spoke with the vice-president. I introduced myself and my position and asked him if he could explain certain complaints and allegations I had received about RD Tuna. He told me there were no stinking smells coming from the RD Tuna factory. He said he did not know me or who I was.
He told me he knew of two members from Madang and that I was not one of the two he knew. He said he did not want to discuss the issues I was raising with him and that he did not wish to continue speaking with me.
I informed him if that was the case, I would be forced to bring the issues to the floor of Parliament.
The president of RD Tuna Canners has not communicated with me at any time regarding this communication although he has had every opportunity to do so either in Madang or at my Parliamentary office in Port Moresby.
I continue to encourage him to avail himself of the invitation and will be again communicating the invitation to him.
He has obviously chosen to continue to attack me in the media. It is my responsibility to bring the concerns of the people I represent to the notice of government and seek relief for them. I would be failing in my duties if I did not do so.
RD Tuna Canners should now let the government carry out its investigation and to eventually report back to Parliament as the Prime Minister has indicated he would be doing.
John Tongri Hickey, Member for Bogia
National RD Tuna Canners states the facts Wednesday, October 08, 2003
THIS refers to "Duma in cannery row" (The National, Oct 6), which quoted RD Tuna Canners Pty Ltd as saying: "RD said it was wondering why there is a need for another directive when there's an already one in place. "Being new in his job, Mr Duma should have consulted with his predecessor, former Minister Sasa Zibe who initiated such fact-finding mission, to avoid this ill-advised and unfortunate media statement."
We would like to vehemently deny that any company spokesman said these things. When interviewed, all we said was: "An independent fact-finding team was previously sent to Madang to investigate the allegations", which is a fact.
We never questioned the merit of sending another team if, indeed, this is necessary as this is clearly a prerogative of any government official or government agency to do so.
Moreover, we did not even say that Minister Williiam Duma was new in his job and, certainly, we never said that the media statement was ill-advised and unfortunate.
All we said was that as far as we know the previous fact-finding team had already a report and that a reference to such report could have been made.
We view your press report as written to have had a malicious implication and that is to impute arrogance on the part of the company - a bad trait that the company or its people would never attempt to do.
Hence, through this letter, we would like to request that you correct such misinterpretation if such was construed as such.
In the same token, let this serve as a public apology addressed to the Minister of Environment and Conservation for having caused him any trouble as a result of this very confusing article attributed to the company.
I hope that you will immediately published this letter to rectify whatever wrongdoings done to all parties concerned.
RD Tuna Canners Ltd, Managing director, Madang province .
Fiji NGOs share PNG concerns on R.D Tuna operations
Media Release - 22 October 2003
Foreign companies abusing the poor working conditions in the Pacific islands, ignoring local communities and damaging the environment, will risk boycotts and isolation of their products regionally and internationally, two Fiji-based NGOs said today.
The Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) and Ecumenical Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy (ECREA) was referring to the disturbing reports from the Kananam community in Papua New Guinea about the operations there of the Philippines-owned R.D Tuna company.
“Like the situation with PAFCO in Fiji, consumers cannot sit back and allow companies to get away with poor environmental practices, poor wages and working conditions, and the concerns of communities to the social impacts of their operations,” said PANG Coordinator Stanley Simpson.
“The region must stand united against both foreign and local operations that harm Pacific communities,” said ECREA Director, Aisake Casimira.
The Kananam community in Madang, PNG have formed the Idawad Association to protest the development of a huge tuna cannery on their land by R.D Tuna.
Community leaders there have pointed out that:
- The R.D Tuna cannery and wharf facility are seriously polluting their lagoons, wetlands, water and air
- Workers are very lowly paid (less than US$2 a day) and union organizers have been sacked
- R.D Tuna ships are encouraging a prostitution trade in the Kananam community
- All senior managers are Filipino, and most of the profits are sent to the Philippines
- R.D Tuna pays no tax in PNG
The Kananam community has already launched a campaign to boycott R.D Tuna products which are sold under the labels Omega, Tovos, Loreley, Goddess, Cana, La Miranda, Adria, Everday, Diana, Le Pecheur, Le Doris, La PERLA, Osprey.
The company has responded with a smear campaign against the leaders and supporters of the Kananam community, in particular the Bismarck Ramu Group which has supported the landowners in their struggle.
PANG and ECREA also congratulates the PNG Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare for setting up an inquiry to look into the operations of R.D Tuna.
For more information please contact Stanley Simpson or Aisake Casimira on Phone (679) 3316 722 or e-mail: pang@connect.com.gj or manag@ecrea.org.fj
For direct information from the Kananam community please visit the Friends of Kananam website on: http://lorikeet.and.com.au/RD/rdtuna.html
http://www.antenna.nl/ecsiep/fish/fishnews.htm
PNG Gov Department finds RD tuna guilty of polluting lagoon
Post Courier 27 November 2003 Cannery 'guilty' of pollution
An independent study has found the RD Tuna Cannery in Madang 'guilty' of dumping waste fish into a nearby lagoon. Environment and Conservation Minister William Duma said this while responding to Imbonggu MP Timothy Tala who wanted answers on studies into pollution claims against RD Tuna Cannery in Madang.....
The investigation on RD Tuna was proposed by Bogia MP John Hickey in the last Parliment session overlandowners complaints of foul smell emanating from the factory site. Mr. Duma said a joint investigation by the Trade and Industry, Environment and Conservatrion and Fisheries departments confirmed finding dead fish waste in the lagoon near the factory site. He said the company has been asked to explain the findings.
Fiji Bans fishing in traditional grounds
Fiji bans fishing in traditional grounds Foreign companies are restricted from fishing in Fiji's archipelago waters, now declared by the government as traditional fishing grounds.
Radio Fiji reports that the Fisheries Ministry has warned foreign fish company owners not to fish in the archipelago waters, despite holding local fishing licenses. The Fisheries Minister, Konisi Yabaki, says only indigenous Fijians and foreign companies with indigenous shareholders and have vessels less than 20-metres in length, can fish in the restricted area.
Mr Yabaki says companies who don't meet the criteria can fish from the area between the territorial zone and the exclusive economic zone. He says the decision follows a government proposal to strengthen and revert full customary fishing rights and ownership of sea resources to indigenous Fijians.
08/01/2004 18:13:38 | ABC Radio Australia News
NGO Courts National Newspaper Over RD Tuna Articles 6/2/04
The continuing debate over the operations of RD Tuna in Madang took a new turn yesterday when the Madang based NGO Bismarck Ramu Group (BRG) had writs of summons served on the National newspaper.
Claiming defamation with malicious intent BRG and their technical advisor are challenging a series of articles published by the newspaper 19-29 September 2003.
Also being challenged is an article published on the newspaper's internet site. The articles written by Filippino sub-editor Alfredo P Hernandez Jr.were highly critical of the Bismarck Ramu Group and their advisor Barry Lalley while at the same time writing glowingly about the Filippino based and owned RD Tuna company.
Four defendants are named in the writs: Pacific Star Limited, Yehiura Hriehwazi, Editor of the National, Shan Fook Yong, Publisher of the National and the writer of the articles Alfredo Hernandez, a sub-editor of the National.
The writs state the articles were published in a sensational manner and the Defendants ought to have known that the allegations were untrue.
They also claim the Defendants published the words in the knowledge that they were defamatory and/or with reckless regards as to whether they were defamatory.
In all the writs list 37 specific examples contained within the articles supporting defamation allegations. The articles in question were published at a time when RD Tuna had obtained ex parte injunctions against BRG and local landowners restraining them from responding. Those injunctions were ultimately lifted by the National Court.
BRG through their lawyers contacted the National newspaper on 24 September 2003 calling on the National to refrain from continuing the articles or legal proceedings would commence. At that time BRG informed the National legal proceedings would not be pursured if the National provided a full retraction of the claims set out by Mr. Hernandez against BRG and Mr. Lalley.
It is believed to be the first time an NGO has brought suit against a newspaper in PNG. The National is owned by Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau whose logging practices have been questioned for years.
RD Tuna Canners and RD Fishing PNG should cease operations to address hygiene and safety conditions. That is the recommendation of Dr. Nancy Sullivan who completed a Social Impact Study of the RD Tuna Cannery. In the scathing 142 page report released last week Dr. Sullivan's report also called on RD to reduce levels of fish caught and convert to practices that reduce the levels of by-catch fishing. The comprehensive report covered a number of controversial issues which have been associated with RD Tuna over the years.
In addition to health and safety issues of the RD workers, the report detailed the poor health conditions in the villages, spin-off businesses which are unfair to local people, promises not kept by the company and the highly controversial sex trade involving RD Tuna ships. The report states " The Company (RD) has had ample time to establsih financial security and provide living wages under safe, hygienic working conditions for their employees. The Company has enjoyed enough largesse from Madang's government and its people to return basic courtesies to their workers, and to refrain from abusing its sancity, its beauty and its marine resources."
Also recommended were - pay packet deducations should be examined by independent accountants, local law enforcement be given unfettered access to all work sites for control of illegal activities on the part of RD employees and that a special social abuse office be established to accept and review complaints of abusive behavior between Company employees and local people, especially women.
RD Tuna has been under come under constant complaints by people of Madang since its operation began. The people of Kananam organised themselves under the Iduwad Association to address the problems they were having with RD. In July of last year RD Tuna took out court injunctions against the Iduwad Association , their leaders, the local level government representative and a local NGO. Those injunctions were lifted in November last year. Frances Gem, President of the Iduwad Association said "the injunctions were just an attempt by the company to shut us up. They did not want us to tell the truth about what is going on. But last year a government minister from DEC said RD was guilty of dumping fish in a nearby lagoon. The Prime Minister himself has said he smelled RD Tuna - and now Dr. Sullivan's report confirms everything we have been saying - and more. What more do the authorities need to hear?"
Gem called on the government to do something about the situation. "People are getting more and more frustrated - something has got to be done. Neither RD or the government can expect this matter to just go away. Once again we call on the government to do something about these problems. How many times must we go to those in government and have them act on our legitimate concerns?"
Sullivan Report Stresses RD out (April 2004)
It is without doubt whatsoever that the "Tinpis Maror" (Sullivan) Report is increasingly proving to deal a fatal blow to RD Tuna’s markets both within and outside of PNG. RD Tuna is not at all happy about this. Pete Celso, RD Canning’s MD, will be meeting with the editor of the Diwai magazine of Conservation Melanesian to "set facts straight" relating to RD Tuna company which the magazine had allegedly got wrong in reports that appeared in a few of its issues as of late. That meeting will happen in two or so weeks here in Madang, and the editor will be accompanied by his boss (CM’s executive director). Round about the time of that meeting there will be another meeting (according to rumours) at the Madang Chamber of Commerce wherein Pete Celso will be presenting to the chamber (government and industry reps), RD’s response to the "garbage" published in the "Tinpis Maror" (Sullivan) report. Dr Nancy Sullivan and a co-researcher, Thomas Warr, will be present at that meeting to "watch the solo drama that Pete will be putting on."
RD Pressuring Locals (April 2004)
Last Tuesday 6 April 04, the RD top management met with the SSD directors and Madang governor. Purpose of the meeting being to discuss two issues: The "Tinpis Maror" (Sullivan) report and Overseas Campaigns allegedly aimed at crippling RD Tuna company’s markets and operations. When the issue of "Tinpis Maror" came up the SSD directors denied having any responsibility/involvement. The information contained in it was declared at that meeting to be incorrect. It was discussed that somebody had fed the researchers with totally wrong information. And that "culprit’ was alleged to be non other than *****, one of the SSD directors. The meeting then focused on interrogating *****.
When **** failed to provide convincing answers to those questions, it was unanimously alleged that ***** had gone abroad on both occasions to launch an international/overseas campaign against RD Tuna company. ****** was given strict orders do everything he can to pressurize ***** into meeting with RD’s top management as soon as possible. Conditions attaché to the strict orders are as follows: If ****** does not meet with the RD top management, his children will be terminated from the Local Primary School, a warrant will be obtained to search *****’s house, all of *****’s and *****’s relatives working with RD Tuna company (specially at Vidar) will be terminated, and also, when the Madang eviction exercise begins, ****** will also be evicted out of Kananam village (Iduan Island). At this point in time ****** and his entire extended family are under great pressure from RD Tuna company and from his other fellow SSD directors.
Monday 30th August 2004, Post Courier
Strike to disrupt tuna production
CANNED fish production by RD Tuna Limited will be disrupted as 200 Filipinos employed by a fish supplying company continue strike action. The week-long strike is over working conditions.
The Filipino group, employed in the fishing fleet, claimed they have been paid below the International Labour Organisation (ILO) recognised rates, received no overtime payments, had no provision for workers' compensation coverage in cases of accidents or loss of life and had incorrect calculation of bonus payments. The Filipinos have also claimed the fishing vessels are not sea worthy due to lack of safety and fire fighting equipment.
A statement from the National Seamen Association secretary Douglas Gadebo said the Filipinos were employed as fishermen and ship crew by the Philippine-based fishing company. "At the request of the of the Philippine crew, the International Federation of Transport and our union - which is an affiliate of ITF - have attempted to negotiate a resolution of the crew's complaints with RD Tuna. However all attempts to resolve the dispute amicably have been continuously ignored by the company," Mr Gadebo said.
RD Tuna managing director Pete Celso said yesterday production would be affected but while the Filipinos are on strike, the company would source tuna from other suppliers. "The Filipinos are not employed by RD Tuna. They are employed by a Philippine-based company that supplies fish to us," Mr Celso said. "We have an agreement in place for this Philippine based company to supply fish to us. Of course our production will be affected while they are on strike."
He said the International Federation of Transport was trying to impose some jurisdiction on the fishing company. Mr Celso said RD Tuna had other agreements in place with fish supplying companies from other countries. The ITF has also written a letter to directors of RD Tuna supporting the claims by the Filipino fishermen and said the claims stood on valid ground as the employment of the Filipinos lacked contracts in employing overseas workers.
The National, Tuesday 31 August 2004
Fishing crews strike against RD Tuna
By CLEMENT KAUPA RD
Tuna Canners, Inc, which could be losing an estimated US$200,000 per day for lost production, is refusing steadfastly to meet with the Maritime Workers Industrial Union representatives to resolve the fate of 200 striking Filipino fishing boat workers. Even the International Transport Federation’s intervention to delegate the responsibility to the union as mediators between the cannery and the workers has also been ignored.
Yesterday, RD Tuna managing director Pete Celso said in an email to this reporter that there is no on-going strike at the cannery. "The strikers are the crew/fish-workers of Philippine-based companies that mainly supply fish to RD Tuna Canners." Mr Celso further said these crewmembers are not under the jurisdiction of the ITF and so are not covered by ITF guidelines.
Moreover, he stated that under Section 32 of the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, fish workers on board Philippine-registered vessels conducting fishing activities beyond the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone are still considered as domestic or local workers. "Therefore, POEA contracts are not needed,"Mr Celso wrote regarding the crewmembers’ complaints that they have no approved POEA contracts in which they could dictate their salary packages like the International Labour Organisation’s set minimum wages, entitlements and working conditions.
Meanwhile, Reg McAlister, the general secretary of MWU said yesterday Mr Celso’s comments are "just excuses not to address the workers’ complaints". Mr McAlister said they became aware of the matter two weeks ago and sent a senior official down to Madang to approach the management of RD Tuna but they refused to talk to him. "Unless they address the complaints then I can’t see their (canning) operations coming back to normal," Mr McAlister said.
Monday, September 06, 2004 (Sun Star Newspaper - Philippines)
Crew releases fishing boats, goes back to work By Bong S. Sarmiento
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Filipino crewmembers who took control of their fishing vessels in Papua New Guinea to press for reforms have returned to work, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced over the weekend.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said the labor dispute between the workers and management of RD Tuna Ventures, Inc. (RDTVI) was already settled, with the Filipino workers now performing their assigned tasks and the employer agreeing to address their grievances.
The Filipino crewmembers seized control of at least 15 fishing vessels of TD Tuna last month, prompting officials to say they would file complaints against the striking employees as the company has lost at least $100,000 as a result of the takeover.
The crewmembers seized the fishing vessels to demand that they be given remuneration and benefits similar to international seafarers.
The family of fishing magnate Rodrigo Rivera Sr. owns RDTVI, which is based in this southern port city. The company operates a canning factory in Papua New Guinea.
Romulo said that company officials would no longer pursue complaints against the striking workers. The two contending parties reached an agreement following a dialogue brokered by DFA officials.
Among the main points agreed by the management and the striking workers were for RD Tuna to look into the salaries and compensation package of the crew for possible increase, for the fishing vessels to have adequate supply of medicine, potable water and food, and for the fishermen to be allowed to go on shore leave after seven months of continuous duty.
Romulo said that Philippine Ambassador to Port Moresby Bienvenido Tejano on September 2 brought RD Tuna officials aboard the largest vessel seized by the workers led by boat captain Angelito Abastas. The fishermen were manning the 15 Philippine-flagged fishing vessels owned by RD Tuna.
"With the peaceful and mutually acceptable settlement of the dispute between the striking fishermen and RD Tuna Management, it was also agreed that no charges would be filed by any party against one another," Romulo said. In the course of the negotiations, Romulo said the fishermen were made to understand that being employed aboard Philippine-registered fishing vessels, the resolution of their grievances would be governed by the Philippine labor code.
After the negotiations, the official said that a great majority of the fishermen agreed to return to work, though some wish to be repatriated. RD Tuna expressed willingness to pay for the airfare home of the repatriates, according to Tejano. Last August 29, Tejano reported to the DFA that over 150 Filipino fishermen cut the moorings of 10 Philippine-registered fishing vessels of RD Tuna and brought these vessels to the territorial waters of Papua New Guinea, as a means of conveying their employment-related grievances.
But after looking closely into the labor dispute, Tejano later reported that the actual number of strikers was closer to 200 and that they took control of 15 fishing vessels owned by RD Tuna. He also reported that undetermined number of smaller "back up" boats surrounded the 15 vessels under the control of the strikers. On 31 August, Papua New Guinea law enforcement, customs and immigration authorities attempted to resolve the seizure of the fishing vessels by the Filipino fishermen but Tejano prevailed upon them not to use force.
Friday, October 01, 2004 10 fishers who staged 'mutiny' arrested By Edwin G. Espejo Sun Star
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- Ten of 12 fishermen who staged a mutiny and took control of fishing vessels owned by RD Tuna Ventures Inc. to press for increase in wages and additional benefits were arrested Thursday.
The surprised fishermen said they were made to believe no retaliatory acts would be imposed against them during protracted negotiations with RD officials in Papua New Guinea.
Mediating in the talks in New Guinea, where the fishermen took the vessels, were officers of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Renne Subido, RD vice president for corporate business affairs, denied the company waived its right to sue the fishermen. In a press statement read during a press conference here, Subido said "the dispute...may have come to a peaceful resolution but actions taken by the crew broke Philippine and international laws."
RD slapped five counts of mutiny charges against 12 fishermen but only 10 have so far been arrested.
They are Reynaldo dela Cerna, Danny Dominquito, Randy Patorite, Eliseo Solas, Fredel Cocal, Nole Berdonar, Gerado Sasam, Michael Ocon, Roger Villarosa and Joel Yapan. Still at large are Angelito Abastas Jr. and Wilberto Novo. Abastas is reportedly in Cebu.Police reportedly picked up some of the fishermen while they were attending a company-sponsored seminar.
Subido said the company decided to file charges of mutiny against the crewmembers responsible for the "unfortunate acts". He said the company lost at least US$100,000 a day for the duration of the mutiny.
On August 24, some 191 crewmembers of RD Tuna Ventures staged a protest, took command of the company's fishing vessels and cut off communications their the company base in Papua New Guinea while at the high seas there. They demanded better living conditions aboard their vessels and asked that they be given remuneration and benefits similar to international seafarers.
They lifted their protest action after seven days when Philippine Ambassador to Papua New Guinea Bienvenido Tejano interceded in the dispute. Subido claimed the fishermen were instigated by the London-based International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) into staging the mutiny.
Asked why the ITF was not included in the case, Subido said company lawyers are preparing a separate suit against the labor federation.
The arrested fishermen protested their arrest Thursday and claimed the company acted in bad faith when it filed the charges against them. Berdonar, who spoke in behalf of the group, said RD president Rodrigo Rivera Jr. assured them that no charges would be filed against them during the negotiations brokered by Trejano. He said all they were asking for were better pay and benefits.
Berdonar said his monthly salary is still P5,000 even when he has been with the company for seven years. Dominguito, Cocal and Ocon also claimed they were arrested close to midnight Wednesday by police officers who reportedly did not identify themselves. The arresting police officers were reportedly also not in uniform.
In addition, they also claimed RD vehicles were used by the policemen while effecting the arrest. Six of their companions were also arrested while attending a seminar on company rules and regulations. Lawyer Franklin Gacal Jr., who was asked by the accused to represent them, said he is still studying the charges and would most likely file a motion to grant bail to the accused.
Letter to President of the Philippines from ITF
H.E. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,
President Republic of the Philippines
Fax: +63 (2) 736 1010/2 pages Ref: DC/SF
1 October 2004
Dear President Arroyo
Arrest warrant in the case of RD Tuna employees in the Philippines (Crim case no 46570-2)
I am writing to you to express my grave concern over this week's issuing of an arrest warrant for mutiny in the above case, which I understand is being handled by the Municipal Trial Court Branch 2, in Santos City.
I understand that in addition, at least ten employees of the Philippines-based company RD Tuna were arrested on Thursday, separately, but in connection with the case.
This case involves a labour dispute on fishing vessels in Papua New Guinea owned by RD Tuna, whose employees were given a public guarantee by the Department of Foreign Affairs (MindaNews, 5 September 2004) that 'no charges would be filed by any party against one another,' following the mutually acceptable settlement of the dispute. This assurance has been blatantly disregarded.
Information published today in the SunStar indicates that the police who carried out yesterday's arrest may have used RD Tuna vehicles. Should this information be correct, very disturbing conclusions must be drawn.
I understand that the charges laid down in the arrest warrant accuse officers of ITF affiliated unions in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea of conspiracy. Any such charges or any other charges in connections with this matter will be vehemently denied and disputed.
We understand that an inspection of RD Tuna's vessels MFV Dolores 827 on 26th August by the Papua New Guinea port authorities revealed serious safety defects that corroborate any complaint put forward by the crew.
Your Excellency, public information appears to indicate that RD Tuna is far from being a responsible company with a respectable record. Local sources indicate that the company has infringed employment rights in its Papua New Guinea canning operations and has also been the subject of complaints related to environmental damage. It is of great concern to the ITF that such an important Philippine company should demonstrate so little regard for employment rights, for the rights of local people and indeed for the agreement brokered by the Philippine authorities in this case.
You will no doubt be aware that the current criminal case will do little to enhance the reputation of the Philippines as a nation that protects its citizens working abroad.
I would therefore call upon you to use your good office to intervene in this case to ensure that all the charges made in relation to Criminal Case no 46570-2 and to the case involving the other RD Tuna crewmembers, are withdrawn.
Once this action has been taken, I would very much welcome a discussion on how future dialogue of this nature may be better conducted with the aim of improving the protection for citizens of the Philippines working in the fishing sector.
I would be grateful to receive your comments
Yours sincerely
David Cockroft General Secretary cc. Shigeru Wada, ITF Tokyo Office
ITF warns Philippines Government over ‘dodgy’ arrest warrants 7 October 2004:
Global Union the ITF is protesting to the Philippines Government over what it describes as "a travesty of justice that would be almost funny if it weren’t so serious". The ITF has written to the President and four senior ministers of the Republic of the Philippines warning them that the issuing of arrest warrants for ITF affiliated union officials who had acted as mediators in an acrimonious dispute calls the probity and independence of the country’s legal system into doubt.
The ITF acted when arrest warrants were issued for union officials from the Philippine Seafarers' Union, PSU (ALU-TUCP) and Papua New Guinea Maritime Workers Industrial Union , after they tried to help resolve a dispute between Philippines fish processing giant, RD Tuna Ventures, and 200 fishermen the company employed on vessels off the coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The dispute arose after the fishermen – who were not union members – made complaints about low remuneration, bad provisions, safety concerns and repatriation. A safety check by PNG port authorities showed several defects.
Following action by the crew the dispute was finally resolved at the end of August when the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs brokered an agreement promising improved conditions and which included a "no reprisals" deal promising no action would be taken against the crew members.
Despite the guarantee that no punitive action would be taken at the end of last week several RD Tuna employees were arrested in the Philippines while attending a company seminar – and a warrant was issued in the Philippines for the arrest of two Philippine Seafarers' Union officials and the Papua New Guinea Maritime Workers’ leader.
The warrants appear to accuse the union officials of conspiracy to mutiny. Given the seriousness of the situation the ITF has also today issued an Action Alert to ITF affiliates in the Asia-Pacific Region, and Fisheries’ Section affiliates worldwide, asking them to protest to the Philippines Government.
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft today commented: "Mutiny is one of the most serious charges there is. For it to be bandied about at the behest of RD Tuna is a bad joke. I believe that what we are seeing is an opportunistic abuse of the law by this company." "Ironically this is happening at the same time as the Government is pardoning military mutineers."
Cockroft has written to the President; Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs; Secretary, Department of Labor and Employment; and Acting Secretary, Department of Justice of the Republic of the Philippines to express his disquiet – bordering on disbelief – that a Philippine company "should demonstrate so little regard for employment rights, for the rights of local people and indeed for the agreement brokered by the Philippine authorities in this case. You will no doubt be aware that the current criminal case will do little to enhance the reputation of the Philippines as a nation that protects its citizens working abroad".
Public information shows that this is not the first time RD Tuna Ventures has been involved in controversy – local sources in Papua New Guinea report that the company has infringed employment rights in its PNG canning operations and has also been the subject of complaints related to environmental damage. ENDS Date published: 7 October 2004
Striking Crewworkers Lose In Papua New Guinea By Dominic Santiago 10/10/04
When will workers in the smaller countries ever going to understand when they make the decision to strike or stop work - they are taking the bold step of informing their bosses and the owners that they (the workers) know how valuable they are and want to be treated fairly as they help produce profit for the company.
Once again last week striking workers caved into the owners - this time in Madang, Papua New Guinea. The workers were all Filippino crewmembers working for the notoriously poorly operated RD Tuna Ventures, Inc. The company is Filippino based, owned by Rodrigo Rivera Sr. a businessman of questionable credentials to say the least.
Since RD opened operations in the small coastal town of Madang seven years ago they have been constantly in trouble with landowners, the townspeople, PNG authorities (both local and national) and reputable international and local NGOs. The complaints run from the foul oder emitted from the factory to poor working conditions to environmental destruction. Two weeks ago RD had another demerit to add to their poor track record. Two hundred Filippino crew members seized control of over 20 of the RD fishing vessels demanding better work conditions including an increase in pay. The workers remained strong for nearly two weeks then caved in when RD used Filippino Ambassador to PNG, Bienvenido Tejano to get the workers back to work.
Ambassador Tejano boarded one of the ships to address the workers. Among other things Tejano referred to the workers as terrorists. He told the workers they were bringing shame to all Filippinos and he said he did not want PNG authorities to intervene (meaning if you don't go back to work I'll let the PNG authorities handle this) Management made no promises to the striking workers. They said they would "look into the salaries and compensation package of the crew for possible increase."
Crew members are also seeking to have an adequate supply of medicine, potable water and food on their vessels. The fishermen were also seeking permission to be allowed shore leave after seven months of continuous duty. The management got the workers back to work and workers got promises of their requests being looked into. When are workers going to learn when they go on strike there's no going back until demands are met - not promises from a company that has such a poor track record and poor reputation both locally and internationally.
I wonder if the workers know that RD was willing to pay a local prostitute to spy on a local enjoy more money per day than the workers get paid in a fortnight. Surely the workers know that landowners are being paid off to keep their mouths closed about RD's seedy operations - and their pay also exceeds that of the Filippino crew members. We are in full support of workers getting fair treatment from employers the world over. However workers must be clear when they take the brave step of confronting their bosses by striking they need to follow through and stand strong. What happened to the crew members in Madang, Papua New Guinea happens far too much in the worlf. In the end they get nothing but promises and threats.
NGO Boycott Drops National Sales In PNG 10/10/04
The grassroots boycott of the National newspaper in Papua New Guinea by non-government organisations (NGOs) has dramatically reduced the circulation of the daily newspaper according to official statistics released by the Audit Bureau of Circulation.
The National is owned and operated by Malaysian logging giant Rimbunan Hijau whose logging practices have come under constant fire in PNG. The National is often referred to as the Daily Log throughout PNG because it serves as the mouthpiece for RH interests.
RH has used the its newspaper to attack critics - particularly NGOs - who reveal the environmental and social destruction caused by the company.
Last year NGOs began a quiet campaign to boycott the RH newspaper. What triggered the campaign was a series of articles attacking a local NGO who were supporting local people in their struggles against a local tuna company based in Madang.
The tuna company - RD Tuna, Filippino owned and operated have been under constant criticism since they began operations in Madang seven years ago.
Last year RD brought defamation charges against a local landowners association, their two leaders, the ward councillor, a local NGO and their technical advisor.In addition an injunction was placed on the six defendants.
With the injunction in place The National began a series of articles attacking the NGO and its technical advisor while at the same time writing articles in praise of the tuna operation and all the wonderful things they were doing for Madang and PNG. The articles were written by National sub-editor Alfredo P. Hernandez Jr., a Filippino who has strong ties to the tuna company.
In addition to being poorly written - the articles were an obvious attempt to discredit a respectable NGO. Mr. Hernandez manufactured "facts" and wrote what he was instructed to by his bosses.
To many the articles represented exactly what the National was on about - shabby journalism which cared little about getting the story correct but would try to protect the company at all costs. From there began a grassroots campaign to boycott the RH owned newspaper.
The NGOs campaign was low key, but effective. Throughout the country as well as Port Moresby the NGOs would talk to people at the markets and on PMVs. They found a suprisingly aware public which was not only receptive but willing to assist in getting friends and relatives to drop the National.
One NGO leader acknowledged the NGOs knew sales were dropping significantly at the National from contacts they had, but didn't know how drastically until the figures were released. "It just goes to show you what power the little people have when they get together. The paper has nobody to blame but themselves."
The Audit Bureau of Circulation reported that daily sales fell more than 5,000 copies to just 17,634. This is an incredible 23% decline in sales in six months.
In an unprecedented decision, the National Court has backed village landowners in a case brought against them by RD Tuna Canners and RD Fishing (PNG).
In September 2003 RD Tuna launched a defamation action against the landowners of Kananam represented by the Idawad Association, their chairmen, vice chairman and the Sek/Kananam Ward Councillor James Sungai, the elected representative from the area.
The giant tuna company launched a defamation action against the group in an attempt to silence their criticism of the company, its employment practices and environmental damage.
Among the claims from RD Tuna was that the defendants had created and distributed a website (http://lorikeet.and.com.au/RD/rdtuna.html) which was defamatory to RD Tuna.
Two months after they initiated the proceedings the company was forced to agree it had no legitimate claim against the landowners and discontinued the court action.
However the landowners were not satisfied. They felt the company should be held responsible for their "bullying actions" in trying to intimidate them and their legitimate concerns. They returned to the Court to express these views and to seek costs from RD Tuna.
National Court Judge Paul Mogish agreed with the landowners arguments yesterday ordering RD to pay all the costs of the landowners and ordering no further proceedings be brought against them.
Frances Gem, chairman of the Idawad Association expressed his obvious satisfaction with the decision but noted the issues concerning RD Tuna are very much alive and need to addressed. "We are pleased with the Court decision, of course, but the issues revolving around RD Tuna haven't gone away. We will continue to address these issues. The Court has let RD know they will can not silence us when our concerns are legitimate."
Ward Councillor, James Sungai, also a defendant in the case was also pleased with the decision. "What always bothered me besides the claims being untrue - was that when the (ex-parte) injunctions were put in place against us - the people of Sek/Kananam had no spokesperson. This seemed very unfair to me - for a foreign company to come in here and prevent the local people from having a voice."
Gem added there were several messages which comes out of the case, "firstly we were unfairly accused by RD Tuna and they were attempting to silence us with this lawsuit, but another message is that companies can not try to silence landowners anywhere in PNG with lawsuits when the landowners have legitimate complaints and the right to express them."
RD Tuna Canners had no comment on the judgement.
From our neighbors to the north comes an interesting story. One we might note for our own good.
Last week a National Court judge in PNG ordered that a multinational tuna company pay costs to local landowners for a defamation lawsuit initiated by the company last year. The company, Filippino owned RD Tuna, has come under constant criticism for its operation in the North Coast town of Madang ever since it began operations in 1997.
The most vocal criticism has come from a group of landowners in the Kananam area of Madang who claim they never agreed for the company to use their land. They also claim their lagoon is being destroyed along with their reefs. In addition they see increasing social problems as a result of the RD Tuna operation.
Last year the company brought a defamation suit against the landowners for their criticism. Supporters of the landowners claimed it was an obvious attempt by the company to silence their most vocal critics. In addition to the court action the company obtained a restraining order against the landowners preventing them from speaking.
Two months after they initiated the proceedings the company discontinued the court action. It appeared the company realised it had no legitimate claim against the landowners who, among other things, were accused of setting up a website. However the landowners were not satisfied with the discontinuation of the suit by RD Tuna. The landowners wanted the company to be held responsible for what they claim were bullying actions in trying to prevent them from expressing their legitimate concerns. The landowners sought to have the company pay costs to them. The Court agreed.
On Wednesday the Court decreed that RD Tuna pay the costs of the landowners and ordered that no further proceedings be brought against them. There is more than an obvious victory here for David against Golaith. There is a victory for PNG and its Court system.
Our nearest neighbors always seem to be shown in a negative light. We are forever hearing about problems of law and order and, more recently, that PNG is bordering on becoming a "failed state". There are no shortage of horror stories about PNG.
However most people who have gone to PNG are forever telling stories of the kindness of the people, their generosity and the beauty of the country. We can attest to all this as we also have been constantly treated with kindness in our travels to our closest neighbors.
We do not attempt to turn a blind eye to the troubles in PNG - there are many. However when the judicial system can keep its integrity there is still hope. When the Courts can remind others in power that theirs is a nation of rural people - village communities - who are the backbone of their country - there is hope.
When the Courts can send out the message that these rural people will be treated equally under the law - then there is much hope.
To the landowners we congratulate you on your victory. To the company we remind you - you are a guest in PNG. Do your business but do it fairly and ensure that any environmental impacts are minimised.
To the Courts of PNG - we extend our utmost respect. The message you send is clear.
Hopefully other companies who come to PNG will begin to realise it is your country - you expect them to follow the law and , as shown in this court decison - to respect the people of PNG at all levels of society.
To us here in Australia - perhaps there is an important lesson to be learned.
Post Courier 31/5/05 Condom in tinned fish probe
RD Tuna Ltd is investigating what it says are "fraudulent claims" by people to have found condoms in tins of fish. The company’s investigators were in Lae at the weekend to investigate the latest claim by a woman who said she found a condom in a small can of tinned fish last week. The company said this was the fifth such claim. Its investigators said that tests carried on earlier alleged finds pointed to condoms "being inserted into the tins after the tins were opened and not during manufacturing". The wife of a policeman at Bumbu police barracks claimed she found the condom in the tin of fish for her family’s lunch last week. She said she immediately reported the find to the Lae office of the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) which confirmed receiving her complaint and is investigating it. RD Tuna said it was willing to assist the ICCC in its investigations. The RD Tuna investigators said four separate cases of people claiming to have found condoms in their products had been made since 2001. Three of the cases were in Madang and one in Daru. The company said the tests and investigations it had done on the four earlier claims found that they were made "fraudulently. It said it had referred the people who made the claims to police but to date, there had not been any police action. In the latest case RD Tuna investigators took a heat test on an unused condom to see how the heating process employed at the factory affected the condom. After the heating the condom appeared larger and longer, compared to the one allegedly found in the tinned fish. A spokesman said they believe "certain people are simply out to destroy the company’s reputation".
Condom Found in Fish Can Post Courier 22/6/05 p8 By Jacob Potoura
Students and staff at the MilamilaVocational School in Duke of York Islands, East New Britain, claimed that they have found a male condom in a can of Diana tinned fish. School Manageress Katy Tasman said students last week found the lubricoated item when the opened a can of the product for dinner at the school mess. She said alarmed students took the contaminated can to her office and was kept in a freezer before it was bought to the Post-Courier office in Kokopo. “The school will not be buying Diana products as from now on when the remaining carton runs out”, she said. Mrs Tasman's husband, Tasman Dau, a former fisheries officer, called on the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) to carry out an investigation. “We condemn this because we are dealing with human beings and human life may be contaminated”, the Tasmans said. "We want ICCC to carry out full investigations into this matter". Leo Namun, a spokesman for RD Canners, the producers of Diana tinned fish, described the reports as "normal cause". He said similar allegations have been reported from Lae and the company was investigating them. "We will send investigators over to ENB because people may be trying to make up stories about our products" he said. RD Investigator Bernard Mingnaut said the investigations will include speaking to people and testing the alleged contaminated products. He said the product's cooking process was world class and claims that the condom might have been put along the assembly line could not be true. RD Tuna depot manager for Highlands New Guinea Islands region Joe Hendry said the incident was the first in the islands region. Mr Hendry said people who work in the factory wear pocket less shorts and the chances of putting a condom in a tin was very slim.
FILLIPINO DOGS BITE- INJURING SKULL OF A 4 YEARS OLD CHILD.
On the 10th July 05-The Three (3) German Shepherd dogs owned by Filippino Staff at the Vidar RD Fishing had done a near Fatal Injury to the Head of a Kananam Child aged 4, removing the hair and skin of the forehead. The local eye witness and relatives were shocked to see their child’s skull. The Dogs also bit deep into the thighs of the child who is now admitted at Modilon Provincial Hospital in Madang. The frustrated relatives said they will resort their own style of "conflict resolution." One way would be to physically kill the 3 Dogs if the owners cannot compensate the child. "Even Compensation is not enough, we have to get rid of the RD Fishing on our Land and Marine area," a concerned Idawad member said.
PROSTITUTION - A WAY OF LIFE RD - FISHING CREWS-VIDAR WHARF-MADANG.
Two local girls (minors) 13 years of age who were attempting to engage in sexual acts with two Filippino crewmen at Vidar Wharf, were caught red handed by Kananam boys who later questioned and found out what the girls were up to. The two young girls were cooperative and revealed that it was not their Free Will but that of their parents who had pressured them to involve get involved. The parents told the girls to go and offer sexual favours to the crewmen for cash. According to Idawads this is happening because of the RD Tuna Development. Prostitution is becoming a way of earning a living. This incident occurred on the 17th of June 2005. On the 22nd June 05-RD Tuna Community Relations Officer-**** went into Kananam and yelled at the parents of the two girls. "Why do you have to send your daughters to have sex and get money?" The CRO told the community not to let such things happen with the RD Ship crews. However, this is becoming obvious. Such is a new phenomenon created mainly by the RD Tuna Company’s presence and operations. Who should be blamed? The Idawads could partly be correct in blaming the Filippino company.
3000 Kananam People Take Action Monday 20 March 2006
The 3000 strong Kananam community, (a maritime/fishing community on the northern end of the Madang Lagoon, PNG), had gone on a peaceful march into the RD Tuna Fishing PNG Ltd’s Vidar wharfing and cold storage premises, at 10:00 AM today (Monday, 20 March 2006).
This community action should come as no surprise to the Madang provincial government and department heads, including the fisheries authority, as well as the RD Tuna company.
All relevant government and company executives were formally (officially) informed and invited well ahead of time by the Kananam community leaders to their village for a meeting scheduled for 10:00 AM on Monday 13 March 2006, at which the Kananam leaders intended to present a written petition outlining their people’s concerns to the government and company executives.
The peaceful march is a next step (follow up action) that the Kananam people are taking wherein to raise and present their concerns relating to RD Tuna’s operations at Vidar, following the government and company executives’ failure to attend the Monday 13 March 2006 meeting at which the executives would have received the people’s written petition.
Almost all previous meetings organized by the people at Kananam village since 1997 (when the company started operations) have hardly ever been attended by government and company executives even when they were officially invited to attend those meetings.
One thing is for sure: that the Kananam people are clearly focused this time around, and are intent on carrying out a crescendo of planned actions to address their concerns and they are NOT giving up on this. The people are fed up with such nonsense from company and government executives and will not allow anything to get in their way and prevent them from publicly presenting their written petition to the executives and receive positive responses to the petition there and then.
A social impact report on RD Tuna company’s operations has slammed the company for damaging the environment, betraying promises to landowners and failing to provide even a living wage to its workers. The report that was done in 2003 by a team of seven PNG academics, led by Dr Nancy Sullivan, recommends closure of RD operations till all these big issues are dealt with.
From: Sek/Kananam Village Alexishafen Madang 20/03/06
STATEMENT
On Monday 6th March 2006, Martin Baleng, Berry Ratengmai, Henry Gatagot and Victor Tamol served notices to RD management and Madang provincial government executives, inviting them to a meeting at Kananam village scheduled for the following Monday.
RD management people and government officials received the 7 days’ notice for the meeting and signed the “acknowledgement or service” forms:
RD’s financial controller (Gaa Autentico) and the Vidar plant manager, Danny Zamudio, CR Manager, Stotick Kamya, were among those RD people who signed the “acknowledgement of service” forms.
The acting governor, Mr Bunag Kiup and the deputy administrator, Mr Augustine Dunsten, also received the notice and signed the “acknowledgement of service” forms on behalf of the Madang provincial government.
The next Monday (13 March 2006), the Kananam community waited for the meeting between them and the RD management as well as the provincial government executives to take place at Kananam village. However that meeting did not take place because the two invited parties (RD management and provincial government officials) did not turn up.
The community found out only much later that the RD management and the provincial government officials, for their part, were at the provincial assembly hall that day, as organized by the provincial government. That arrangement was never made known to the Kananam people, and yet the two parties expected representatives/leaders from the village to attend that meeting at the provincial assembly hall that same day.
The following Monday (20 March 2006), the entire Kananam community (3000 people) protest marched to Vidar where after a long five hours of waiting, they hand-delivered their petition to Sir Peter Barter, minister for inter-government relations, who turned up.
On Friday 24th March 2006, a government delegation led by chief secretary of state, Joshua Kalinoe went down to Kananam village. There the people presented some more of the issues of concern to the delegation. There wasn’t any reply from the government delegation except for the land issue which the chief secretary said was a non issue and that the matter should only be discussed over with the government and not with RD Fishing company.He also said the meeting at Kananam was not a technical one and a more technical meeting was to be held the very next day (25th March 2006) at the Madang Resort Hotel.
The government delegation included: .
Joshua Kalinoe – chief secretary .
Joseph Dorpar – Provincial Administrator .
Killian Anosa – Prime Minister’s Department .
Provincial Police Commander .
Someone from the Attorney General’s Office .
Someone from the Trade and Industry Department .
And some others.
Some of the issues raised at Friday’s meeting were: .
Land issue . The sea/harbour – traditional fishing ground .
Environmental issues .
Employment .
Spin off (benefits) businesses (SOB) .
By-catch .
Infrastructure development
On Saturday 25/03/06 the three parties met at Madang Resort and green light was given for the issues except for the land and industrial issues. Fourteen (14) days was also given for a draft MOU (to be drafted by the government team) and to be seen and signed by all parties involved. And the road sealing project was to kick start on Monday 27/03/06.
Time is ticking closer and closer to the 14 days deadline and because the people are fed up with so many empty promises by the government for far too long, with no actioning whatsoever, the people are intent on blocking the passage (into the Doilon Harbour) which is within the people’s traditional fishing ground.
The Idawan passage happens to be the only way in and/or out of the Vidar wharfing facility, which is why the move to blocking the passage will definitely prove devastating to RD Fishing, whose fishing vessels (catcher boats and mother boats) have no other way in nor out…. No accessibility for RD’s fishing boats means no business for the entire RD Canning and Fishing company for the duration or the “blocking” action.
The people’s plan still remains such that if nothing (positive) happens from the side of the government after the 14 days are up, they will definitely block the Idawan passage. What the people need and are seeking right now is advice from (their) lawyers, before next Monday (10/04/06) which is the 14 days deadline.
The 3000 strong Kananam community had planned and had staged a peaceful protest march to Vidar on 20th of March 2006 and then waited for five long hours only after which time did Sir Peter Barter (on behalf of the government) arrived and was hand-delivered a written petition of the people’s concerns.
Blocking the Idawan passage is highly likely, and would not require as much energy nor organizing skills to implement, as was required and employed for the peaceful protest march to Vidar.
Legal advice therefore is very URGENTLY needed and sought in order to inform the community who are intent on blocking the passage after the 14 days deadline.
Francis Gem (Mr) Idawad Chairman
Thursday 06th April, 2006 Three killed in boat fire
THREE Filipino men died instantly when the engine of their RD Tuna fishing vessel exploded in the waters between West New Britain and Manus provinces last week. Another three Filipino crew members are recovering after receiving superficial burns to parts of their bodies.
WNB Health adviser Joshua Giru said the incident happened near Garove Island in the Vitu area of WNB last Wednesday morning. The RD Tuna vessel MV Dolly had 13 Filipino men on board together with a Papua New Guinean who was believed to be a fisheries observer.
The vessel was on a commercial fishing expedition in the area. Mr Giru said the auxiliary engine exploded when the men on board attempted to start it up to get power back on the boat.
The impact of the explosion sent five of the men, who were standing a few metres away from the engine, scrambling for safety. However, the oilier and the electrician died instantly. The chief engineer died later while being rushed to Kimbe. Mr Giru said
MV Dolly sent out distress messages soon after the incident, and with the help of health and Harbours Board officials in Kimbe, the survivors were rescued the next day by a boat from Kimbe. The damaged vessel was also towed into the Kimbe wharf.
The bodies of the three men who died are currently at the Kimbe hospital morgue and the vessel is still at the Kimbe Wharf awaiting further investigation to be carried out.
Landowners threaten to stop tuna canners Post Courier 11/4/04
Kananam landowners of the RD Tuna Canners fishing port in Madang are threatening to block the port from today if their petition presented to Chief Secretary Joshua Kalinoe last month is not addressed. They threatened to block the Vidar Passage, which is used by the RD Tuna Canners fishing fleet, and made serious allegations against the company.
Landowner spokesman John Waso claimed that for nine years since the company started, it had not provided any real benefits to the landowners. He claimed even though RD Tuna has given the landowners some spin-off returns, most of these spin-off businesses were managed by RD Tuna itself and not the landowners. The spin-off businesses include catering, trucking services, building and maintenance, security services and stevedoring.
The landowners also claimed that the reefs at the Vidar Passage, which is a traditional fishing zone, were being damaged by chemicals as well as oil used by the ships resulting in fish dying and people becoming sick.
The Vidar Passage is home to some of Madang’s unique marine life because of its rich mangrove habitat. “Fish are just dying and floating up to the surface. Dogs are dying because they are eating the fish. The passage is our garden and how can we catch fish in this water? The water is now contaminated,” he said.
He said last month women and children of Kananam led a protest march to the main canning plant with a petition however, company representative were not available to receive the petition.
The National, Tuesday 11/04/06 Madang villagers irked over further delays to petition
By JEFFREY ELAPA KANANAM
Villagers in Madang have threatened to block off all RD Tuna Canners fishing activities in their traditional fishing waters this week if demands in their petition are not met.
Sek clan’s spokesman John Wasa told The National that if the government and the company did not respond they will stop activities at installations like the cool storage plant and the dock at Vitar passage.
He said that the Kananam landowners had petitioned the company and the government delegation led by chief secretary Joshua Kalinoe during their peaceful protest last month;
To put an end to all environmental damages done to their traditional fishing grounds, after experiencing damages done to all marine life by chemicals, oil splitage and over exploitation;
That equal employment opportunities be given to the landowners;
That all spin-off business benefits be wholly owned and managed by the locals and not by the company;
and Put an end to the sex trade involving foreigners and local females.
Mr Wasa said that the people had encountered these problems since the company came into operation seven years ago. He said on March 20 about 3,000 people staged a protest march to express their grievances.
He said that the company was reluctant to receive their petition until 3pm when the Regional Member for Madang and Health Minister Sir Peter Barter received the petition on behalf of the government and the company.
RD boss wins award By STELLA BOGINO THE NATIONAL Friday, April 21, 2006
THE president of RD Group of Companies, Ritche C. Rivera, who also owns RD Tuna Canners in Madang province, has won the “socially responsible entrepreneur award” in the Philippines.
Mr Rivera, who heads business ventures in PNG and the Philippines, was cited for using his private sector skills and creativity to help his community overcome social and environmental problems.
Apart from building revenues, Mr Rivera leads community outreach programmes through the RD Foundation, which heads the corporation’s social responsibility efforts. Notable in the company’s continuous community outreach programme in PNG are donations to victims of the Manam volcanic eruption and the Aitape tsunami, distribution of free medicine and donations of fish to the Madang Hospital.
RD Tuna Canners Ltd and RD Fishing Corporation, two of Rivera’s PNG- based companies, have also established various partnerships which are in favour of PNG nationals. The Entrepreneur of the Year Award, established by Ernst and Young in 1986, recognises entrepreneurs who have created and sustained successful growing business ventures.
Last year, Rodrigo E. Rivera, president and chief executive officer of RD Corporation, also won in the entrepreneur of the year award. This year’s recognition of Ritche was the first in the award’s history that father and son had won successively.
Kananams response to RD award:
RD Boss ABSOLUTELY DESERVES NO REWARD! Why? Because RD Tuna in Madang, PNG is “socially responsible for SEX TRADE(One Fuck! One Fish).”
We have four (4) Filipino child given birth by Kananam women respectively and never can these growing children own any land here in our Kananam community. The unwanted growing children have very slim future in their lifetime inregard to natural resource like Land, marine resource ownership rights etc.
We the Kananams have two confirmed HIV/AIDS blown people living in the village because of RD Tuna Filipinos demanding one fuck-one fish since 1997.
According to the RD Tuna medical officers and PNG Medical Research Institute some RD employees have died of AIDS which no-one is clever enough to talk it out any further. Kananams were assured by the local medical professionals working with the RD Tuna that the Sexually Transmitted Infections among the employees are rocket high. This is happening because the foreigners from Philippines are here to make money and not fully in support of the social value in Kananam, Madang and PNG at large.
John Fodlaw of Nuwo clan of Kananam is very unhappy with such media propaganda published by Malaysian owned National Newspaper. REMEMBER All Filipinos/Asians what is happening in Solomon Islands with indigenous chasing Chinese and destroying the Chinese Business properties will one day happen here in PNG.
We Kananams are fed up with more social problem from RD Tuna Company.
Who Deserves Compliment/Award? NOT RD TUNA. Notable in the company’s continous community outreach program in Kananam and Siar communities has completely split up the Catholics and Lutherans. The RD Tuna preaching ministry has divided up families. The Sek Clan leader mentioned that RD Tuna Preaching ministry is only a MASK hiding the Destructive aspect of foreign development.
It is evident of a curse when three (3) Filipino were killed in boat fire. THREE Filipino men died instantly when the engine of their RD Tuna fishing vessel exploded in the waters between West New Britain and Manus provinces. We the locals of Kananam urge the owner of the RD Company to get rid of the Bible logo because the practicality in our social and environment is so problematic when RD Tuna came into existence on our God given land and marine area (Vidar Wharf) Madang Lagoon creating hell in our villages.
The outreach ministry propels up just like the monotonous, irritating noise from RD Vessels just next to our houses. The unwanted sound from RD Fishing disturbs our Devouted/Faithful Catholics 24 hours day and night. All Catholic Nun in Alexishafen are sick and tired of the noise from the RD Fishing because they want to Pray in their rooms and the Church.
The Society of the Holy Spirit Sisters and St Terese Sisters in Sek, The SVD(DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES) Priests and the Local Diocesan Priests of Madang living around Alexishafen Parish are aware of the social and environmental impact of RD Tuna.
Our Traditional Fishing area now is fully in control by RD and chemicals used to clean the RD vessels get washed down to our lagoon, reef destroyed by vessels throwing down their metal anchor, oil spill into our sea, fish die and our diet change so we the local people now have problem. Therefore, RD Tuna boss receiving the AWARD needs to be questioned
Landowners reject deal April 28, 2006
Disgruntled Kananam landowners in Madang have rejected the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Rd Tuna Canners and the Madang Provincial Government. At a meeting held on Sunday, the landowners said they will not sign the agreement which was scheduled for the parties to sign on Wednesday at the Madang Provincial Government headquarters.
The landowners said in a letter to Provincial Administrator Joseph Dorpar that a lot of their concerns were “omitted or written off” in the memorandum of understanding which was prepared by Acting State Solicitor George Minjihau.
“The MOU shows that many of our concerns have been omitted or written off which we will never tolerate. It is also a self picture of conspiracy between the Government and the company,” the letter alleged.
Last month, the landowners threatened to block the Vidar Passage that is used by RD Tuna Canners fishing fleet after alleging that there was a serious case of sex trade going on in the area between the company’s workers and local women. They also raised concerns with the company of the environmental damage done to the Vidar Passage and spin-off businesses which were supposed to be wholly owned by the landowners.
The landowners presented the petition to Chief Secretary Joshua Kalinoe and his government delegation last month, outlining their concerns and demands. The landowners also said the memorandum of understanding showed a lack of transparency by the Government in addressing their concerns.
They said these concerns had been raised in their petition and they would fight until all their demands are addressed. “The community meeting came to a resolution that this MOU will not be signed until all our concerns are satisfactorily addressed,” the landowners stated in the letter.
Post Courier – Thursday, 01/06/2006
Kananam landowners in Madang are ready to “take up arms” to revolt against RD Tuna Canners.
That’s the warning the landowners issued last week after waiting for almost two months for a response to their demands handed to the National Government. “We are prepared to create another Bougainville crisis if the Government keeps us waiting,’’ spokesman John Debb said, adding they would fight for their rights against the company.
The Kananam villagers have threatened to block the Vidar Passage which is used by RD Tuna Canners fishing fleet, alleging serious environmental pollution and damage. They also allege company workers were promoting the sex trade and that there were serious cases which involved the company’s workers and local women. They also raised concerns of environmental damage to the Vidar Passage and the lack of spin-off businesses they claim they were owed.
They handed a petition to Chief Secretary Joshua Kalinoe. A memorandum of understanding was drafted by the Government but the landowners refused to sign it, saying many of their concerns were not addressed or rejected. Mr Debb told a meeting of the villagers last Sunday they were prepared to fight for their rights, even if it meant taking up arms.
Mr Debb said it was two months since they refused to sign and the Government had yet to respond fully to their claims. Attempts to get comments from RD Tuna Canners have been unsuccessful.
Fish park plan Post Courier 7/6/06.
CABINET has approved the establishment of Papua New Guinea’s first marine industrial park to be located in Madang - an initiative fish experts say could turn PNG into the “tuna capital of the world”. It is a project that is also set to create thousands of jobs for Papua New Guineans working in multi-million kina fishing-related businesses — directly and indirectly— when it is fully functional, says industry experts.
The marine industrial park will be located on Vidar Plantation along the north coast of Madang. The stakeholders in this project include the Madang Provincial Government, the National Fisheries Authority and RD Tuna. The lead government agency co-ordinating the development of the project will be the Industrial Centres Development Corporation (ICDC).
Government sources say the purpose of the Marine Park is to utilise land at Vidar Plantation to attract various marine related industries that can share common facilities. It is hoped that new fishing ventures will be attracted to set up processing plants, factories and smaller industries to support the fishing industry. Cabinet has approved and allocated K2 million for work to start on the project.
Industry experts say the socio-economic benefits of the marine industrial park include substantial generation of foreign exchange which will enhance the value of the kina, creation of thousands of jobs for Papua New Guineans, direct and indirect business opportunities that will be created.
The other benefits include:
•IMPORT substitution for perennially imported products;
•DIRECT and indirect taxes generated out of the project;
• PROVISION of by-products for other industries, especially for agricultural and livestock industries;
• DIRECT exposure for PNG worldwide thus enhancing the country’s image as a producer of world class product
• GENERATION of a lot of spin-off benefits to landowners and the rural people of Madang; and
• TECHNOLOGY transfer to PNG Industry experts also say the setting up of the marine industrial park will encourage fish suppliers to offload their catches in an area where more fish users are operating, enabling them to sell at better prices.
“The establishment of a marine industrial park will make it easier for commercial fishermen to unload their fish catch at a centralised facility, hence making it more economical and profitable for them to do business,” one industry expert said. “In short, to lure fishing companies to unload fish catch and sell same to on-shore processors. “It will make it easier for PNG to maximise the benefit of marine and fish raw materials by creating higher value added products out of the resource.”
The marine industrial park will also encourage more foreign and local investors to set up marine on-shore processing and related facilities in PNG through a centralised and cost efficient economic zone facility, experts say.
Fish park plan opens exciting new era
Viewpoint Thursday 08th June, 2006 (Post Courier?)
THE Government’s approval for the establishment of Papua New Guinea’s first marine industrial park to be based in Madang is great news indeed for the fisheries sector. This initiative has the potential to create thousands of jobs for Papua New Guineans and boost the economy of Madang as well as the nation as a whole in a big way.
But, it must be managed professionally and this is where the role of the Industrial Centres Development Corporation (ICDC) becomes critical. The Government has to ensure it guides the development of the project in a way that ensures sustainability of our resources while at the same time bringing in the benefits we so desperately need. Political interference and bureaucratic red tape, which have become synonymous with so many other projects, should be avoided at all cost in the interest of ensuring the nation benefits from this project.
This of course does not mean the Government should not intervene if and when the need arises. It is the prerogative of the Government to do so as long as it is for the purpose of ensuring that the operations comply with the laws and regulations or policies of the nation. The marine industrial park will be our experience with a huge project of this nature in the fisheries sector, thus it is important all stakeholders manage the issues pertaining to it in a way that ensure the interests of the nation and all stakeholders are protected.
This also includes ensuring local landowners and the people of Madang also benefit from the project. The Madang Provincial Government and its administration should do everything within their powers and resources to assist landowners and the local people gain maximum benefits from the project. The spin-off benefits from the project will be massive and it is up to the landowners and other Madang people to capitalise on the opportunity and get involved in an active way. Companies cannot handout cash and other benefits. The landowners should be talking to the Madang Provincial Government and the administration to look at opportunities for businesses that are available to them.
Often times, landowners have the tendency of sitting idle in their villages and demanding that companies pay them cash for operating on their land. Such lazy attitudes have no place in a modern economy. Everyone must get up and earn their living in an honest way. John Wasao C/- St Michael’s School P O Box 368 MADANG
Kananam Pipel I Tok NOGAT Wantok Nius P O Box 1982 BOROKO, NCD, PNG 13 June 2006
Long Fish Park Plan Toktok i kamap long
Post Courier long Jun 7th 2006 long wokim kamap Fish Park Plan long Vidar plantesin.
Mipela papagraun bilong Kananam i tok NOGAT TRU na ino inap sindaun tasol na larim dispela gutpela plen billong gavman na kampani i kamap.
Mipela ino bin kisim wanpela toksave i kam long nesenal na provinsel gavman o long Nesenal Fiseris Atoriti long wokim kamap dispela Fish Park. Gavman na kampani iken kamapim kainkain plen bilong wok kamap tasol ol i mas save olsem mipela ol papagraun tru tru i stap yet antap long graun na sapos mipela ino klia, o ino kisim gutpela stretpela toksave, na ino amamas long ol wok kamap, bai igat hevi istap yet.
Mipela ino inap sindaun isi na larim gavman na kampani i mekim samting long laik bilong ol yet, bikos mipela ino longlong bilong ol ausait lain. Mi yet olsem siaman bilong Bel Lagoon i makim Kananam komyuniti i laik tok olsem, mipela ol papa graun ino kisim o lukim wanpela marin envaironmen plen bilong gavman na Nesenal Fisaris Atoriti.
Solwara em i holim laip bilong mipela olgeta manmeri na pikinini, mipela i save kisim bikpela halivim long kaikai i kam long solwara, olsem na sapos dispela Fish Park Plan i kamap, bai planti sip i kam insait long basis na bagarapim basis, rip, solwara na sindaun bilong mipela. Mipela i luksave olsem bai mipela i kisim bikpela taim nogut, olsem na mipela ol papagraun ino wanbel long dispela plen bilong wokim kamap National Fish Park na yusim basis bilong mipela.
Mipela ol papagraun ino bin kisim wanpela toksave pas ikam long nesenal na provinsel gavaman. Mipela ino lukim wanpela marin envaironmen plen ikam long RD Fishing PNG Ltd na Fiseris Atoriti. Mipela ino kisim gutpela spin-off na sevis ikam long RD Fishing PNG Ltd. Nogat gutpela awenes ikam insait long komyuniti. Nogat gutpela agrimen wantaim mipela ol papagraun.
Long dispela as na mipela ol papagraun insait long ples Kananam i askim nesenal na provinsel gavaman na nesenal fiseris atoriti long kam aut long mipela na tok klia long mipela long wanem kain wok kamap insait long ples na graun bilong mipela. Sapos nogat bai mipela ol papa graun i painim kain kain rot long stopim dispela plen bilong kampani na gavman long wokim fish park long Vidar.
Tenk yu tru John Wasao (Seg klen, Kananam Ples).
Pacific Review 20 July 2006 RD Denies Strike
Our last news item today comes from the Coastal town of Madang in PNG. Production workers at the RD Tuna Company went on a two strike over a wage dispute. Workers claimed RD Tuna promised them a five toea raise (US 1 ½ cents) which the company had not delivered on.
RD Tuna is a Philippino based company who has been in Madang for nine years. It hasn’t been an easy road for RD who is not particularly well received in the Madang community and the greater PNG area. Constant complaints of air pollution, water pollution, working conditions, increasing social problems coupled with a condescending, arrogant attitude has made RD not only despised but the butt of numerous jokes over the years. Seldom do you go to Madang without hearing a joke with RD as the main target.
In the case of RD they often bring on problems themselves. Yesterday was a primary example. With the Production Unit of RD on strike for the second day – reporters rang RD officials for comments. RD officials line was “there is no strike”. Yet two local news agencies had reporters right outside the factory. Here were two reporters – one each from the print and radio media – who saw there was no production taking place – no people – yet RD chose to deny it was taking place.
In, what we can consider a case of brillent reporting one of the radio stations had their reporter ring from outside the company to company officials inside. When queried the officials again denied the strike was taking place. The reporter began explaining he was right outside the company – there was silence – and then the RD official hung up the phone. When the story was run on radio station they played the “interview” with RD officials. It was a hilarious piece of journalism which spoke volumes when the listeners heard RD hang up. The news piece actually received numerous phone calls about the report – all laughing and making comments about RD. To the news media we applaude you for reporting the matter as it unfolded. It was responsible journalism.
To RD Tuna to deny something so obvious just continues to make your company the laughing stock it has become when dealing with community issues. What could you possibly be thinking when you were denying something so obvious. And as usual when you do something like this – your strategy of trying to cover up has, once again, only made things worse.
Tuna industry players seek access with Pacific nations-----(Pacnews, 13 Sept. 06)
Reports from Sun Star 13 SEPTEMBER 2006 MANILA(Pacnews)-
Tuna industry players are asking the Philippines Government to fast track the forging of bilateral fishing agreements with Pacific Island nations and Indonesia to address the problem of dwindling tuna catches.
In a resolution adopted during the recently concluded 8th Tuna Congress, industry leaders said domestic tuna catches could not cope up with the requirements of the tuna canneries and processing plants.
“The industry is now increasingly dependent on the supply of tuna caught outside the Philippine exclusive economic zone,” the resolution adopted during the plenary said.
The Philippine tuna industry accounts for about 12 percent of the country's total fisheries production and support over 120,000 jobs. It accounts for about P10 billion in commercial value per year. Six of the country's eight tuna canneries are based in General Santos City, the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines.”
Francisco Herda, an operator of about a dozen tuna pump boats, said they have been catching further from the shores even up to the waters off Indonesia. “Our operational costs, particularly for diesel, are soaring due to the distance. Before, we can catch tuna in about a week's time in our seas but now the average is about 45 days because we are going farther and farther,” he said.Other industry players estimated that fuel expenses eat 50 percent to 60 percent of the operational costs for one fishing expedition.
With bilateral or multilateral fishing access agreements with Pacific Island nations and Indonesia, the resolution said it would further strengthen the chances of the tuna industry from disintegration. The country is presently a member of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Cooperation that determines tuna catch allocation in the convention area but the players argued it is not enough and that there is really a need to forge access accords with Pacific Island nations.
“The establishment of more fishing arrangements is essential to further boost the competitive advantage of the Philippine tuna industry,” the resolution stressed. “Such arrangements will safeguard the livelihood of thousands of fishermen, processing plant workers and their families who are dependent on the industry,” it added.
Although the resolution did not mention, which countries should the government forge fishing access agreements, those among the Pacific Island nations are American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and Micronesia. The Philippines last February signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia on fisheries cooperation that seeks to enhance trade ties between them for five years.
However, the extension of the fishing licenses granted under the fishing access agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia will expire this December. The tuna industry players wanted the government to sign a new fishing access deal with Indonesia under the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area, particularly through the Eaga Agro Industrial Cooperation scheme.
Stanley Swerdloff, senior fisheries advisor for the Growth with Equity in Mindanao programme said the rich tuna production ground of the country, Celebes Sea, is feeling the crunch of fishing operations. “The danger signs are already there. There is the expansion of fishing fleets and new players over 15 years,” he said.
Mr Swerdloff said the sustainability of the country's tuna industry hinges not only in responsible catching and observance of existing fishing regulations on the Philippine waters but also to the larger Western and Central Pacific oceans……..PNS(ENDS)
A long journey to fish (Melbourne Times September 27 2006)
The "land is the supermarket" for most people living in Papua New Guinea, according to Karen Iles, co-director of AID/WATCH.
AID/WATCH's Land is Life - Graun em Laip photo exhibition documents the devastating impact of the "development dollar" in Papua New Guinea - for the land and the community. Iles talks about the opening of a large tuna company that is sapping the supply of fish. Today locals have to row four kilometres to catch any fish.
"Because it is too tiring to row four kilometres every day, the locals have been forced to buy the bi-catch - fish the company can't sell," she says.
"It's horrible rotten tuna," says Iles. "It really is like the tuna that John West rejects." Papua New Guinea campaigners and AID/WATCH members have taken the exhibition photos, with the assistance of local land owners.
Some of Iles' photos will be on display. "The idea is to document the land and people's relationship with it," she says. Land is Life - Graun em Laip is on at Brightspace Gallery, 8 Martin Street, St Kilda from tomorrow until October 1
Details: www.aidwatch.org.au
Threat to sea park Post Courier 2/4 March 2007
THE proposed multi-billion kina industrial marine park to be built in Madang hangs in the balance with Kananam villagers threatening to go to court to stop the project. The Kananam villagers, who are customary landowers of the site, plan to take legal action against RD Tuna Canners, who have sub-leased the land for the project to the National Government, the Madang Provincial Government and the National Fisheries Authority.
The landowners, through their Idawad Association, said there were many issues that needed to be sorted out, especially on the environment impact. The landowners claimed RD Tuna was planning to take six directors of Seg Samulang Dun Association, also from Kananam with officials from the Madang Provincial Government and National Fisheries Authority to the Philippines to sign an agreement for the marine park project.
The park, which got the backing of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) who visited last month, is the brainchild of the Madang Provincial Government, the National Fisheries Authority and RD Tuna Canners. The marine park project was approved by Cabinet in June last year in a move to ensure PNG was placed on the world map in tuna production.
The Kananams said the site was a traditional fishing ground, rich in marine biodiversity because of the mangrove vegetation. The proposed park would take up the Iduan Island and half of the Alexishafen coastline. “We can’t allow them to bulldoze things through,” the landowners said.
14/03/2007 Wantok Newspaper PO Box 1981 Boroko NCD PNG
Diar Edita
RE: M.O.U Signing and Marine Industrial Park
Long makim maus bilong ol Seg Clan pepil insait long ples Kananam long Madang Province, ol papa graun ino amamas tru long wanim kain samting em Secretary bilong Madang District Administrator i wokim long holim M.O.U bilong ol Kananam pepil.bekos long protest March bilong ol Kananam pepil igo long RD Tuna long last year 2006, na Chief Secretary bilong Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare Mr Josua Kalenoi i salim dispela draft bilong M.O.U i kam long Kananam pepil bai RD Tuna Fishing Company bilong Philippines na Madang Province Gavaman wantaim ol papa graun bilong Vidar bai sainim.
Tasol start long last year March 2006 ikam inap nau long mun March 2007 Madang Provincial Gavaman i holim dispela draft M.O.U na ol ino mekim wanpela samting long signing bilong MOU na ol pepil bilong ples Kananam nau i wok long redim nau wanpela protest March long igo long RD na Provical Gavanam. Bekos RD Tuna Fishing Company i wok long traim kisim fiv [5] pela giaman papa graun bilong ples Kananam, bai ol i kalap long wanpela kago ship bilong RD Tuna, ship No: 767 ship or 888 long igo long Philippines long sinem M.O.U bilong Marine Industrial Park.
Na narapela samting tu ol papa graun bilong ples Kananam i lukim olsem, ol dispela giaman papa graun husait i laik igo long Philippines ino bin kisim tok orait ikam long Forenrfeas Dipartmaent wantaim tok orait bilong Immigration.
Ol i nogat PNG Passport
Ol i nogat Visas bilong Philippines
Nogat castom clearance Na ol Kananam pepil ino save tru long wakabaut bilong ol dispela five [5] pela giaman papa graun igo long Philippines.
Na ol papa graun wantaim olgeta pepil long ples Kananam i bin holim wanpela bikpela kominiti miting long ples Kananam wantaim Madang P.S.C or police station commanda na RD, CRO, na ol pepil i givim 14 days lon gGavaman na RD Tuna Company long stopim trip long Philippines na stretim signing bilong M.O.U. Sapos nogat Kananam Kominiti bai wokim protes March na pasim maus bilong basis or enterance bilong ship.
By *** 18/3/07-
The Kananam People had hosted a meeting regarding the issue of the RD FISHING and the Changes to the SSD Directors (a Landowner Company).
The COMMUNITY got rid of the Formers Directors of SSD. The people of Kananam had voiced their Anger at the meeting telling the former directors to step down immediately. WHY Step down? BECAUSE the former directors have been elected 9 years ago and DID NOTHING for the COMMUNITY but Only for their self gain and NOT SERVING the best interest of the Kananam people.
Within this 9 years the Landowner Company called the SSD Company did not come out clear with their progress such as fight for Kananam peoples’ Land Rights, Human Rights, Environmental issues, Social Issues were Not at All addressed by the Sek Samlang Dun Company of Kananam village which the Filipino owned RD Fishing has been feeding the SSD directors. For us Kananams this is a message saying, “Shut your mouth and eat your twisties and forget about your tribal community!”
We had enough of Divide and Rule approach of the RD Fishing the KONGKONGS. The Kananams urged the New Directors and their Advisors to Work Together to bring Benefits to the Community. The Objective of the meeting which the PEOPLE wanted most was to Sign MOU which has been a long overdue issue so the people of Kananam wanted it to be signed otherwise another Action will be taken. However, only the change of the SSD Directors would be the best option to take for the community concern. The PEOPLE also wanted to inform the RD Fishing Management and Madang Provincial Government Departmental Heads to look upon the Newly Elected Directors to work along with.
Dear FRIENDS, Re: RD TUNA PUTS HALT ON SECRET PAY.
Today Sunday 8/4/07; The Kananam people reveal that RD Tuna company has been paying K250 per forthnight to the Two LLG members of Siar and Kananam communities since 2004.
WHY DID RD TUNA DO THIS? It’s simple, there has been Local resistance.
The landowners were vocal for their environmental/land issues as well as the Promised benefits such as spin off and employment.
Siar and Kananam communities are most impacted villages on which Kananam land and marine area is where RD Fishing Ice Plant is built.
The Youths of Kananam are now happy to reveal how deceiving and what logic it is that RD Tuna has to put the two councillors on pay every forthnight? We the Youths are glad for RD Tuna spending that little amount on the two leaders who have never stopped us to fight for our rights. We are now angry with the Filipino company in putting STOP pay on our LLG Member from receiving K250 per forthnight on Wednesday 27/3/07.
Anyway, Thank you for that Divide and Rule –Bully approach so typical of you Kongs.
The IDAWADS of Kananam are saying: -RD Tuna
*** are NOT Good People as well as their products are not good because they have been selling Dog Food to the locals of Kananam and PNG. We are glad to have friends locally who say NO to buy Diana Tuna products due to the fact that their moral actions are destroying our reefs, fish and social values etc…. RD Tuna was allowed into PNG for Tuna Canning business. Now what Right does a foreign company have to venture into Betelnut plantation and selling them out to the Highlands of PNG? It Is not right for international company to sell betelnut and kill the local people from earning income. Thank you-Friends of Kananam.
A Plea from Seg Clan-Kananam. By Mam PANU
Vidar Land is ours and the Marine area belongs to the Seg Tribal people.
Vidar Land is Mine This Fishing Reefs are not for Filipinos
From Seg, Vidar to Iduan island;
From Green mangrove forest to the Tranquil Madang Lagoon
This Vidar Harbour was created for the Kananams.
I am/my trabal people are connected to the Land and the traditional fishing zone
And I follow my father’s inheritance.
From the calm lagoons to the inviting little islands of Alexishafen
All around me an inner call keeps reminding me of blood lineage
Water of Life Vidar marine area is Customarily my clan’s.
It was early dawn, and I was strolling
The sea was inviting and the morning birds were welcoming nature’s providence;
While gentle breeze was lifting a voice:
This Vidar marine area was made for you-The Seg Clan.
Seg Clan Landowners Kananam village P.O Box 750, Madang, Madang Province-PNG.
30th June 2007.
RD Fishing is now contracting Pelicon Building Construction of Philippines. We the traditional leaders and customary landowners of Vidar marine area where RD Fishing is established are against the nepotism being practiced by the Filipinos, particularly the RD Fishing is allowing the Pelicon Ltd to build the houses at Vidar.
We the Kananams and Madang lagoon people have expert carpenters and why is RD Fishing not engaging the locals to do work which we were given the spin off within the RD Tuna company at Vidar. The Seg Clan are very disappointed at the moment and now they are realizing the fight Idawads of Kananam have started and the company continues to divide and rule us to make money.
The Seg clan elders said, “we have spin off with the RD Tuna Company at Vidar to build houses and do maintenance as well. We the landowners are not at all happy with the RD Fishing allowing the Pelicon Ltd which is a Filipino company and this really is breaching of the PNG law.
John Wasao said, “we see the RD Fishing which is a foreign company in PNG supposed to have a fair deal with the local resource owners but RD Tuna Ltd and RD Fishing are here on our land and marine area for their benefit. At the moment the RD Fishing is employing their Filipino friends to do any supervisory work and other general work duties which the local people can do them skillfully.
We the Sek Clan are not happy because RD Fishing is making Fool and Slave out of us on our on land. We are not happy with more social problems such as sex exchanged for fish and bycatch not supposed to be sold by the company to the people, the RD Fishing sells them at high cost.
Bycatch are those undersize and other species of fish apart from Tuna. Mr Wasao said, we are appealing to the Government of Madang and the National Government particularly the immigration department to come to Vidar-Madang and get hold of these Filipinos who use Viar as hiding ground. Some of these Filipinos don’t have passports. They come into Madang PNG by RD Fishing vessels. They easily escape through the RD Fishing vessels unnoticed.
Now that RD Tuna ventures into Cattle Project, Growing Betelnut, Growing Cocoa, Gardening and why is the Government of Madang not doing anything for the Filipino company was here for Tuna industry and not other cash commodity.
Update August 1, 2007
Kananams Up Against Marine Park.
MADANG: On the Calm Madang waters and beautiful islands, the Landowners of Vidar Industrial Marine Park at Doilon lagoon are not happy to have the Construction go ahead. There were NO CONSULTATION done for the project to be established in the lagoon. Certainly there are outstanding issues which needs to be addressed thoroughly by the RD Tuna, Madang Provincial Government and the National Government.
According to the Landowners, there hasn’t been any agreement between the landowners and Madang Provincial Governmetn and the National Fisheries Authority to the project. The landowners did not know anything about the Environmental Plan for the Industrial Marine Park which would have impact to the lagoon and the marine ecosystem.
Mr Wasao said, “Environmental Plan should be tabled out for people to see because we have the Right To Information. The communities surrounding the RD Fishing are all connected to the environment.”
To the understanding of the landowners, Doilon lagoon is not the Industrial zone, this lagoon is under the Madang Lagoon Association and is owned by the local resource owners under 2 to 12 nautical miles zone and it is not under 200 Nautical miles under industrial zone. The Landowners from Seg Clan and the traditional owners of the lagoon fully opposed the Marine Industrial Park to be kicked off in our 2 Nautical mile zone in the lagoon.
Mr Wangat who is the Paramount Chief of Seg/Kidapain clan said, “our customary fishing reefs are continuously being destroyed and now we are facing more problem by going back to our houses without catching any reef fish for our family meals. The major problem now in Kananam is sex exchanged for fish with RD Fishing crews by the local women and this is becoming a normal practise in the community. The local women involed are not to be blamed because such a situation has been created by the RD Tuna, a Filipino company which is NOT our development at all but benefit for the Corrupt Madang and PNG Government.”
“We the Landowners are so disappointed with the RD Tuna company to set up the No Go zone in the lagoon where we are born and grown to know our birth right to travel freely on our beautiful lagoons,”said John Wangat a paramount chief from Seg clan. The Kananam people were not at all informed by RD Tuna on the No Go zone and Mr Blasius Nagir of Panuwadan subclan said, “the Filipinos have no birth right to stop us from traveling on our lagoon. Why are you foreigners imposing your own laws on our God given land and the traditional fishing grounds?”
Mr A. Bugei and Wasao as clan spokesmen said, “we now warned the RD Tuna and the Madang Provincial Government that there will be more trouble if the project go ahead without our consent. And we cannot allow any outsider to do further development at Vidar and destroy our Madang lagoon.”
Mr John Wasao is not happy with the RD Tuna company when the Industrial Marine Park is built at Vidar. There would be other outside companies such as the logging and mining companies using the marine park to do shipment and this is a great concern to the local marine wild life management area in Madang lagoon is really at risk.
Mr Wasao said, “RD Tuna Fishing Ltd is rushing to build the Industrial Marine Park which would have more impact to our local fishing grounds. The Madang Government has been so generous in supporting the company by allowing 5- year tax holiday when the first 5 years were over. The Kananams wonder if the Madang Government was for the people or for their own interest, therefore, those occupying the positions in the Government departments could have incentives from the company. Such incentives are known to us the locals of Madang when elites from Madang occupying labour office here in Madang and others are having double dipped pays at any time when landowners are fighting for their rights to benefit which the company supposed to offer."
NFA ‘orders’ RD Tuna to close shop Post Courier 7th August 2007.
THE RD Tuna Cannery in Madang has been ordered to close by the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) for alleged breaches of health standards.
The closure of the cannery has left more than 3500 production workers from both the cannery and the ice plant at Vidar Passage without work since Saturday.
According to reports received yesterday, the cannery was ordered to stop production for two weeks because birds were nesting in the main production plant, and the cannery was beyond health standards with wastes being dumped improperly.
According to an employee, who requested anonymity in fear of losing her job, NFA inspectors paid a “surprise visit” to the cannery and ordered the cannery stop production and immediately clean up the wastes, which the inspectors considered a health hazard.
“The cannery is full of rubbish and waste and I can tell you that there are so many of these red eye birds in the production plant so the NFA inspectors have ordered the management to stop production and clean up the mess,” the employee said.
However, the employee also said the RD Tuna management was not willing to abide by the directives and have stated they would restart production today.
Landowner spokesman on land where the cannery is built, John Waso, also confirmed the cannery workers had been laid off until further notice. The stoppage of production could affect households which normally depend heavily on canned fish if the stoppage to production is prolonged.
Attempts to get comments from RD Tuna Canners and NFA officers were unsuccessful. Officers at the NFA said the managing director Sylvester Pokajam, who was not available, was the only person to comment on such issues. The telephone lines to the RD Cannery in Madang were out.
RD's export licence to the EU cancelled? 16 August 2007
Rumours are that RD Tuna has had their licence to export to the EU cancelled because of poor hygiene and traces of nasty bacteria in their products. Rumours suggest that there are several different types of bacteria found. One comes from improper freezing and thawing processes. The second is water-borne and comes from poor water storage and treatment. The third, cop this, comes from birds!! It turns out that birds have established nests in the production facility and the bacteria comes from their excreta - they have been shitting in the tins!! Recently an RD rep was reported as saying that the American market was in jeopardy because of the potential for heavy metals from the Ramu Nickel mine being introduced into the tuna stocks. Forget about America. 80% of RD Tuna's PNG products goes to the EU. That has been lost for at least the moment. And it confirms what we have all known for ages.........where there's a bad smell there's dodgy practices nearby!!!
EU De-Lists RD Tuna Products (Source industry insider 21 September 2007)
The European Union (EU) has delisted RD Tuna from entering their countries.
The delisting has occured due to unsanitary conditions stemming from poor refrigeration, poor water quality and the faeces of birds entering the RD factories. Workers have complained of just these issues for years now.
What brought about the delisting was a surprise inspection from the EU themselves. EU inspectors, without notice, inspected the variouscomponents of the production and found the sanitation conditions unacceptable. The EU then contacted the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) to inform them of their findings. The EU then informed the NFA which decided they would inform the officials at RD rather than the EU.
RD is frantically trying to address issues as the EU countries account for 80% of RD's exports. When RD has made amends they will inform the NFA who will then inform the EU officials. The EU officials will then inspect to see if RD has met their conditions. the EU will then continue to make spot checks.
RD Tuna Drops NGO Lawsuit February 2008
RD Tuna has dropped the lawsuit they filed against a local NGO and their technical advisor.
In September 2003 RD launched a defamation suit against the Bismarck Ramu Group (BRG), a Madang based non-government organisation (NGO).
In addition to BRG and its techncial advisor, the tuna company had also filed suits against the landowners of Kananam represented by the Idawad Association, their chairmen, vice chairmen and Sek/Kananam Ward Councillor James Sungai, the elected representative from the area.
The tuna company initiated action against the six defendants in an attempt to silence their criticism of the company, its employment practices and evironmental damage. Among the claims from RD Tuna was that the defendants had created and distributed a website (www.rd.green.net.au)
Two months after initiating the suit against the landowners RD was forced to agree it had no legitimate claim and discontinued the court against.
The landowners however claimed the company should be held responsible for its "bullying actions" in trying to intimidate them. They returned to court to express these views finding a sympathetic court which ordered RD to pay all the costs of the landowners and ordering no further proceedings be brought against them.
RD also attempted to drop proceedings against the Bismarck Ramu Group on two previous occasions, but the NGO refused opting to have their day in court. However in May last year BRG agreed to allow the case to be dropped.
Official Notice of Discontinuence was filed in May 2007, but the orders where not received by BRG's lawyers until this week. When contacted BRG Coordinator, John Chitoa said the suit had no merit at all. He said RD was simply trying to invoke a slap suit - which is a suit brought by companies against those they want to silence.
He said since the "bogus" lawsuit was filed by RD the company has been delisted by the European Union (EU) from exporting to EU countries for the very reasons the RD workers and BRG had brought to the public's attention for years. RD Tuna Canners had no comment.
RD Tuna Concedes Defeat February 2008
Filipino company, RD Tuna has admitted defeat in its attempts to stifle criticism of the environmental and social impacts of its operations and drive out of existence a small local non government organisation that assists landowners to understand and defend their rights.
In September 2003, RD Tuna commenced a defamation action against the Bismark Ramu Group claiming it was the author of a website [http://www.rd.green.net.au/] which publishes detailed evidence of serious environmental pollution from the RD factory in Madang; low pay and unhygienic working conditions for local staff; and the prostitution of local women on foreign tuna fishing boats.
The legal action was seen as thinly disguised attack on the Bismark Ramu Group which has been heavily criticised by foreign interests for its work with landowners in Madang that are critical of RD Tuna and other projects that seek to exploit the local population.
Despite its small size and rural location, the Bismark Ramu Group decided to defend itself against what was seen as an unwarranted and unjustified legal attack. So successful has that defence been, that despite the overwhelming financial resources and political leverage of RD Tuna, the company has now officially discontinued its legal case.
This is regarded by many as an admission by the company that it did not want to go into court and have to try and defend itself against its critics. A hearing in open court would have meant RD had to disclose highly damaging documents about tuna consignments to the United States that were rejected as unfit for human consumption but then returned to PNG.
RD Tuna facility bombed in Philippines, February 2, 2008
RD Tuna Fails Inspection February 25, 2008
RD Tuna Canneries failed to meet European Union (EU) sanitary standards during an EU inspection of their operations in Madang last week. The three person inspection team gave RD another three months to "clean up its act."
The Filipino owned company was "delisted" from exporting its products to the EU last year due to unsanitary conditions from poor hygiene and bacteria in their products. Several different types of bacteria were found.
One came from improper freezing and thawing processes. The second is water-bourne and comes from poor water storage and treatment. The third came from bird excreta. The birds had established nests in the production facility. Since the delisting RD production have been drastically cut back.
Currently there is only production for their products in the local market. At the time of the delisting nearly 80% of RD Tuna's PNG products were going to the EU. As of April 2008 RD Watch is unsure if the delisting is still in effect.
TRUCK OWNERS ANGRY WITH RD TUNA May 23, 2008
RD Tuna in Madang PNG has been hiring trucks owned by various groups within Madang and other provinces within PNG but in the MOA signed by the principal landowners, such spin off must be given to the landowners and not outsiders. It is suggested that RD Tuna has NEVER maintained its promises (in regards to trucking) and has helped divide the local landowning clans and now the spin offs are given away to the outsiders Currently the 40 truck owners who normally pick up and drop off RD Tuna employees are not satisfied with the rate at which the Filipino company pays them. The truck owners said today that the fuel prices are so high in Madang and that they are are being shut off better contracts by an intimidating individual.
According to the truck owners, they haven’t signed any agreements with such an intimidating person who individually claims the trucking business with RD Tuna. According to insiders the intimidating indivual has said the following statement: “Mi tok bai senis kamap, yupela istap aninit long kontrol bilong mi, em spin off bisnis blong mi.” [If I say there will be changes, you are all under my control for trucking is my spin off business]"
The truck owners said, we were contracted by RD Tuna. We want the increase to keep up with the fuel prices going up, amongst other things. They said, the Filipino company has given them today another five (5)more years before they (truck owners) could get any increase. This is very bad for us and good for the company and we want win-win situation.
7 More Canneries for Madang December 11, 2008
PNG PMIZ Boondoggle In For Tough Times by Trevor Collins
It’s always interesting to write about our neighbors to the North. As the old tourism promotion ads said from years ago PNG - The Land of the Unexpected. In recent years as the government of PNG has pushed large scale economic development the landowners have, as is always the case, been left out.
In the peaceful coastal town of Madang the local people are being inundated with a myriad of “development” projects. From a poorly designed Ramu Nickel Mine, to logging from the Malaysian giant Rimbunan Hijau, to a fishing cannery by the notoriously poor Filipino run RD Tuna.Now the folks at RD Tuna along with others in the Pacific have proposed and began construction on what they are calling a Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ). It began as just a Marine Park then graduated to the PMIZ. Construction has been going full blast with support of the corrupt PNG government. But as those that seek to exploit the people and the resources go merrily on their way to what they think are riches they are about to face hard times -and this time by NGOs, churches, international groups and lawyers from four different countries.
RD Tuna has been a sloppily managed operation from the beginning. They have been fined for poor waste disposal, they have been shut down for unhygienic conditions, their relations with their employees are weak, their management, though they deny it, is all Filipino, with several not being able to speak English.
They have been called out by NGOs and landowners and tried bullying them by filing suit against one of the NGOs and one group of landowners. They failed miserably on both cases. The landowners won their case and RD was forced to withdraw their case against the NGO.
You think a company with this kind of history would be the last company you would want involved in a major economic project. But not in PNG. Often time anything goes. Thus RD has been a major mover and shaker in a scheme that will set up 7 more canneries in Madang. They are promising 40,000 jobs. In the last census the total population of Madang town was only 27,000. They are promising everything and moving along, but they may be about to change.Work on the construction has been monitored and filmed from the beginning, both ground level photos as well as aerial photos. Interviews has been conducted with scores of people - all apparently without the RD management having a clue.
I was allowed to write this article as NGO’s in the Philippines, Thailand and Hong Kong have given me permission.Why now? It appears that the seven canneries proposed in the site at Vidar have many questionable partners that are to be involved. The environmental records of two and the employment practices of the same two are being monitored and these two with RD themselves are about to face not only international condemnation, but possible lawsuits as firms from Hong Kong are now involved. In Madang itself there are a growing number of concerns including the legality of the site in which the canneries are being built. Pete Celso, the diminutive Filipino, manager of RD announced to the Madang Chamber of Commerce in July that there were “no traditional landowners” in the site they are working. Not only was Mr. Celso foolish in making such a statement, but he was wrong. And sources say he will soon see how wrong he was.
The coalition of groups and lawyers involved in this issue are also targeting the financial people and groups who are funding the project. While civil society groups do this often what makes this group of NGOs different is they are also targeting the private funds coming in with a sophisticated network of groups in four different countries.
It will be interesting to see where this all goes and we will update you from time to time. Times seem to be changing through out world even to our neighbors to the north. The obvious Pacific Marine Industrial Zone is boondoggle of enormous proportions. They are about to run into formidable opponents. It will be most interesting to see how this plays out.
The Kananam Statement April 14-16 2009
The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone Gets Rammed Down Madang's Throat But We Gag and Spit It Out June 12, 2009.
People’s Rejection of Proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) Continues June 19 2009.
It seems like the PNG government (through its agents) finally managed to bulldoze its way in seeing to it that the scheduled ground-breaking ceremony for its overly-publicized Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) at Vidar in Madang, PNG, does happen today (Friday 19th June 2009) as was initially scheduled.
That done, the government might also have to use every means to prevent the people from expressing their REAL concerns and beliefs. In a democracy like PNG the people do know and highly value their right to freedom of expression and all the rest as is stipulated in NO UNCERTAIN terms by their National Constitution.
Thus the Madang Lagoon people’s unreserved resistance to their national government’s proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) still continues. “Which people in their right frame of mind will ever sit still and let such a monster enter their backyards?” says Francis Gem, chairman of the Idawad Association of Kananam village.
The government and other proponents of the PMIZ idea, have NOT consulted appropriately with the Madang Lagoon community, let alone the people of Madang province as a whole, on what the PMIZ really is.
In Mr Gem’s own words: “They have NEVER carried out thorough nor proper consultative public meetings to inform the people about the PMIZ idea….We have been left in the dark on the matter, so we had to carry out our own fact finding researches….. “And it startles us to see our government shoving that PMIZ thing down our throats… we understand that our government wants to get the best it can out of our tuna stocks, BUT is the proposed PMIZ way, the only way? Whose interest is the government serving?”
For the Madang people, the PMIZ idea is a NO NO, and Mr Gem echoes their voice: “We will NOT allow that monster in!”
Francis Gem can be contacted on his Digicel mobile: (675) 72940214
“NO TO PMIZ” Stance In Madang Gains Momentum 23 June 2009, Madang, PNG
There’s extreme unhappiness in Madang Lagoon, as well as throughout the province, over the heavy-handed tactics applied by the PNG National government and its agents and stakeholders in the PMIZ idea.
Following the bulldozed ground breaking ceremony at Vidar last Friday (19th June 2009), the Madang Lagoon communities have begun holding meetings to explore collective organized actions leveled at nothing less than blocking off the PMIZ idea.
The Madang people who admit to have been fooled once before, do NOT wish to be fooled yet again. So many rules have been bent and even broken, proper procedures have NOT been followed in the PMIZ arrangements.
The national government’s arrogance played off all too clearly when arrangements to the Ramu Nickel mine project were fast-tracked and bulldozed in recent years. The people are NOT blind nor stupid, they have learnt from past mistakes, and surely they will NOT allow themselves to be fooled yet again.
The symbolic and ritual appeasement with natural and spiritual powers of the land and sea, was one activity during last Friday’s ground breaking occasion.
Apart from other things, that ritual appeasement was clearly misplaced. What an abomination! That was nothing short of mockery and blatant sacrilege to “our noble traditions” that PNG’s National Constitution appropriately highlights: “WE, THE PEOPLE OF PAPUA New GUINEA – . united in one nation . pay homage to the memory of our ancestors – the source of our strength and origin of our combined heritage . pledge ourselves to guard and pass on to those who come after us our noble traditions...”
Peaceful and Beautiful Madang is now reduced to EXTREME UNHAPPINESS. And the unhappiness is gaining momentum by the minute.
Francis Gem can be contacted on his Digicel mobile: (675) 72940214
SUMKAR MP Wants His Constituents Informed Madang, PNG 19th July 2009
In a highly commendable effort to getting his Sumkar constituents informed, the Sumkar MP (Hon. Ken Fairweather), had initiated an open forum which was held on Sunday 19th July 2009. It was exactly one month to the date when the PMIZ ground-breaking occasion was bulldozed through at Vidar on 19th June 2009. The forum was staged at the Bomase hamlet of Rempi village which is within walking distance from Vidar.
Unlike other “public” fora which are normally housed within confines of university lecture halls or air-conditioned conference rooms in hotels, this one was staged out in the open air, under the cool shades of mango trees. Men, women and even children, flooding in and numbering more than four hundred, had come in from as far away as Awar toward the mouth of the Ramu river, Josephstaal in the Middle Ramu District, as well as from Karkar and Bagabag islands. Presidents from the Sumgilbar and Karkar Local Level Governments (LLG) as well as the Sumkar District Administrator and a host of LLG representatives and community leaders from throughout the electorate were also present. Leaders from the Madang Lagoon communities were also present for this open forum, and they too aired their concerns.
The open forum was meant to create an opportunity for information sharing or exchange on the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) issue, and to create an open space for the general public to freely air their concerns on the same. A host of unanswered questions were raised. The hard fact is that there is NO transparency, NO dissemination of information on what the PMIZ is all about nor on what exactly is going on…. Whilst his colleague Ben Semri (Middle Ramu MP and PNG’s National Fisheries Minister) is vehemently pushing to have the PMIZ idea happen, Hon Ken Fairweather made in known in no uncertain terms that what he wanted first and foremost for his constituents, was for them to be well equipped with relevant and appropriate information on the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) and on any other development at all for that matter.
Mr Fairweather alluded to the people’s right to information and the freedom of expression and encouraged them to value and utilize them whilst they still had those… “Quote me as you wish and report it in the news however you would want it,” stressed Mr Fairweather, “but let me point out here that this PMIZ arrangement is a fishy deal, orchestrated by individuals driven by selfish interest and evil intent. This 5% equity deal is garbage…..what’s wrong with shooting for 33-40% equity? We are talking here about life so the equity share better be reflective of that…..and equity is just ONE out of MANY considerations that deserve clear thinking, clear planning and negotiating for, but which has NEVER happened in this PMIZ case…..and I have this to challenge you all on: that this better be the first of many many meetings that you will have to hold, if you are really serious about addressing this issue……you have this disaster coming and you better continue meeting and meeting to discuss ways and means to face it head on….I’ll do my bit BUT you too must do your bit….” Mr Fairweather said.
Focus Article Post Courier Friday 24 July 2009
A major project in the Madang area has caught the people in confusion and the land called home may be lost forever... Where is our future from here? By PATRICK MATBOB
MY cousin Bosko Is in wiped his eyes and turned apologetically to me. "I can't help shedding a tear," he said in language to me. We were standing among the crowd at Vidar having just witnessed the groundbreaking of the new Pacific Marine Industrial Zone. Bosko was nostalgic.
"We will never again see this beautiful harbour, this piece of land that we use to walk through. It is land that our ancestors have called home."
Bosko, from nearby Rempi village, was among many of the locals from Haven, Midiba, Sek, Kananam, Malmal, Riwo and Siar villages who shared similar emotions. Vidar Point was where the Rempi people used to beach their canoes for generations when visiting relatives or the mission at Sek. The people are saddened at the loss of their land. They feel angry and cheated by the government; especially their leaders who they believe should have been looking after their interests.
The groundbreaking event has brought home the reality of their loss. This piece of land lined with aging coconut palms, pristine mangrove-covered water edge, and the warm turquoise sea teeming with marine life that has supported the locals for generations, would now be permanently lost to the people of Rempi, Sek, Kanaman, Midiba and Haven. For a Papua New Guinean, this is unthinkable. It is a reality that the people find hard to accept especially considering what they are getting in return.
The people had been fighting to reclaim this land for more than 20 years from the Catholic Mission. The 860 hectares of Maiwara and Vidar land was owned by the Church which established its headquarters across the bay at Alexishafen in 1905. The land was purchased by Fr Eberhard Limbrock, a pioneer German SVD missionary who set up the mission headquarters and planted 284 hectares with 28,650 coconut palms and 67 hectares with 28,550 rubber trees. Madang was then under the German colonial administration which had approved the church's acquisition of the land. The manner in which this and other land areas in Madang had been acquired is now a major issue amongst the local landowners who want portions of the land returned to them. People need the land because of pressures of population growth and need for economic development.
In the 80s local people began asking for the return of the land from the mission. When they did not get a positive answer, they resorted to sabotaging the mission properties which had led to the mission eventually deciding to return the land. They did not have the money to develop the land for the people, so instead decided to hand over the land to the provincial government. Br Theo Becker, former procurator of Madang Archdiocese, said that the Vidar and Maiwara land were under freehold title, which the archdiocese handed over to Madang provincial government in 1996.
"The reason the land was given to the provincial government was that the provincial government wanted to do some projects in that area, for the benefit of the people," he said. "The archdiocese was not able to do development on this place for the people and we already had problems with the land before. So we sold our properties which our brothers had developed, and gave the land to the provincial government, to help give the people the opportunity for further development on this property," Br Becker explained.
He did this interview in 2000 and believed that there was an understanding between Catholic Archdiocese and the provincial government about the use of the land.
"The provincial government did not follow the deal that the land should have gone back to the people, for their benefit," Br Becker said.
Many feel angry and cheated when the Provincial Government had instead sold the land to RD Tuna and not honored the understanding with the local people. Today it seems both the people and the provincial government have lost out altogether in this deal. The underlying issues over what is now 'PMIZ' land as well as other land areas in Madang have never been resolved and remain a sore point for the local people.
So far they have been told that the marine industrial zone project would create 30,000 job opportunities and spin-off businesses. The project involves the development of 10 tuna canneries and dock and storage facilities to service foreign fishing vessels that would come in to dump their tuna catch.
However, they are worried because their experience with the existing RD Tuna Cannery has not all been positive. Benefits have been limited to jobs for women on the assembly line in the cannery and the spin-off business mainly involves transportation for workers to and from the factory for the round-the-clock operation. But there are also adverse social problems. Villagers have been affected by the so called "sex for tuna trade" where local women have been driven to trade sex for the by-catches and there is also environment pollution, both waste and smell, affecting the communities around the cannery. Ten canneries, they say, would multiply the problem that much. Many questions remained unanswered for the people. It is obvious that the local population will not provide the 30,000 workers for the factories. Where are these workers coming from? Where will they live? The government says the project when it's up running will earn the nation K2 billion a year in tuna catches. What percentage of that money will benefit the people in the impact area? What about the provincial government? People do not want to be mere spectators, fighting for spin-off crumbs and becoming impoverished each day while the foreign companies and the national government enrich themselves.
A marine industrial zone and 10 canneries are not necessarily what the people want, especially after the Bel people had just declared parts of the internationally renowned Madang lagoon area that extend from Madang town as far as Sek and Vidar as conservation areas. A major impact project such as the PMIZ could be disastrous for them if not planned properly. The national government would be making a mistake if it pushes ahead with this project without properly consulting the people and the provincial government.
PMIZ add in Post Courier Newspaper August 13 2009
Advert in Post Courier Newspaper August 13 2009
Advert in Post Courier September 10 2009.
Advert in Post Courier October 14 2009.
Advert in Post Courier October 15 2009
The National Friday 16/10/09 Cover Story Protest zone Source: JEFFREY ELAPA
MORE than 700 people staged a noisy march to the Madang provincial government office to petition the Government to stop work on the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ). The PMIZ, at Vidar along the North Coast Road, is expected to be one of the biggest tuna developments in the Asia-Pacific region and will employ more than 30,000 people. It will have 10 tuna factories and processing facilities like the ones currently at RD Tuna Canners, where fish will be processed and exported. However, the people are protesting against the development because of concerns over the environmental and social impacts the project will have on the people.They said environmental impact assessment reports presented to them indicated that pollution would be a high concern and their livelihood was likely to be affected because their survival depended on the sea. Men, women and children sat in front of the Madang provincial government building with placards that read ‘No more PMIZ’, ‘We want our land back – think about our future’, while others proclaimed ‘We do not want PMIZ – it will destroy our sea’. Earlier, Governor Sir Arnold Amet had arranged a meeting in the provincial assembly chambers for the group’s leaders with Commerce and Industry Minister Gabriel Kapris, secretary for Trade and Industry Anton Kulit and officers from the provincial government to address their concerns and discuss some of the issues surrounding the project.
As soon as the Government leaders emerged, the people became restless and started protesting loudly.
Many of the speakers voiced frustration over issues which they said had been overlooked and never addressed by the Government.“Con Government! Giaman Government! Shame on all those three men,” a speaker said, referring to Governor Sir Arnold, Mr Kapris and Mr Kulit.
A young female spoke out angrily against Mr Kulit for “not doing enough to address the needs and issues of the people as a local man”.
The protesters said that if the issues contained in the petition were not addressed, then there would be no PMIZ project.
Among some of the demand contained in the petition are that a new impact area be established to include all the Bel tribe, that the entire Bel area get 100% benefit, allocate new traditional boundaries, pay compensation for damages, do an environmental impact assessment, spin-off benefits to go to the Bel area and float landowner equities. However, Sir Arnold and Mr Kapris, after learning that an NGO group was behind the protest, said that outside people like NGOs should not use the people to protest over the project.
“Outsiders should stop misleading the people.
“NGOs try to turn and twist things but please respect the Government and educate them on what is right and wrong,” Mr Kapris said.
Sir Arnold also warned the adults from using children in such marches because it was a form of child abuse.
At one stage, a young boy who was told to carry the petition, burst into tears when he was asked to talk.
The mother of the child, who was dressed in traditional attire, came back with her son and confronted the governor, calling on him to tell the boy what he was going to do to address their concerns.
Meanwhile, the two leaders told the protesters that they were committed to addressing the issues and they would be meeting with their local leaders to find solutions to the issues through dialogue.
Meanwhile, the cleaning work at Vidar has been forced to stop by the disgruntled landowners.
Foreign NGOs accused of 'using' women and kids October 20 2009 (Pro Industry article published in Rimbunan Hijau's The National)
Rallies Force Work at PMIZ to Cease (October 20 2009)
Statement from Ken Fairweather 23 Oct 2009
1. I am against the commencement of the PIMZ. I have engaged Tiffany Nongorr at my expenses to take a stop order by law.
2. At the last months PEC, I moved to take a court order by Madang Provincial Government to stop the project until all issues had been addressed and 2nd by NGO Representative.
3.The vote was taken
FOR motion: •Honourable Buka Malai •NGO Representative •Honourable Ken Fairweather
Against motion: •Honourable Ben Semri •Commerce Representative •Church Representative
Deadlock casting vote to Governor Sir Arnold Amet. He voted against motion. Hence giving green light to project (against the wishes of the two elected representatives, Malai and myself who represent the area).
Problem is Amet scared stiff of Port Moresby. Public you may make this vote. It is public record.
4. Watch TV Australia Network for my statements. Yours, Hon. Ken Fairweather
POLITICS: Angry Protesters Want $300m PMIZ Halted
POLITICS: ANGRY PROTESTERS WANT $300m PMIZ HALTED 'We dont want to pollute our seas' Patrick Matbob NOVEMBER 2009
Communities near the US$300 million (K990m) Pacific Marine Industrial Zone project in Madang, PNG, are determined to stop it from going ahead. More than 500 angry protesters disrupted a project’s stakeholders meeting organised by the provincial government last month and forced the Minister for Commerce & Industry Gabriel Kapris and Madang Governor Sir Arnold Amet to meet them to accept a petition. Work at the project site has ceased as people await the government response to their petition.
The protesters of men, women and children mainly from the Bel language area surrounding Madang town and the project site are frustrated that the project is proceeding despite their opposition. Carrying banners and placards in English and Tok Pisin saying ‘No PMIZ’ and “We don’t want PMIZ to pollute our seas’, the protesters expressed their frustration demanding the project be halted immediately.
The protesters said they wanted to show the government that there were many ordinary people, especially women, children and youth who opposed the project.
In their petition to Amet and Minister Kapris, the people said they had strong reservations about the proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ). They said while the government is pushing ahead, there are many legitimate concerns and questions about the project and its potential impact on the environment and communities that the government must address immediately.
They reminded the government that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) provided that the free and informed consent of indigenous peoples shall be obtained “prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of their mineral, water or other resources”.
They said they are offended and frustrated by the blatant disrespect displayed by both the provincial and national governments towards the people of Madang in bulldozing the establishment of the PMIZ.
“We are deeply disappointed with the lack of any meaningful awareness and consultation by the Government of PNG, with the people of Madang regarding the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone,” they said in their petition.
They said they believe the activities of PMIZ would cause serious long-term and possible irreversible damage to rich marine environment that is their customary fishing grounds.
The well-documented environment and social problems caused by the operations of RD Tuna Cannery have also created a genuine fear that the problems will worsen with the establishment of PMIZ.
The current issues with RD Tuna are environment pollution, Asians trading fish for sex, long hours' work for low wages of K80 (US$26) per fortnight for women, and limited spin-offs for the local people.
They have asked the government to ensure proper and meaningful awareness and consultation with all communities to be impacted by the activities of the PMIZ, and to seriously consider the findings of an independent scientific research on the value of the coastal and marine environment of Madang. They want the government to clarify customary rights over the sea, particularly the three nautical miles stated under the PNG law; clarify whether and how the government intends to accommodate four existing marine Wildlife Management Areas (WMA’s) and seven proposed areas under its PMIZ plan. They want the government to address the existing environment and social problems created by RD Tuna operations, and involve NGOs and civil society in any discussions on policies, laws and plans related to the PMIZ.
Governor Amet while accepting the petition said the stakeholders forum that he had organised was the right place where such issues should be raised. He invited all stakeholder leaders in government, communities and NGOs to attend the meeting to discuss the issue and to inform the people. However, the local people fear the stakeholders’ forum is not representative of all the views and seems to be providing approval for the project to proceed.
Minister Kapris also warned people not to be misled by foreign NGOs whom the government is accusing of using the people to oppose the project. However, the people have brushed aside the government’s accusation. They said the majority of the Bel people from the eight major villages are opposed to the project because they believe it will affect them negatively. They perceive the project as only involving rich foreign companies, the Chinese, PNG politicians and a few locals who have been bought off.
They also pointed out that the people of have a history of rebelling against authority, dating far back as the 1904 rebellion against the German colonialists over land in Madang.
In the rebellion, the forefathers of the present protesters secretly armed themselves and descended upon the Germans in Madang town with the intention to kill them all. The planned attack failed only because one of the local people had informed the Germans in time and police managed to ward off the attackers. The German retaliation was harsh. Six local leaders were executed by a firing squad and the local population was exiled from the area.
Today, a deep resentment still remains over land issues especially involving foreigners. The lack of adequate consultation and knowledge about the PMIZ project is a major factor in fuelling opposition to the project. PMIZ is turning out to be another major Chinese funded project being pushed by PNG government ministers and their Chinese partners. The project was hatched in Port Moresby and neither the Madang provincial government nor the people were involved until the planned groundbreaking ceremony early this year.
Up to 10 tuna factories will be established on a 2160-hectare special economic zone that is promising up to 30,000 jobs. Thousands of Asians are also expected to be employed at the site.
The communities surrounding Marine Industrial Zone are beginning to realise that the owner of the project has nothing to do with Project Impact People. Their ancestorial land where the Marine Industrial Zone is quickly setting up is in the hands of RD Tuna.
The people in the community are aware that the Marine Industrial Zone spin off are not going to be beneficial to the locals. There is many issues relating to the land and who is in control of the Marine Industrial Zone? The Land is in the hands of the Filippino Company with Gabriel Kapris as the share holder to the Marine Industrial Zone.
The Proposed Bill of ACT-4/3/2009!
EXEMPTION FROM PAYMENT OF SURCHARGE. (Bill of Act 4.3.2009 pg 15)
Marine Industrial Zone Operators in an Export Processing Zone shall be granted exemption from payment of surcharge under the law on promotion of investment, import duty and business tax on machinery, equipment, tools and supplies including the components thereof which are essential for the production of goods, and on materials to be used for the construction, assembly or installation of factory or building in the export processing zone; provided that they shall be at such quantity as imported into the Estate and taken into the export processing zone and as approved by the Board and in compliance with such rules and conditions as prescribed by the Board.
The communities surrounding Marine Industrial Zone are beginning to realised that the owner of the project has nothing to do with Project Impact People. Their ancestorial land where the Marine Industrial Zone is setting up very fast is in the hands of the RD Tuna, a foreign company who came to Madang-PNG to catch fish in the sea and canned. The people in the community are aware that the Marine Industrial Zone spin off are not going to be beneficial to the locals. There is much issues relating to the land and who is in control of the Marine Industrial Zone? The Land is in the hands of the Filippino with Gabiriel Kapris as the share holder to the Marine Industrial Zone. The people are unhappy at the moment when they found out that they are no more in control of their land.
PRODUCTION OF GOODS.
Goods imported and taken into an export processing zone for use in the production of goods shall be granted exemption from payment of surcharge under the law on promotion of investment, import duty, business tax and other taxes.
The Locals of Rempi and Kananam who had higher expectation tend to understand now that they are definitely at the losing end while the MPs like Kapris and Ben Semri had enguaged their business for the construction of the fence of the Special Economic Zone. People are aware that MPs and the Filippino will profit much from the Marine Industrial Zone. This is much insulting to the traditional people who are now addressed by Gabriel Kapris and Semri as Project Impact People (PIP). The concerned Rempi Youths and Kananam elders who are being bribed and paid fortnightly said they will give out information because the foreigners will be making much profit while on Tax Holiday.
Filipinos face murder charges (The National July 13th 2010)
SIX Filipino fishermen are in remand at the Beon jail in Madang. They appeared for the mention at the Committal Court last Friday ona charge of the murder of a National Fisheries Authority officer. The Government worker, from New Ireland, was an observer abroad the RD Tuna fishing vessel, Dolly 838. He had gone missing between Vanimo and Madang early this year. Police files tendered in court accused the six Filipinos of murder. They said the fisheries officer had objected to the fishing of dolphins. Although police admitted to having only circumstantial evidence, they said they had enough to commit the accused to trial. The accused will appear again for mention on July 30. (Source: The National).
6 RD Tuna Workers Face Murder Charges In Death of PNG Government Official
PNG Official sought to protect dolphins Six RD Tuna workers - all Filippino - are facing murder charges in the death of National Fisheries Observer, Charlie Lasisi of New Ireland Province. The incident took place on 29 March of this year on board the RD Tuna vessel FV/Dolores 838 inside the Bismark Seas in Vanimo, along the Indonesian/PNG border. Police said Mr. Lasisi had been strongly objecting to the fishing of dolphins by RD Vessels. The catching of dolphins, sharks and other prohibited fish has been one of the many criticisms of RD over years. The summary of facts said it was between 6pm-7pm when he went missing after he left the ship’s mess hall. It said when he left the room, two Filippino crew members - Ramil Lumactod and June Alon left with him, but returned to report he had “gone missing.” The captain searched the area and ship and could not locate Lasisi or the body. On 31 March a report was sent to the Managing Director of National Fisheries Authority (NFA) Sylvester Pokajam and the National Maritime Safety Authority who sent officers to investigate on “suspicion of murder”. Also charged with murder in addition to Ramil and June were Bonfacio Gelvoko, Franz Olivia Oyao, Jerwin Famini and Francisco Famini. The six were remanded at Beon jail in Madang for several days until K500 bail each with TEN CONDITIONS were granted by Justice David Cannings. They were released under the care of the senior Vice President of RD Tuna Canners Limited in Madang. Justice Cannings ordered that RD Canners pay surety of K10,000 because they were all foreigners. Cannings said the amount should ensure they six do not escape because not only would the money be forfeited but it would proven bad for the corporate reputation of RD Tuna if the six did not return. The accused will appear again for mention on 30 July.
Stop Work Looms on PMIZ (Post Courier July 15th 2010)
Landowners in Vidar in Madang Province, where the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) have threatened to take out a court injunction to stop work.
Gararmatu Damonanen Incorporated Land Group including Seg and Matanan tribes, spokesman Danny Bai made this remark following recent comments by Fisheries Minister Ben Semri in this newspaper blaming landowner issues as the result of slow progress on phase one of the project.
Mr Bai refused to accept Minister Semri's comments, saying that they did not have any landowner issues with the Government.
He said the Government had failed to conduct genealogy, environmental and social impact issues and awareness, which it promised to conduct during the ground breaking ceremony in July 2009.
Mr Bai said for these reasons they were prepared to take legal action to stop further work which is in its grubbing stage after work on fencing and clearing was done.
He said this would continue until they were recognised and fairly treated as legitimate landowners and not "paper landowners".
"As traditional landoweners of the Vidar plantation, who will be directly affected by the project, we give notice that we will take out a court injunction against the state, all current contractors and the Industrial Centre for Development Corporation (ICDC) to stop work until the state complies with its statutory duties in respect to the project," Mr Bai said.
He said genealogy, social and environment impact studies should be done before phase one of the project commenced.
Mr Bai argued that the State had gone ahead and started work already without fulfilling the conditions that it had set in the first place.
He said on these grounds, the state through ICDC muct call a forum where the landowners could prepare a binding agreement with those concerned.
No talks, no marine zone (July 2010). . . By PORENI UMAU
LANDOWNERS at the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) at Vidar, Madang Province, have invited the Government to a round table discussion or there would be no work at the site. Danny Bai, chairman of Gamarmatu Damonanen Incorporated Land Group which represents Seg, Matanan and Kananam people of Vidar, was adamant that a special meeting must be held through which terms of agreements must be discussed and resolved to ensure that an enduring agreement with the State eventuates and is signed by all stakeholders. Mr Bai supported senior statesman Sir Angmai Bilas, president of Ambenob local Level Government Council George Kilibob and leaders from the three villages, who said that while they do not want to be seen as holding the project back, they would pursue a court action if certain statutory and constitutional requirements were not met by the State, the Industrial Corporation and Development Centre (ICDC) and the Madang Provincial Government. He said that Vidar plantation land had gone through many hands over the last 100 years including the Catholic Church, to RD Canning and now a portion of 215 hectares had gone to the State for the PMIZ project. “All along, we the landowners have always trusted the missionaries, the colonial administration and now the State to be the custodian and trustee of our land including our traditional fishing, hunting and gardening grounds and the God-given resources there in. “While we genuinely seek that the project is done on our land and our seafront, we also seek that the State through its agents ICDC and the Madang Provincial Government must adhere to statutory and constitutional obligations in attempting to bring into reality a project as massive as PMIZ that will have direct impact on the communities and the general environment.” He said that even if landownership was not an issue, this did not give the State freedom and the right to ignore them from being consulted as active partners in the project. The PMIZ is predicted to contribute $US3 billion annually and intends to tap into the massive tuna fishery in the Pacific Island countries Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) which controls an estimated annual tuna catch of about $US6 billion. It is estimated this represents 50 per cent of the world’s tuna catch of which 45 per cent of this vast tuna catch is from the South Pacific Island countries EEZ.
Monday evening saw the night shift at RD Tuna support the day shift workers in calling for the the fair minimum wage of K2.29 per hour which RD has so far failed to pay their workers. Provincial Labor Officer Peter Neimani told the RD workers last week that indeed RD was in violation of the law by now paying the workers the K2.29 minimum wage. Neimani says RD must back pay the workers from 21 January to present.
The RD workers are also calling for the reinstatement of 489 workers who were under "Preventive Suspension". The 489 had there ID cards taken by RD security for no complaining that the minimum wage of K2.29 was not in their pay packets last week. RD once again lied saying the workers were not producing so they were being sacked.
Monday morning saw the workers walk out of RD in support of their fellow workers on the day shift. Night shift workers also supported the workers by not coming to work. A few of the workers did show up but decided NOT to go inside the plant. This upset Paul Vingu the RD Security Manager who forced the women to go inside the plant. As the women were forced in the plant - RD male RD workers were yelling at Vingu and the security team. A frightened Vingu called the police to come to RD. As the police arrived RD workers fled.
So this is what it comes to huh Pete Celso. Don't pay people their RIGHTFUL Minimum Wage, try to sack those who demand what is LEGALLY theirs, and have your cowardly Security Manager FORCE women in the plant. Mr. Celso must be feeling quite proud of himself these days.
To the workers of RD FULL SUPPORT. Continue to Stand Up For Your Rights..
RD Tuna security staff have been accused of harassing female workers who refused to start their night shift in support of 489 fellow workers suspended for demanding the company abide by PNG's minimum wage laws. According to witnesses at the plant, around 30 female workers were last night forced into the factory.
Empty staff truck arrives at the RD plant Monday eveningEmpty staff truck arrives at the RD plant Monday eveningWorkers at the RD Tuna plant are demanding the company pay them the minimum wage of K2.29 per hour. Provincial Labor Officer, Peter Neimani, has told the RD workers that RD is in violation of the law by not paying the workers the K2.29. Neimani also says RD must back pay the workers from 21 January.
The RD workers also want to see the reinstatement of 489 people who have been placed under "Preventive Suspension". The 489 had their identity cards taken by RD security for complaining that the minimum wage of K2.29 was not in their pay packets last week. RD claims the workers have been suspended for not meeting production targets.
On Monday the day shift workers walked out in support of their suspended colleagues and the night shift workers also supported the strike by not coming to work. The few workers who did show up on Monday evening decided not to go inside the plant. This apparently upset Paul Vingu, the RD Security Manager, who then forced a number of women to go inside the plant. As the women were forced into the plant male RD workers were yelling at Vingu and the security team. Vingu then called the police but as the police arrived the RD workers fled.
So far there has been no comment from RD Tuna boss Pete Celso on the workers demands for the minimum wage, the suspension of workers or the physical harrassment of female staff
You would think with a court appearance this Friday (30 July) in which six of their Filippino workers will be facing charges of murdering a Papua New Guinean government inspector on one of their ships, that RD Tuna would be a bit more cautious in their interactions with the local staff.
But that’s NOT how Pete Celso’s Troops are acting and again it appears RD is getting themselves in trouble. For years RD has violated the laws of PNG from environmental abuses, to sanitation problems, to strikes by Filipino staff on their boats (which RD branded as pirates). The company which has a rather poor reputation both within PNG and overseas continues to push locals around as if they owned PNG.
Chief hypocrite Rodrigo Rivera, Chairman and President, who pretends to be a wonderful Christian has once again shown his true colors and that of the pitiful RD group of companies.
Battered and frustrated at the strike by their workers RD managers went to new lows Tuesday night (27 July) as they descended upon Maiwara village and threatened the women to come to work or face turning in their ID Cards, which in essence meant they would be sacked.
Prouduction Manager, Mr. Nongs and Plant Manager Gerry Juvele, displayed typical RD management style, by boarding one of the vehicles which trucks the RD workers in and headed to Maiwara village. The night shift women were NOT going to work in solidarity with their fellow workers who had their ID cards taken from them by RD Security and NOT allowed to come back to work. Nongs and Juvele threatened the women demanding they come to work or lose their jobs. While many of the frigthened women did board the truck - a second truck saw the back almost empty.
Union members and angry workers are still upset over RD not paying them the minimum wage. Labor representations have said RD has been in violation of the law. But violating the law is nothing new for Celso and company. RD has begun recruiting new workers and the word is 78 had taken their medicals today. RD workers say they will NOT allow the new workers to proceed to work and that RD best reinstate the now 505 workers suspended. The suspended workers say they have had enough of RD’s treatment and will do what’s necessary to be treated fairly in their own country.
ON JANUARY 21 this year the Minimum Wages Board declared that the minimum wage rate was to be increased from K1.72 to K2.29 per hour.
Weeks later RD Tuna tried to seek an exemption from that wage rate. The fishing and canning company wrote to the government seeking recognition as an agriculture company just so it would avoid paying Papua New Guineans the minimum wage determined by Papua New Guinea government regulations.
While the company could have paid the minimum wage in the interim, it chose to tell its workers through the workers’ union that it would not pay the minimum wage until clarification was given by the government. Well, clarification was given by the government. David Tibu, the Secretary for Labor then, took out a quarter page advertisement in one of the dailies to inform all companies to implement the minimum wage rate of K2.29. When queried by the workers, RD Tuna continued to maintain that they were still waiting for government clarification!
On Tuesday July 27, workers who had been on strike for the last 6 days gathered outside the factory premises and demanded answers from the company. None of the Filipino managers showed up to address the crowd. Instead Madang’s Provincial Labor officer, Peter Neimani, told workers exactly what they knew all along: “the company was at fault when it did not pay the minimum wage.
But that did not stop a senior RD Tuna Manager, Elmer Moderno from placing 505 workers on what he called: “preventative suspension.” According to workers, Moderno also threatened them with mass termination.
During the meeting outside the factory premises, workers were told that they would begin receiving the new minimum wage on August 6th. However, their accumulated back-pay would not be given to them yet because “it was in excess of 2 million kina and the company would need to assess how it would pay the workers.”
On Wednesday, July 28, word came out from some of the 505 suspended workers that RD Tuna had began recruiting new workers and that the first batch of 78 were undergoing medical tests. This again, becomes another example of this Filipino owned company attempting to bend the rules to suit its needs. It would be cheaper to recruit new workers and pay them the minimum wage then to reinstate the employees it suspended and pay them the 2 million kina in backdated wages on top of the minimum wage. The 505 workers are being penalized for standing up for their rights.
Earlier, this year, more than 50 Papua New Guinean seafarers were “displaced.” Without giving any official reason, the seafarers were told they could not board RD Tuna fishing boats where they worked. A vast majority were then given land based jobs as casual laborers. RD Tuna won’t officially admit that the seafarers were displaced because they were in negotiations to be included as part of the PNG Maritime Workers Union – their constitutional right.
According to the seafarers, RD management called them into a meeting and demanded that they cease their negotiations with the Maritime Workers Union. RD Tuna even tried reimbursing their membership fees which they had already paid to the maritime workers union.
For RD Tuna, it appears that Papua New Guinea’s laws designed to protect its workers are a hindrance to profit and unions who stand up for the rights of workers are seen as an obstacle.
It is understood that after the displacement of the Papua New Guinean seafarers, RD Tuna, recruited about 60 Filipino seafarers to replace them.
In April, police grounded an RD Tuna vessel and began investigating the death of a Papua New Guinean Fisheries Officer who was murdered on board the vessel Dolores 838 allegedly by RD’s Filipino workers.
According to media reports, the Officer had been attempting to save dolphins who were caught in RD Tuna’s nets. It is also understood that there was only one other person on board the vessel who would stand up for his countryman. Following investigations six Filipino workers have been arrested for the murder of the Fisheries observer and they will appear in court on Friday 30th July 2010.
RD TUNA Canners in Madang have agreed to pay its workers the minimum wage of K2.29 as of today following an industrial strike last week but there is a catch.
Financial Controller, Elma Moderno is not paying the workers smiling. Mr Moderno has issued instructions that as of August 9, that's next Monday, the workers will have to find their own way to work. The pick up service facilitated by the company will cease.
This is not going down well for the workers as they realise they will loose big time. Many of the workers live away from the factory and will be spending more than K5 a day to travel in and out of work. The "spin-off" businesses in the transport service will cease and the truck owners loose as well even though they were not part of the striking workers.
Over time when this gets difficult workers who are from other parts of Madang and Papua New Guinea will be squatting around the factory, placing more pressure on the local communities of Siar, Matupi, Nobonob, Nagada, Riwo and other neighbouring communities.
Mr Moderno has been able to take from the workers K5 for their Identification Cards, K8 for T'shirts, K1 for hair nets, K6 for caps, K12 for long pants, K89 for safety boots and others. He has now thrown transport costs on the workers.
Also the workers who were placed on preventive suspension realised on returning to work that they were reinstated with a new start date of 2 August. So essentially even though they have been working with the company for some long periods of time this history has been erased and the disgruntled workers start new.
They are now questioning whether they will be back paid to January, whether they will start on the new rate and whether they will receive their entitlements on the termination.
Of the 258 workers reinstated most are women and many of them have returned in fear of loosing their jobs. Furthermore as the men workers remain terminated the women have to stand in for them. This means doing heavier work such as offloading and carrying fish weighing more than 10 kilograms to processing tables through their eight hour shift.
They said, the rest of the workers would not be reinstated because their attendance over time has been poor. But workers argue that this should not be used as an excuse to teminate them, as they were participating in an industrial strike because things were not going well with them and the company. Absentism is a problem that should be dealt with on a day-to-day basis.
While some workers have gone back to work in fear of the company, the rest of the workers see this as exploiting them for profit. They said, RD must stop production and fix the problem.
Meanwhile, PNG Union Congress man Michael Malabag has supported the workers and called on RD Tuna to pay the workers their K2.29. On the same note, Madang based Labour Department man has also written to the company instructing them to pay.
Despite RD Tuna taking back 258 suspended workers this week and paying them the K2.29 minimum wage rate as of Friday 6th of August, they will not be providing transport for the workers as of Monday, 09th August.
Instead they have told their Production employees when taking them back that because they have increased their pays via the minimum wage requirement they are removing their transport privileges to cater for their increased salaries.
Most of the workers live K5-K10 truck fares away from the cannery – fares that they cannot afford. In reality, making the workers pay the transport fees the workers will be getting less money in their pay packets.
The truck services that are run by landowners as their spinoff business will also miss out on their 10% payouts from RD Tuna for providing transport for their workers.
The trucks pick up as far as Utu and Mawan in the Transgogol area about as well as Asuramba in the Bogia district both areas are about 20-30km from the cannery.
RD Union representatives and female workers also pointed out that RD Tuna has given back jobs to 258 women only but have not taken back the remaining 257employees that include all the men that were suspended.
Women, are now back at work are doing heavy men’s work such as carrying up to 20 kilogram trays of fish to the sorting tables and pushing or pulling away waste in large wheelie bins. This is because RD has not let any of the men return telling the women it is now their job to carry the loads.
Furthermore, when the suspended 258 workers were reinstated they were taken back as new employees despite most of them having worked there for years they are now regarded as new employees possibly making them non-eligible to receive their back pays.
The workers were suspended 2 weeks ago, when they stopped work during one of their shifts over their wages – the minimum workers wage of K2.29 was implemented in January this year but RD Tuna had not complied with it.
The company however promised the workers, that they would be back-paid by June but this too did not eventuate.
After the strike outside the cannery where frustrated employees met with a few of the RD Tuna management and Labour officer Peter Neimani, and Chairman of Madang Chamber of Commerce Stotick Kamya told the workers that RD Tuna has been asked to back-pay the workers from January till now.
A letter has been written to the Managing Director of RD Tuna Romeo Lee by Peter Neimani of the Provincial Labour Department after meeting with RD Union President and RD Management.
The letter basically says that RD Tuna will pay the accumulated underpaid wages of workers back dating to January 21st and this will include employees who have resigned or were terminated after this date.
RD Tuna Canners Murder Case Cleared (Dec 3 2010)
IN March this year, a newly trained observer with National Fisheries Authority, Charlie Lasisi of New Ireland Province was alleged to have been murdered on board a RD Tuna Fishing vessel called Dolores 838. When the report of him missing from the boat reached the NFA, officers were sent over to Madang to investigate his disappearance and 6 Filipino men were later charged for his alleged murder. They were then released on a bail of K500 each and a surety of K10 000. Seven months of investigations later the case came to close last week due to lack of evidence and the 6 Filipino fishermen are allowed to go. It is not clear if their passports have been returned to them. Source: http://littlegreenpalai.blogspot.com/
PMIZ and depleting tuna stocks (Dec 3 2010)
THE Fiji Times on November 28 carried a story titled 'Island demand 30pc cut'. It is a story about the eight Pacific nations who are parties to the Nauru agreement and their decision to slow down on tuna harvest in the waters of the Pacific in 2011. However, even though Papua New Guinea has voted to support the other seven members, back home the first stage of the development of the PMIZ in Madang is completed. Commerce and Industry Minister Gabriel Kapris in September announced that this will be the tuna hub of the Pacific and the world. This tuna hub will be made possible through a general contract the PNG government has signed with Chinese company Shengyang International Economic and Technical Cooperation company. It is understood through the EPA fish can be sourced from other waters and processed in Madang. And Papua New Guinea has invited other Pacific Island countries to be part of this development initiative. However, it seems Solomon Islands and Marshall Islands are not keen on a fishing hub in Papua New Guinea. The PNA nations are proposing a cut of liscensed fishing days 40,000 to 28,469 in 2011. With a project annual earning of US2 million dollars would the fishing companies observe this proposal? Earlier this year media reports highlighted similar problems in depleting fish stocks in the Philippines and pointed the fishing companies to Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea is now the chair of the PNA and as 2010 is coming to a close it is not clear if PNG will really honor the 30 percent proposal. Source: http://littlegreenpalai.blogspot.com/2010/12/pmiz-and-depleting-tuna-stocks.html
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE CHALLENGE PMIZ/SEZ IN MADANG PNG (March 18 2011)
Communities from Kananam, and DapuMabanob have agreed today to STOP PMIZ because they know that the project threatens their livelihood. They want a court injunction to halt progress of the project until their grievances are dealt with as a community. They realise that they need to work together and thus will not try to deal with or talk about landowner issues at this point because they understand that this is complicated. They demand that the government must listen to what they have to say regarding this project. They also agree to join the proposed PMIZ forum that is being organised by the Rempi people. They are supported by the nearby community of Siar.
BUSINESS: IFCALLAYS FEARS IN PNG SEZ
But record in other countries worries local people by
Dionisia Tabureguci Despite negative criticisms in Papua New Guinea over the government’s proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) concept, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) believes it will boost PNG’s attractiveness as an investment destination. IFC—the investment arm of the World Bank–is helping the PNG government develop the legislative framework to allow the establishment of SEZs there.
“SEZ is one way countries can use to attract investment,” the IFC said in a statement regarding its involvement in the PNG SEZ.
“To be successful however, they need to be supported by the appropriate legislative and regulatory frameworks that protect local interests while ensuring development and investors meet international best practice.
“Best practice dictates that governments assign additional administrative resources to ensure efficiencies and to make certain that companies comply with the necessary regulations,” the IFC said.
PNG’s proposed SEZ concept and the involvement of IFC in it have been getting negative publicity in PNG blogs. Critics have questioned what they perceive to be insufficient information supplied by the IFC on its involvement in the project.
Others say the concept will only serve to further the interest of “foreign-owned companies while locals are left with the crumbs”.
“Social problems, poorly paid jobs and abuse of workers” are also among doomsayers’ expectations, fuelling their reluctance to support the project.
ISLANDS BUSINESS had sought comments, but IFC had yet to respond when this edition went to press. It did indicate, however, that it was preparing written materials for its website regarding the work it is doing on SEZ in PNG.
In its statement, the IFC is promoting the SEZ as a way to absorb PNG’s unemployed, at a time when employment is scarce and the population growing. “When good practice policy and legal and regulatory frameworks are provided and are aligned with national economic strategies, SEZ create jobs, open up new markets and provide new opportunities to develop skills and improve productivity,” it said.
Critics
“Well run SEZs result in export growth and export diversification. Increased foreign exchange earnings also result in increasing government’s ability to provide services and infrastructure to the wider population. “Longer-term benefits include indirect employment creation, skills upgrading, female employment, technology transfer, the ‘demonstration effect’ arising from application of ‘best practices’ and regional development.
“To achieve these results, the SEZ must operate under a good practice framework linked to targeted government objectives and economic growth.” The IFC has not been spared by the online community of critics watching over Papua New Guinea's developments. They see it as an entity promoting the interests of foreign-owned companies that will come in to operate in the SEZ. Companies that will, they believe, protect their own interests by maintaining poor working conditions and poor wages to locals who do get employed in the SEZ.
“We alerted readers several days ago to the malevolent plans of the World Bank to push for the establishment of sweat shop factories in Papua New Guinea. Now, the bank has gone public with its intentions, advertising in the media for a lawyer to draft the legislation that will allow the establishment of Special Economic Zones,” wrote bloggers on http://pngexposed.wordpress.com following last month’s advertisement by IFC in PNG for local lawyers to help in drafting the SEZ legislation.
“Apparently oblivious to the blatant colonial implications and completely contemptuous of Papua New Guinea’s own democratic procedures, the World Bank is advertising for a lawyer to draft legislation for Papua New Guinea before Parliament has even debated whether such legislation is desirable or needed. “Normal process would dictate that should parliament decide Special Economic Zones are a good idea, then it would be the job of Papua New Guinea’s public service to draft a policy and subsequent legislation.
“But the World Bank clearly has no time for such niceties and is happy to run a bulldozer through notions of independence and national sovereignty in its pursuit of the economic interests of the transnational corporations. “Those corporations, of course, want duty free access to PNG resources and to process and add value to our raw materials without bothering with domestic niceties like minimum wages and health and safety laws—and they certainly don’t want to be bothered with paying any taxes,” the bloggers wrote.
The IFC and World Bank have themselves been subjects of cutting criticisms in the role they play in developments in other parts of the world, according to critiques periodically put out by Bretton Woods Project (http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/), an organisation that closely scrutinises their involvement.
The IFC’s work in drafting legislation in Yemen’s mining industry, for instance, came under the spotlight when it assisted the Yemeni government in its tax reform programme favouring lower corporate taxes while it also provided, via its regional advisory service agency, the Private Enterprise Partnership Middle East/North Africa (PEP-MENA), assistance in the drafting Yemen’s mining legislation.
“While the IFC is encouraging the reduction of corporate taxes and PEP-MENA is helping to draft the mining code, it is very likely the IFC will expand their extractive investments in Yemen’s mining, oil and gas sectors,” wrote Nadia Daar, of the US NGO Bank Information Center.
“The legal and tax reforms make it cheaper and easier for the IFC to invest in the industry. This trend is clear in Egypt, where the IFC helped draft the country’s new mining laws and also has substantial investments in the mining industry.”
What was highlighted in Daar’s analysis was the conflict of interest in the work carried out by the two organisations and their related interests, as well as their backing of mining ventures that were subsequently linked to human rights violation and environmental abuses.
Regarding PNG’s SEZ, the IFC maintained its involvement was a response to the PNG government’s request for assistance and that environmental concerns would be taken into account. “Well-run zones have strong environmental controls and practices,” the bank said.
“IFC’s work focuses on the development of high calibre environmental and social compliance standards for zones, which sets rigorous standards and requires compliance with environmental impact assessments.”
With regards to whether companies operating in SEZ should be tax free, the IFC said: “No. In best practice, SEZs companies face the same income tax arrangements as any other company operating in the country. International best practice is for zones to compete on the basis of facilitation, facilities and services rather than on the provision of special fiscal incentives.
“In PNG, IFC is recommending that the existing national income tax laws apply in SEZs. SEZs generally allow companies to import materials duty-free. Duty is applied when the products leave the SEZ for the rest of the country and overseas exports are not subject to duty.
“These arrangements allow exporters to be internationally competitive, providing jobs and incomes domestically that would otherwise be lost to overseas markets." ‘Duty suspension’ schemes are common around the world—for instance, Fiji provides for duty-free import of materials that are to be used in exports. Locally extracted mineral resources taken into an SEZ would still be liable for the relevant resource royalty.
Regarding IFC’s work in PNG’s SEZ legislation, the bank said the draft legislation will be considered by the PNG’s Department of Commerce and Industry, after which a wide public consultation will follow.
“Once this process is complete, the draft legislation will be reviewed by the State Solicitor and the First Legislative Counsel and once any necessary changes are made, the entire package of policy and draft legislation will be considered by the PNG Cabinet—the National Executive Council. If it is endorsed by the NEC, the draft legislation will then be introduced for consideration and debate by the Parliament,” the IFC said.
The IFC has done SEZ work in many countries globally and in East Asia and the Pacific, it is currently working on zone regimes in Indonesia and Cambodia. It has put out its 2008 Report on SEZ, in which it analysed successes and failures of SEZ practice around the world.
Ken Fairweather Press Release March 8 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011 Kananam Dapu Leaders Say "there will be no PMIZ"
KANANAM and Dapu leaders today announced they will not let the PMIZ project on their land. Led by Adolf Skarmai of Seg clan and Vitus Kai of Mabenob community the leaders said, they are angry at the way the government is treating them. They said, they will join Sumkar MP Ken Fairweather in a legal battle to challenge the PMIZ. They said, much has been said and much has been done and now to find out that their sea has been zoned out for a special economic zone is too much. How could the government do something like this and not let us know? The zoned area shows the Catholic's centre at Alexishafen and the Kananam villagers including their Idawan island and other small islands in the area will be included in the special economic zone. "Where does that place us? We hear we may be moved elsewhere but this cannot be! This is our land, our birth right," said Augustine Lalo. An angry chief Adolf Skarmai said, "I have enjoyed the benefits from the RD Tuna Canners but to learn that me and my people will be affected by being displaced in this PMIZ development makes me very angry and I say no PMIZ. No, No, No PMIZ." "We are landowners, and not even the government wants to admit that. We have fought the existing project for the last 10 years and we will not continue to fight," said a youth representative. Enough, he said. Another leader said, "I am not a foreigner and I am not a prisoner. This is my land and I will not be moved." "This is our land which they have taken and now to take away our sea and send us off somewhere? That is not on," said another leader. The Kananam people have been having a series of meetings since for the last couple of weeks discussing the impacts and ways forward. They have agreed to work together within Kananam and other affected communities in making sure the government's plan on the PMIZ will not happen. On behalf of the Dapu community Vitus Kai has pledge his support and prominent Madang landowner Tamlong Tabb has also pledged his support.
Women and children fear eviction as homes fenced in for first SEZ March 31st 2011
Women and children fear eviction as homes fenced in for first SEZ Posted by Tim By Joshua Arlo*
Women and children from the Rempi area of Madang fear eviction as the government presses ahead with plans for Papua New Guinea's first Special Economic Zone. Together with their men, the women met to air their grievances about the government sanctioned US$300 million Pacific Marine Industrial Zone which promises to bring in 10 new fish canneries and about 30,000 jobs. The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone is a special economic zone development driven by the national government of PNG. PMIZ will add to the existing RD Tuna cannery plant which has been in the province for the last 15 years. PMIZ was first introduced as a 'marine park' concept but now appears to be much larger in scope, incorporating a new shipping dock and other industrial developments as part of the SEZ. While the government is still developing its SEZ legislation, it is understood SEZs will be allowed to operate outside the jurisdiction of many PNG laws. According to the government, PNG stands to benefit a lot from the project. It says the project should maximize the value of tuna through downstream processing, creating economies of scale opportunities, secure collective bargaining power over markets and tuna resources and create opportunities for small Pacific Island nations. But local families are confused and upset after hearing that they may have to be evicted from their homes because they have found out their land is no longer theirs but RD Tuna's. They revealed that there was never any awareness or real consultation process taken on by the government with the resource owners as to the benefits and negative impacts the project will bring to the people. They say they oppose the project, stating that they have not seen any real benefits from RD Tuna since it has been operating in the country for the last 15 years. RD Tuna owns over 800 hectares of land along the North Coast road of which 216 are leased to house the PMIZ project. Government maps show the zoned area will include the historic Catholic centre at Alexishafen and the Kananam villages including Idawan Island and other small islands in the area. People do not know if they will soon have to get permits to enter land which was once theirs - and they say is rightfully theirs - because already fencing has begun for several hundreds of acres. Along the road, as far as the eye can see, iron fencing supported by a base of cement and painted blue has been put up. Some villages have been fenced in; they face the dilemma of being evicted but have no place to be relocated so continue to live behind bars. They say now they cannot travel to gardens which are in the fenced area, cannot catch fish, the sago leaves that is used for thatching their hamlet roofs are no longer accessible. For the village elders , where their women and children will be evicted or relocated to is a notion they do not want to contemplate in the near future. * Post Courier
Marine Park LOs Want Better Deal
Growing opposition to PNG's Pacific Marine Industrial Zone June 16, 2011
In Papua New Guinea, there is growing community opposition to a development on Madang Lagoon which is threatening people's way of life and at least 6 endangered species.
The Pacific Marine Industrial Zone is being built by the Papua New Guinea government and is expected to house up to ten tuna canneries and a fleet base that will rival anything in Asia.
Advocates of the PMIZ say it will create as many as 30,000 jobs and provide an important stream of income to PNG. But it is being built on an internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot that may not be able to handle the pressure.
Presenter:Jemima Garrett Speakers:Scholastica Sarea, former school teacher in Kananam village; Frank Don, from Rempi village; Vitus Otto, Youth leader from Rempi Village; Francis Gem, from Kananam village; James Sungai, a Chief from Kananam village;
GARRETT: Madang is known as one of the prettiest towns in the Pacific. And no wonder - it sits on an island studded lagoon that is home to 700 species of coral and over 1000 species of fish. Francis Gem, comes from Kananam village, at the northern end of the lagoon just near where the PMIZ is being built.
GEM: We entirely depend on fishing as our main source of living. Our fisheremen go out fishing and when they come in our women ususally go sell these catches and we use the money to buy basic household items like kerosene, sugar soap and all this.
GARRETT: Madang already has one Tuna cannery - owned by the Philipino company RD Tuna. Papua New Guinea offers investors preferential access into lucrative tuna markets in Europe so there is strong in the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone and it will be home to up to ten more canneries. Frank Don is from Rempi village.
DON: When you look at a major project like this with ten factories, whereas you already have one which is the fish canning and then you have the meat canning which is James Barnes, but when you have ten or more factories, that capacity I believe is going to be too much for us. The smell, the filth and the waste - how it is going to be managed is another issue.
GARRETT: You mentioned you've already got two factories here already. what is the experience with them in terms of smell and waste?
DON: Well, RD (cannery), as you were driving by, maybe you have smelled the air surrounding the factory. Its very filthy. Its very smelly. And then when you have six or ten factories all producing that kind of filth, i am pretty sure, we on the Rempi end of the project will also be getting that knid of filth coming towards us. And not forgetting our sea, our seafronts, the waste that will have to go - the mangrove system we have is already affected.
GARRETT: The Environmental Impact Statement warns oil spils and the leaching of toxic chemicals and waste from the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone are a risk for the environment of the lagoon and for human health. Francis Gem and his young son from Kananam village already have personal experience.
GEM: When RD came in, when there is oil spill into the harbour, we experienced a lot of fish dying out and, also, my boy was once bathing in the sea and he swallowed a bit of that oily seawater and, you know, he vomited blood so we need to rush him to the health centre to receive medical care. so that is our experience. That is for only one fishing project which is RD. But talking about PMIZ, if more than 10 fishing companies come into our area, then the pollution and all this will multiply so the oil spill will also multiply and that will damage all the marine resources in our lagoon.
GARRETT: Many of those marine resources are particularly vulnerable. The lagoon is home to endangered species including dugong and spinner and bridled dophins. It is also a port of call for endangered Pacific Pilot whales and green and hawksbill turtles. Many food species are filter feeders which are more readily affected by pollution and the sensitive mangrove forests are an important beeding ground for fish. Mother, grandmother and former school teacher, Scholastica Sarea, says the women have other concerns.
SAREA: Us the mothers, are really concern of our children. That is why most of us here in this community really don't like this marine park to come.
GARRETT: What is it that you fear for your children?
SAREA: Many such things like rascolism, prostitution, rape and such activities like that.
GARRETT: What makes you think that will happen here if the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone goes ahead?
SAREA: Today, this RD is around and we are not really happy because, today, when mothers go around to that area, Vidar, there are people around there talking to them, approaching them in a way most mothers, young ladies, don't appreciate.
GARRETT: Are you saying that the people who work at the RD cannery, who come from other provinces, don't treat your people with respect?
SAREA: They don't treat our people with respect and such people like them, they will bring so many bad things inside the community.
GARRETT: While some people in the villages around the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone will benefit from new jobs, most of the people I spoke with are sceptical. Many have had jobs at the RD cannery but quit due to poor wages and conditions. Early works on the PMIZ have already begun and Frank Don, from Rempi village, is worried about impact of the thousands of new job-seekers.
DON: You have sudden influx of people coming in, from all walks of life, all customs, all traditions throughout the country. When there is no accommodation you expect to have settlements growing up within the vicinity of the project area and we already have that coming up.
GARRETT: So what sort of problems are likely to flow from that? DON: Social problems. You have health-related issues.
GARRETT: By that, do you mean HIV/AIDS?
DON: Yes, HIV/AIDSand other STIs. And oviously, we will have these people from overseas, especially Chinese, Asians flooding in. Definitely, we will have cultural clash and the way the government is going, ..the government is not recognising us, they type of benfit the government should be giving to us. And then we have the issue on land that has to be sorted out.
GARRETT: Land is also one of the crucial issues in Kananam. Vitus Otto is a youth leader and he says attitudes in the village are hardening.
OTTO: I am in the umbrella company of Kananam village. The bulk of the community, the majority of them are against the project.
GARRETT: Why do they fdeel so passionately against the project?
OTTO: The main reason is because they doesn't have any land to cultivate the crops. They see that land which the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone is going to take up, as their only land to do their gardening and look for raw materials to build their houses and so forth.
GARRETT: Unlike other Papua New Guineans people from Kananam and Rempi have very little land of their own. The land on which the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone is to be built is their ansectral land but it was leased to the Catholic Church early last century. The villagers have begun court action to get the land returned but that has not stopped the PNG government approving a new lease for the PMIZ. Frank Don, from Rempi, is one of many people who have been calling for more consultation.
DON: The government has to halt the project and then we'll have to sort out the mess. I call it a mess because we really need that piece of land. The Kananam people need the piece of land and so are we. We need to really go in there and find out who (are) the customary landowners so that we can develop the land in a manner that is more suitable to us.
GARRETT: The calls for more consultation have been building for more than a year. At the end of April, the government buckled to pressure and held a public Forum attended by Environment Minister Benny Allen, Commerce Minister Gabriel Kapris and Attorney-General, Sir Arnold Amet who is one of the local members of parliament. James Sungai, one of the Chiefs of Kanamam village, says the Forum did not answer his people's questions.
GRAB (in Tok Pisin) Chief Sungai says people do not have enough deatiled information, they do not understand the Agreement in Principle signed by project proponents and they have not seen the details of the environmental plan. Chief Sungai says the government need to hold a roundtable discussion with the community before the project goes any further.
PMIZ Eviction of Families Not Doing So Well June 23 2011
THEY once came with their parents who worked on plantations in Madang. Over 100 years now these plantations have become home to them. These are the people who have come from Madang inland and the Sepik to work on the former cocoa and coconut plantations.
As a new wave of development comes into Madang they must now evacuate and leave the place to be developed. But there are other people who have come onto this land to access employment with the RD Tuna Canners. And with PMIZ promising 30,000 jobs more people have come on to this land.
Now all these people do not want to go. This is the place the off springs from the plantation workers have come to know and call home. Many of them are third and fourth generation.
Last month they were paid amounts from as low as K41 to K7,000 for their cash crops and food gardens so that they could leave. However, it was not until later that day that when they opened the envelopes and counted the money, the amounts did not match the figures written on the envelopes.
A letter dated 9 December 2009 from the PMIZ project office in Madang states: The project will be executing section 145 of the Land Act to deal with you accordingly. Section 145 deals with unlawful occupation of government land customary land.
To facilitate for these evacuations RD Tuna has terminated its workers but the people will not go. Many rely on fortnightly income and the termination does not help. Many do not have the funds to go back home.
PMIZ and the Department of Commerce and Industry will not take responsibility in finding a new place for these people to resettle. Instead the burden is now on RD Tuna Canners.
Some weeks ago RD Tuna moved some families but placed them on someone else's land. This has created further problems with the PMIZ project.
The PMIZ has secured a loan for this project and the next phase is expected to begin soon.
Kananam Clans Miss Out On Spin Off Business in PMIZ June 30 2011
One of the major clans in Kananam, Seg Clan is not happy it is missing out on a spin-off business with the PMIZ project in Madang.
Seg clan is one of the seven clans in Kananam village who are within the PMIZ project area and who have been hopeful they will be considered as important participants in this big tuna project.
The much talked about PMIZ project had promised local people spin-off business activities when the project comes into fruitation. Last week the government of PNG secured a K95m loan from the China Exim bank, but there is nothing for the landowners who want to participate in this project.
While other clans have plans to do other business activities the Seg clan was to set up a fuel depot in Kananam to fuel the fishing boats however, this is not going to happen after all. Landowner company Kananam Investment Limited (KIL) chairperson, Rudolf Ayu was said to have tried to negotiate with the Department of Trade and Industry for some money for his people but he was told to go somewhere else.
In first phase of the project, the people of Kananam and Rempi were issued with Incorporated Land Group (ILG) forms by government officials and told to organise themselves in preparation for the PMIZ project. They were also promised seed money to help them kick start their spin-off business activities.
PMIZ complaint accepted by the World Bank watchdog July 27th 2011
In a major boost to their campaign against the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone and Special Economic Zone laws, local communities from Madang have had their complaint to the World Bank accepted by the official Ombudsman in Washington.
The Ombudsman has written to the communities confirming their complaint meets three strict eligibility criteria and an investigation team will be sent to PNG to look into the complaint.
The complaint is over the role of the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank, in promoting the PMIZ project and in developing Special Economic Zone laws for PNG.
The complaint, which has been formally endorsed by over 100 landholders and is supported by many more, alleges there has never been any proper consultation with landholders about the PMIZ and they have never given their free, informed consent to the project.
The complainants say that when the project supporters did finally visit some communities it was not to consult the landholders but rather to tell them what was going to happen. The landholders also say they have already suffered enough from the environmental damage, foul smells and social problems caused by the existing RD Tuna factory and do not want more tuna canneries on their land.
The compliant also says the IFC has been involved in drafting legislation to allow tax free Special Economic Zones in PNG which are not in the interests of the majority of people and will not improve their social conditions.
The PMIZ is also opposed by local MP Ken Fairweather who says it will cause the environmental destruction of Madang Lagoon and the complete depletion of tuna resources and other fish species.
Local landholders have also filed a court action opposing the PMIZ and have asked the court for a temporary injunction preventing any further construction work until their case is resolved.
BUSINESS: NEW CHINESE INVESTOR TO DEVELOP PMIZ But scant details available about company Patrick Matbob
The PNG government has named a relatively unknown Chinese investor to be the major developer of the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone project.
The company, which calls itself Shenyang International Economic and Technical Cooperation Co. Ltd, employs up to 100 people and is expected to develop the US$300 million Pacific Marine Industrial Zone project.
Shenyang’s website (www.csyic.com) is slow to load and there are scant details about its operations.
A promotional website for Chinese businesses reveals the company, formed in 1984, describes itself as ‘mainly engaged in contracting projects abroad and undertaking national foreign aid projects”.
It says it provides labour service cooperation, joint ventures, import and export trade, and industrial projects. In fact, the entire company profile is presented in two paragraphs.
However, other revealing details show the company’s annual sales are about 50-100 million yuan a year, which is about K30 million (US$11 million). The site says the company employs between 51-100 employees and its main ‘business type’ is ‘trading model’.
Minister for Commerce and Industry, Gabriel Kapris named the company when asked by reporters last month in Madang.
However, he could not provide any more details about them except to say it was the company named to develop the project.
The PMIZ project will be funded by a K202 million (US$71 million) concessional loan from Exim Bank of China.
The main condition for the loan is that 70 percent of the project must go exclusively to a Chinese developer using Chinese technology, labour and equipment.
Other PNG firms can only bid for the remaining 30 percent of the contract that is if it becomes available. Another condition tied to the loan is that the main contractor’s profit margin will be 20 percent of the contract value.
Fast loan Minister Kapris said the reason why the government decided to go to the Chinese was because it would be quicker to get the loan.
He said if the government was to go to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, AusAID, European Union or any other development partner, it would take a while.
“With China, it will be quite fast. They have given us a grace period of five years, with a loan repayment time of 15 years,” he said.
He said since this was a concessional loan, the main contractor and supplier would be from the sponsoring nation while the sub-contracts for the project would be from PNG.
“We are here to protect the interest also of the people and will not just sit back and allow the financier to run the project.”
“I would also like to correct the public perception that there may be an influx of people. This will not be the case. We will make sure those who do come are genuine.”
While the minister was certain about this developer, little was known about two other Chinese companies earlier named in line with the project. They are Shandong Fisheries Management Bureau (Shandong Haiyang Yuye Guanli Ju), and the Binhai City Xingfa Fisheries Group (Shandong Sheng Binhai Shi Xingfa Yuye Jituan).
Both companies have neither the national nor international experience with Shandong being a provincial government level agency and Binhai City Zingfa Fisheries Group a city or prefecture level company. Meanwhile, work has already started on the project site in Madang despite opposition from some landowner groups.
The 216-hectare site, which was originally a Catholic mission coconut plantation, has been cleared and fencing work progressing.
Minister Kapris was in Madang last month to meet with representatives of people in the impact area and to brief them on the progress of the project.
Kapris said the national government is expected to sign an agreement with the Exim Bank of China for a K202 million (US$71 million) loan for the project. He said the government has made an initial investment of K28 million into the project and a further K44 million was allocated in the 2010 budget.
A government team had returned recently from China and the loan agreement was expected to be signed at the end of this month so that funds could be drawn down.
Meanwhile, six leaders of the landowner groups including those opposing the project had been taken on a government-funded trip last year to visit three of the 200 special economic zones in the Philippines. The group spent eight days visiting the Subic Bay Free Port zone, Philippine Economic Zone Authority, Cavite Economic Zone and West Cebu Industrial Park.
The leaders, who have been supporting the project, said they were impressed with what they saw and want the Marine Park to go ahead.
However, the trip did not convince one of the leaders, Francis Gem, who is still firmly opposed to the project.
Gem said his delegation visited only the areas that had major investments and not a rural area comparable to their villages in Madang.
He said his people were concerned the spin-offs the government had been promising them has not become a reality so far. In fact, he said the current K12 million contract on clearing and fencing has gone to a foreign-owned company and not to any umbrella landowner company formed for the project.
He said leaders including those supporting the project, had met with the Madang Governor last month to complain about the contract and spin-off work that has not been given to them.
“I am not happy with how the project is coming along,” he said. “I do not support this project.”
He said the trip to Philippines only revealed how his people would be exploited because all the spin-off work would go to those people with technical skills.
“We do not have such expertise,” he said.
http://www.islandsbusiness.com/islands_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=19101/overideSkinName=issueArticle-full.tpl
PMIZ Catches Japan's Eye August 3 2011
Japan investment deal put off August 4 2011
By MOHAMMAD BASHIR http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20110804/thhome.htm
TUESDAY’s change of Government also changed the minds of visiting investors from Japan.
Here to pen a million dollar fishing agreement in Madang, the Japanese abandoned the deal when the Minister they were supposed to meet, former Trade and Industry Minister Gabriel Kapris was ousted in a no-confidence vote.
The visiting Japanese investors, led by Prince Katao Nashimoto, visited the Madang Pacific Industrial Marine Zone (PMIZ) this week and were to sign a Memorandum of Agreement with Mr Kapris on Wednesday.
The Japanese visitors were kept in the dark last Tuesday night in Madang and only told of the news of change of government and subsequent cancellation of the signing ceremony only yesterday morning while on their way to Port Moresby. They left yesterday for Japan disappointed but with fond memories of the country.
Prince Katao, the nephew of the Japanese Emperor, is the chairman of Japan’s biggest fishing company. He vowed to return and promised to financially help the PNG Women in Business start up their microfinance and commercial bank for women which is already in motion.
At a reception by the Madang branch of the PNG Women in Business at the Kalibob village Resort, the prince and his visitors were entertained by Yabob and Suksuk dancers from Mamus and later swarmed with gifts from mothers from all over Madang town.
Although only five-months-old, the Madang Women in Business branch showed they were serious about empowering themselves financially.
PNGWIB president Janet Sape was also on hand to receive the guest with her members in the tourist town. Speaking through and interpreter, Prince Katao described Madang as one of the most beautiful places in the world. He also thanked Ms Sape for ensuring his delegations stay and trips in the country were enjoyable. The prince woke up at 5 am in the morning and prayed for the souls of the Japanese soldiers who died fighting during the Second World War in Madang province.
PNG High Commissioner to Phillipines Christian Vihuri, Ms Sape, Trade and Industry Official Jimmy Yomapisi and this reporter were part of the prayer ritual performed in the prince’s room at Madang Resort overlooking the harbour because of rain.
IFC Cannot Shut Project August 19 2011
PNG Minister orders review of million Pacific Marine Industrial Zone 26/08/2011
Papua New Guinea’s Commerce and Industry Minister Charles Abel has directed an immediate review of the K300 million Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) in Madang by bringing all stakeholders back to the negotiating table.
Abel said the time-frame for the review was December, which would not affect the PMIZ schedule.
“The government recognises this project as important to the country and wants the project to go ahead and supports it in principle,” he said. “As a responsible government, certain shortcomings must be acknowledged and addressed.”
He directed that an independent international engineering firm be engaged to vet the design process and provide project management services on the contract to ensure value for money.
Abel said in the process, the surrounding communities must be fully consulted and must participate fully and meaningfully in the project.
He said the initial start-up capital for the landowner communities of K1 million from the National Fisheries Authority was ready and he would be meeting with the landowners to gauge their views on how best to use the money.
“At the end of the day, this government will not bully any project into an area without the approval of the local people,” Abel said.
“The importance of PMIZ must be seen in the context of our free trade access into the European Union and commitments to help our smaller Pacific neighbours as a leader in the region.”.
SOURCE: THE NATIONAL/PACNEWS
Sum Inland People Declare They Are No Party To The Controversial PMIZ Project Aug 27 2011
On the eve of an injunction suit levelled against the controversial Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) on 26th August by plaintiffs representing their peoples in the project’s coastal and maritime impact area, the Sum Inland people, located just inland of the project’s immediate impact zone have declared again that they were no party to the project, nor did they have any intention whatsoever to do business with the project. Their strong stance was voiced out by practically all their leaders present at a meeting held at Guwildig village on Saturday 20th August 2011.
The villages of Guwildig, Sigu, Labdim, Venal, Abab, Barimfog, Baus, Bareoidig and a few more, including Baiteta (which in fact is made up of settlers originally from those other villages above, who have migrated over during colonial times, mainly in search for social services), constitute the Emnam (speaking) tribe, located toward the eastern part of the Adelbert Range, Madang Province.
In recent weeks the Sum Inland people and leaders have been troubled by visits from certain agents and/or middle persons, representing the PMIZ project. One such visitor, John Bundo, disclosed that there were definite plans underway to facilitate economic partnership between the Sum Inland people and the PMIZ project. That partnership was focused mainly on tapping into the water and forestry resources of the tribe to supply the project’s need for those resources. The project would need reliable supply of water and electricity as well as timber for building, construction and maintenance.
Yamei Diwag, flanked by two grand children, is in his mid 80s, could be the oldest man alive within the Emnam speaking tribe. Yamei is chief of Dagenbag Clan of Baus village, and when he was allowed to speak his mind, toward the end of the 20th August meeting, his two minute oration summed up his tribal leaders’ stance NEVER to accept the offer to do business with the PMIZ project.
Most of the Emnam speaking people (between 50 and 75 percent) live outside of their tribal lands. In 2008 the tribe initiated a move to encourage its members living in Baiteta, (inland of Rempi village), as well as Rempi, Talidig and Banab areas along the north Coast region of Madang, to move back up to their traditional lands. An association (Sum Inland Association) was formed for that purpose of mobilising their people to go back home, join up forces and see to their own development, the self reliant way. They have sought out and engaged an outside partner, Caritas Madang (within the social services office of the Catholic Archdiocese of Madang), to work with them on their self reliant focus to achieving their own development.
More heads set to roll By MOHAMMAD BASHIR Post Courier Sep 6 2011
More heads are expected to roll at the Department of Commerce and Industry following the uncovering by auditors of several executives who are alleged to have siphoned millions of kina from three different programs including the K900 million Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) project in Madang.
The other two investigations involve how K3 million allegedly misused at the International Business Development Centre in Beijing, China and the alleged misuse of K1.5 million from the PNG LNG project’s Business Development Grant (BDG).
The government secured a K74 plus million concessional loan from the Export-Import Bank of China for the developments of the multi million kina PMIZ at Bidar outside Madang. Department Secretary Stephen Mera, who is attending the tuna forum in Palau, confirmed that on a phone interview yesterday that he has already made several referrals to the police fraud squad and it was up to the police to do their job.
“I have made referrals of officers, some of them very senior in stature who have allegedly involved in graft and corruption involving several project funds and I have no hesitation in referring them for prosecution,” he said. Mr Mera said in line with Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s policy to weed out corruption and graft in the government system, he was already on the road in his department with two officers already arrested and locked up in the cells.
Since assuming office, Mr Mera’s first move was to ground all department vehicles which he claimed were being misused by officers.
Several weeks later, Mr Mera sold all those grounded vehicles in a bid to save cost. On November 4, 2009, the People’s Republic of China and the government of PNG entered into the Framework Agreement on provision of government interest-subsidised concessional loan for PMIZ. http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20110906/tuhome.htm
Timely call for audit of the PMIZ project September 28th 2011
Source: http://actnowpng.org/content/timely-call-audit-pmiz-project (also letter to National Newspaper published 28/9/11)
Concerned Officer The Secretary for Commerce and Industry, Steven Mera, should be commended for putting his reputation on the line to call for a full financial audit of the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone project from 2008 to 2011.
This period effectively covers the administration of former secretary Anton Kulit and acting secretary John Andrias.
We know very well that this project was politically hijacked by a former minister.
The audit will reveal the number of unproductive overseas travels they took and how much consultancy money was paid out in providing various services in the name of advancing the project.
It should also reveal some non-performing contracts.
Now that the situation has changed, everyone is fighting for survival, so to speak.
We welcome this audit and want the findings to be made public as soon as possible.
In view of the opposition by the Madang lagoon people, the project should be shelved by the government.
No new deal for PMIZ September 29th 2011
http://actnowpng.org/content/no-new-deal-pmiz
Community leaders from the site of the troubled proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone have reacted angrily to newspaper stories that their communities have agreed to allow the project to procede, as reported on Monday.
Ebert Kaing who is the Program Manager-Education at Sumkar District living in Rempi village and a landowner said, "there are more issues which needs to be addressed before the PMIZ agreement signing". "The two umbrella company chairman did not talk to us and they went of their own to impress the govt and the company and not rest of the people in our community".
”In reality we got organized and registered the Rehammb Investment Ltd,but it has not being serving its puposes, the Rempi Landowner Company has been politicized so the people were brushed aside. We the people saw we cannot benefit at all, the local level government leaders and the Provincial and National Government did not do their work to effectively facilitate for the PMIZ Project.
"Rempi community has two Local Level Government areas and these two councilors are now running the Landowner company and people are confused if their two LLG members fully represent them at all.” "The two men Ayu and Miai have not been honest and transparent from the beginning.
There is a meeting this Saturday to replace the Landowner Company Chairman".
From Vidar-Seg Clan elder: Adolf Skarmai said," the newspaper story from the first week of Sept and the National on Monday is not true".
"The two umbrella company chairmen are not letting the community know how their seed money was spent etc..
And Monday's newspaper involved NO Written agreement on the Paper but it has been a verbal agreement involving the Amet Lawyers to formalize the involvement of the people,the Provincial and National Govt with the current O'Neill Govt."
Skarmai said the community will meet this Saturday to get rid of the current chairman.
Unwanted PMIZ people left homeless after police burn homes October 20, 2011
http://pngexposed.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/unwanted-pmiz-people-left-homeless-after-police-burn-homes/
Houses burn at the PMIZ site
More than a hundred people living within the area identified for the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone in Madang are now homeless after their houses were burnt to the ground yesterday by police and members of a security company. More than 50 houses were torched with the assistance of members of the Madang based Savolon Security company. The policemen arrived in three 10-seater Landcruisers and began physically and verbally assaulting the men, women and children. “My two girls were scared and tried to run away but the police swore at them and forced them to go into the house and pack our things,” one women said. Another elderly woman fell when police hurried her into the house to remove her possessions. Several people also said police and security company people initially tried to force them to burn their own houses but they refused. The eviction party also brought with them a front loader to demolish the houses. The driver had his face covered with a shirt to hide his identity. Those who had their houses destroyed were brought in by the Filipino owned fish cannery, RD Tuna, several years ago to work on RD owned plantations. They were laid off without any repatriation plans or promise of work. Later, when RD Tuna sold 200 hectares of land to the government for the controversial PMIZ project, the people were ordered to leave the area. People watch their homes burn Former workers and their families say they’ve been unfairly treated. “RD didn’t make it clear to us that we were not needed anymore,” said one former worker. “We were told to stand by and wait.” RD Tuna’s record is less than impressive. In 2010, the company refused to pay its workers the minimum wage set by the government. It was only after a strike that the labor department stepped in to order the company to pay the wages. The people are now caught between a former employer that doesn’t want them, landowners who want them gone and a new government project that has no place for them. Earlier this year, government representatives paid each family between K200 and K1000 and told them to leave the PMIZ area. Many can’t go home because the cost of airfares and ship tickets exceed the amount of money they were given.
People watch their houses burn at Vidar October 21 2011
Sali Tagau’s Savolon Security thugs at it again… People in the Rempi and Kananam communities Madang know all too well Sali Tagau – the owner of Savolon Security. On Thursday (Oct 21st) Sali and eight of his thugs accompanied by police burnt down more than 50 houses of people living within the PMIZ project site. More than 100 men women and children are now homeless as a result of his self serving actions. He is rumoured to be a direct beneficiary of contracts dished out by the former Commerce Minister Gabriel Kapris. He is also understood to be a pawn in a move to acquire offshore portions of land and beachfronts – land which belonging to the Kananm people. He is backed by a group of Filipino nationals who are eyeing waterfront land portions in the Kananam and Rempi communities. Earlier this year, Sali Tagau and another lot of supposed hired thugs tried to shout down Kananam man, Francis Gem at a forum organized by government minister including Madang’s regional MP, Arnold Amet. Francis Gem labeled Commerce Minister Kapris and Environment Minister Benny Allan, conmen following the forum. Sali Tagau will stop at nothing to get his “cheeze pops” from the PMIZ project. Who else is on the list? The Rempis and the Kananams?