37 ‘defenders’ of MKNP
ordered to answer raps 5 HRAD
FOR ILLEGAL ENTRY
INTO PARK DURING PROTEST
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Green Alert Negros and Save Mt. Kanlaon Coalition members disclosed yesterday that they have been subpoenaed to file counter affidavits to a complaint filed against them for allegedly entering illegally the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park.

But they said they had gone into MKNP in June last year to protest its “destruction” by the Energy Development Corp., to ensure its protection.

Julie Rex Molavin, Park Area Superintendent of the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park, filed a complaint against 37 persons before the Office of the Negros Occidental Provincial Prosecutor on March 20, 2009, for allegedly entering the MKNP without a permit on June 6 or 7, 2008.

Bacolod Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson said the Sangguniang Panlungsod believes that City Ordinance 474 Series of 2008, or the Revised Revenue Code of Bacolod City, should be repealed to allay fears of the business sector that it might be implemented again.

The SP approved on final reading Wednesday an ordinance repealing C.O. No. 474 that was passed last Dec. 10, 2008 and took effect on Jan. 1, 2009.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia said “I will respect whatever is the decision of the SP.” He said they considered the economic crisis as one factor, which was not present when this plan was conceptualized.

The extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program should focus more on increasing the productivity of the millions of hectares of already awarded lands, Enrique Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters, said yesterday.

That is more viable than simply compulsorily acquiring the currently productive lands and  breaking them into unviable small parcels and distributing the plots to the beneficiaries, who do not have the means nor support to make the land productive, Rojas said, referring to moves in both houses of Congress to extend the CARP beyond June 2009.

“We are not against agrarian reform but the program’s continued implementation should prioritize the provision of support services and infrastructure to the ARBs so that we can truly achieve CARP’s goal of poverty alleviation through increased agricultural productivity,” Rojas said.