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 g