§ Mr. Canavanasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Falkirk, West on 24 October, Official Report, c. 17, he will make a further statement about the Commonwealth Development Corporation's involvement in the NGPI project at Agusan del Sur in the Philippines.
§ Mr. RaisonI am informed by the CDC that the NGPI Project is progressing satisfactorily. The first 4,000 hectare phase has been fully planted and the new processing mill is scheduled to be commissioned in May 1984 when commercial quantities of fruit will become available. Having satisfied itself that the conditions attaching to its £6.4 million loan in respect of security and other conditions on the estate were fully observed, the CDC released a first disbursement of £2.027 million on 24 August 1983. The CDC's staff member in Mindanao is in continuous contact with the NGPI for the purpose of monitoring these matters.
The Philippine courts have recently decided the disputed result of certification elections in favour of the Philippine Association of Free Unions—PAFLU—which had obtained the majority of the votes. Negotiations are to begin shortly for the establishment of an estate union under PAFLU auspices to succeed the joint consultative committees set up by the NGPI to provide its workers with a negotiating body in the interim.