Philippines (Hansard, 31 March 1983)

§ Mr. Canavan

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) whether he is being kept informed of the progress in land settlements on the sites in the Philippines which the Commonwealth Development Corporation hopes to develop with the National Development Company in La Paz and Loreto; and whether the Commonwealth Development Corporation rather than the National Development Company will be responsible for the evaluation, examination and payment of land claims on the proposed National Development Company-Commonwealth Development Corporation plantation;

(2) whether it is a condition of Commonwealth Development Corporation investment in the Philippines that the Lost Command and similar forces are removed from the area of potential investments before any large sums of money are committed; and whether the presence of such forces is a factor borne in mind when the Commonwealth Development Corporation considers whether its commitment to such projects should be continued;

(3) how much of the £6.4 million which the Commonwealth Development Corporation intends to invest in NGPI, Philippines, will be allocated to compensating the land claims of farmers who surrendered their land to the company between its inception and December 1982; and what information he has as to the proportion of the total costs incurred by NGPI and its partners in setting up the plantation at San Francisco, 219W Agusan Del Dur, between its inception and December 1982 spent on compensating farmers who surrendered their land to the company during the same period;

(4) whether, in view of the request of the Minister for Overseas Development to the Commonwealth Development Corporation to negotiate with its partners in the NGPI project in Agusan Del Sur, Philippines, terms to end land abuses on that plantation, he is satisfied that the land claims of all those who surrendered their land to NGPI have been properly investigated and that all claimants have been fairly compensated.