The cease-and-desist order (CDO) issued to the Hacienda Asia Plantations Inc. (HAPI) last June for the construction of the controversial five-hectare oil palm plantation in Candoni, Negros Occidental remains in effect, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau in Negros Island Region (DENR-EMB NIR).
This was stated in two letters of OIC-Regional Director Vicente Losbañes, dated August 15 and 18, addressed to HAPI resident manager Felix Occeña Jr., denying the private proponent’s request for the lifting of the CDO, copies of which were obtained by civil society organization Negrosanon Initiative for Climate and the Environment (NICE).
Due to lack of an environmental compliance certificate (ECC), the EMB-Western Visayas issued the CDO to the quarry operations and other earth-moving activities of HAPI on June 5.
In an interview yesterday, NICE secretary general Joshua Villalobos said the latest developments from the EMB were presented by DENR-NIR Assistant Regional Director Joan Nathaniel Gerangaya during the public forum on the social and environmental impacts of the oil palm plantation in Bacolod City on Tuesday afternoon, August 26.
In the first letter, Losbañes told Occeña that HAPI’s application for ECC “remains in its initial phase” despite the conduct of public and technical scoping activities on July 3.
He said “the mere filing of an application does not grant permission to proceed with project implementation, regardless of the proposed area being limited to five hectares.”
“Also, we would like to emphasize that the CDO issued by EMB Region 6 on June 5, 2025 continues to be in full effect unless and until it is formally revoked or lifted, and the required ECC has been duly secured,” he added.
In the subsequent communication, Losbañes reiterated his response in the August 15 letter, stating “that the CDO remains in full effect until it is formally revoked or lifted, and the required ECC has been duly secured.”
He added that “the lifting of the CDO shall be contingent upon the filing of a motion and the prior issuance of the ECC.”
“You are hereby directed to suspend all further activities pending full compliance with the aforementioned requirements. Any premature activity may be deemed a violation of regulatory requirements and subject to appropriate sanctions,” Losbañes told Occeña.
As this developed, NICE called for the cancellation of the integrated forest management agreement between the DENR and HAPI.
“From a civil society lens, this is environmental injustice — where promises of jobs mask the reality of poisoned waters, lost biodiversity, and deepening poverty. From a faith perspective, to destroy Candoni’s grasslands is to wound God’s creation and rob future generations of their inheritance,” NICE wisdom council chair and Diocese of San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza said in a statement.
According to NICE, the proposed oil palm plantation project, covering 6,652 hectares within the villages of Gatuslao and Agboy, has been linked to violations of environmental laws, the destruction of local livelihoods, encroachment on indigenous territories, and the displacement of community members. (PNA)