Bacolod City – Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson created a multipartite monitoring team to ensure the environmental compliance of HAPI (Hacienda Asia Plantations Inc.), holder of the Integrated Forestry Management Agreement (IFMA), of its P2 billion palm oil plantation in Barangay Gatuslao, Candoni, Negros Occidental.
This was after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources approved the Comprehensive Development Management Plan of HAPI under an IFMA for its oil palm, agricultural, and agro-forestry operations, subject to regular monitoring to ensure compliance to environmental laws and regulations.
 The MMT is composed of representatives from the Provincial Environment Management Office (PEMO) as the chairperson, DENR Environmental Management Bureau, HAPI, Candoni municipal government, barangays of Agboy and Gatuslao in Candoni, non-government and civil society organizations, the academe, and indigenous peoples (IP).
 In an executive order, Lacson said the MMT has to ensure that HAPI complies with the terms and conditions of ECC and sustainable forest management practices, conduct regular monitoring and evaluation of the forest management activities, including tree planting, forest rehabilitation, and biodiversity conservation, among others.
 He said that the provincial government of Negros Occidental is committed to upholding environmental integrity, promoting responsible agricultural and agro-forestry practices, and ensuring that operations, like those of HAPI, contribute to the long term sustainability and well-being of local communities and ecosystems.
 However, in a joint statement, the Group of Environmental Socialists (GOES) Inc. and Green Alert Network (GAN), called on the DENR to cancel the project and the revocation of the IFMA granted to HAPI, claiming that the ongoing clearing activities in the area have caused the dislocation of residents and their source of livelihood.
 Citing allegations of residents in the area, the environmentalist groups further claimed that the sale and transfer of their 6,652-hectare forest land, which includes 4,000 hectares inhabited by indigenous peoples (IPs), is illegal. (Gilbert Bayoran via tvds)