Bamboo project to hire 2,000 employees

By Manila Standard Today | Posted on Apr. 22, 2013 at 12:01am

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The Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority will hire some 2,000 workers for the planting and harvesting of bamboo to meet the needs of a foreign investor in Casiguran.

Apeco president Malcolm Sarmiento Jr. said the locator, Futenco, was occupying  a 200-hectare site to include a plantation and production facilities.

Sarmiento said the project is backed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Science and  Technology.

“It will provide jobs and livelihood opportunities not just to residents of Casiguran but also to adjoining communities,” he said.

Futenco will produce bamboo chips for biomass plants and bamboo cotton for garments along with furniture.

“Among those who will benefit from this are the Dumagats in the San Ildefonso peninsula,” Sarmiento said, adding that they can use their own land for the cultivation of bamboo needed by Futenco.

He said no Dumagat will be displaced because Apeco has committed to help them secure their Certificate of  Ancestral Domain Title with free legal assistance “The Dumagats are being given priority in all Apeco projects,” Sarmiento said.

He said seaweed farmers in the ecozone have made a harvest from the initial 3-hectare seaweed farm of 16 families in Casiguran for reseeding to expand production to cover 100 hectares to benefit 400 households.

Source: http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/04/22/bamboo-project-to-hire-2000-employees/

Taiwan, Norway firms to locate in Aurora ecozone

By Ferdie G. Domingo

Two foreign locators are lining up P15-million worth of investments at the Aurora Pacific Special Economic Zone in fish processing, papaya plantation, bluefin tuna and in the production of eel, the first large-scale commercial culture of its kind in the country.

Malcolm Sarmiento, Apeco president and chief executive, said Nantsan of Taiwan and Pro Feeds Inc. of Norway have filed applications to do business at the 1,000-hectare zone in Casiguran with its own pier and airport to support agro-industries, mariculture and eco-tourism.

Sarmiento said Nantsan wanted to put up sea cages for raising grouper species, plant papaya at a 10-hectare site and produce and process eel, a freshwater variety.

He said Pro feeds planned to culture bluefin tuna inside Casiguran Sound which had the viable  26 degrees Centigrade for raising the fish.

Bluefin is a premium variety, Santiago said, noting that recently a 200-kilo bluefin fetched $1.7 million (roughly P85 million) at the Chukiji fishport in Tokyo during an auction.

The Philippines is seventh among the world’s top tuna producers with exports of frozen and canned tuna reaching $284.254 million in 2011, according to the Board of Investments.

Sarmiento said the investors favored Aurora because it was “among the few provinces in the country that is still rich in natural resources.”

Sen. Edgardo Angara, who authored the law that created Apeco said the ecozone is the country’s premier gateway to the Pacific.

“Its accessibility to Manila and to other logistic and investment hubs in Luzon via land and air makes it an ideal starting point for the inflow of commerce,” he said.

Source: http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/02/19/taiwan-norway-firms-to-locate-in-aurora-ecozone/