The deal between the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and the Koreans to farm taro and sweet potato inside the Iwahig Corrections Facility (ICF) will be temporarily suspended until a new director-general has been appointed.
Senior Superintendent Geraldo Aro said due to the removal of Nicanor Faeldon as director-general of BuCor, the agreement signed with Ohyangmok Philippines, Inc. (Ohyangmok) for the Ho Ho Farm project in a 150-hectare area will not take effect for the time being.
“Ngayon ay waiting tayo sa darating na director-general. Kasi ang director-general natin na humalili ay officer-in-charge pa lang siya so limited ang kanyang authority. Waiting tayo doon sa permanent na i-a-appoint ng ating presidente (Rodrigo Duterte) kaya until now suspended ,” he said.
The current officer-in-charge of the BuCor is Faeldon’s deputy officer Melvin Ramon Buenafe.
BuCor and Ohyangmok had a ceremonial signing for the joint venture agreement (JVA) on August 27 to plant taro (Palawan gabi) and sweet potato inside Iwahig. However, the JVA was not notarized as Faeldon requested the Korean company represented by its president Andy Kim to comply with some needed requirements.
Under the JVA, Ho Ho Farm agrees to a 60-40 sharing and hire workers locally, including persons deprived of liberty (PDL).
Faeldon said then that the JVA will not be notarized unless he is able to make sure that the entities involved are legitimate and he wanted to meet them personally.
He also requested Kim to see him in Manila for the completion of the requirements.
Faeldon was fired by President Duterte as director-general of BuCor on September 4.
Meanwhile, Aro said that the JVA of BuCor with Puerto Princesa City Water District (PPCWD) will not be affected by the removal of Faeldon as he was then the chief of the agency who signed for the water supply improvement project (WSIP) Phase II in Montible and Lapu-Lapu rivers.
“’Yong water district ay okay na ýon kasi notarized na and everything. Tuloy na ‘yong sa water district, wala ng problema ‘yon,” he said.
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