CBCP rejects biodiesel project
( A repost from CBCP News ) MANILA, July 14, 2009— The Catholic bishops’ hierarchy called on the government to stop the 600, 000-hectare biodiesel project of a foreign company in the Philippines. Aside from being exploitative, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said its negative effect is likely to strike a number of landless farmers and fisher folk. It said that the size of land to be used in biodiesel production is more than one half of the entire land reform target of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). In a statement, the CBCP urged the government to “counter the secession” of the said public lands to Pacific Bio-Fields Holdings, Inc. for bio-fuel to be exported to Japan. The collegial body of the bishops made the call yesterday after their two-day plenary assembly at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center in Paco, Manila. The biodiesel project is contained in a formal agreement between the Philippine government and the United Kingdom-based Japanese...