Visiting Malaysian minister upbeat on Sarangani investments
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Koronadal City -- The head of a Malaysian delegation looking into potential oil palm plantation sites was upbeat that government agencies and the private sector of Malaysia would invest in Sarangani. "We are interested in the development here as the natural move in view of the peace efforts being taken now," Tan Sri Bernard Dompok told local officials here Friday (Mar. 17). "And Malaysia is involved in trying to facilitate this." Kuala Lumpur is brokering the peace talks between the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Mr. Dompok, a minister in the Malaysian Prime Minister's Department, said "the natural progression of that (peace efforts) would be to see economic development here." The minister made the remarks after an aerial inspection of the coastal towns of Palimbang (Sultan Kudarat), Maitum and Kiamba (Sarangani) with Governor Migs Dominguez and Palimbang Mayor Labualas Mamansual on Friday. After the helicopter ride, Gov. Dominguez showed Mr. Dompok and his party around barangays Mindupok and Kalaneg in Maitum town and the port in Kiamba. Mindupok, a predominantly Muslim village and former battleground, has vast tracks of lands suitable for planting oil palm. During the 70's, fierce fighting between government troops and Muslim rebels were prevalent in these towns some 100 km. west of General Santos City. "There is nothing like good economics than to keep the peace in any area that has been experiencing trouble," said Mr. Dompok. The minister disclosed that his delegation was in Sarangani on March 16-18 to see what investments "we can bring here from even government agencies and the private sector of Malaysia." The five-person Malaysian delegation included top officials of the Malaysian Federal Land Development Authority and economic planning unit. "I think there is no reason why the private sector of Malaysia cannot come here," Mr. Dompok said. "In the past, security had always been given as the reason but I think it should not be of too much concern in the very near future," Mr. Dompok said. "I am very, very confident that this can be overcome and I think certainly the (Malaysian) private sector should be more interested." Mr. Dompok reiterated that Malaysia is interested to be "part and parcel of any development." "We are not living alone now. We are part of this borderless world," the minister said. "The world has shrunk that what was before inaccessible is now accessible." Mr. Dompok added that these were "all the more reason why we should cooperate." After all, he said, the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippines - East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) has been premised on private sector initiatives in all member-countries. The BIMP-EAGA, created 12 years ago to accelerate trade, tourism and investments in the growth area, has been focusing on tourism, natural resources, small and medium enterprise, transportation, infrastructure and ICT. "We are currently exploring ways on how to forge a partnership between the Malaysian government and our government to really begin this industry in southern Mindanao," Dominguez said. The governor told the Malaysian delegation that one of the competitive advantages of the southern region is access to sea where boats can come in and transport palm oil with minimal expense. Sarangani province has vast tracts of land suitable for oil palm plantation, according to OIC-provincial agriculturist Giuseppe Chew. With 21,598 hectares as "highly suitable," Chew said about 117,553 hectares more are "marginally to moderately suitable." Chew said Sarangani has "ideal climatic conditions with Type IV rainfall (more or less evenly distributed through the year), averaging 2,591 mm. annually." All-weather roads in Sarangani's seven towns connect the agricultural production areas to the US-built asphalt and concrete national highway leading to General Santos City. In addition, Chew cited the "strong willingness of the farmers and landowners to venture on oil palm plantation given adequate technical and financial assistance." Sarangani has a favorable socio-political environment and strong leadership support on the business venture, he said. The stable peace and order and investment-friendly policies in place were also noted by local officials.
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