TADECO maintains deal with BuCor legal and binding

Banana exporter Tagum Agricultural Development Co. (TADECO) on Sunday maintained that its contract with the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) is legal and binding.

"While we maintain the deal with BuCor is a joint venture agreement (JVA) and the contract legally negotiated, we take care not to muddle the issues as we only want to present arguments that are accurate, rational, and valid,” TADECO President and CEO Alexander Valoria said in an emailed statement.

The statement was released after the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Commission on Audit (COA), and the Office of the Solicitor General (SolGen) questioned the deal of TADECO and the BuCor as it was "grossly disadvantageous" to the government.

A joint committee inquiry at the House of Representatives has started looking into the contract, a supposedly anomalous deal the came into light after the rift between TADECO owner Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio "Tonyboy" Floreindo Jr., and House Speaker Pantaleon "Bebot" Alvarez.

In its statement, TADECO claimed that Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre III said the renewal of the questioned joint venture agreement (JVA) between the BuCor and TADECO had approval stamps from the DOJ.

"Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre III has even admitted that the renewal of the JVA between the BuCor and TADECO in 2004 had the stamp of approval of two secretaries of the DOJ, which validates TADECO’s position that the new 25-year period of the contract will extend up to 2029," it said.

In its renewal deal, TADECO committed to employ inmates from the Davao Prison and Penal Farm (DPFF) and provide them minimum daily wages, as well as necessary emergency medical measures through the BuCor.

“There is overwhelming data and proof of the success of the rehabilitation program. We estimate that around 5,000 ex-inmates have been absorbed by the banana industry itself when they were finally released from incarceration,” Valoria was quoted as saying during the hearing at the House last week. —Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/ALG, GMA News