KIBUNGAN, Benguet – Rep. Ronald M. Cosalan will initiate a congressional inquiry into the alleged illegal activities of a self-proclaimed Korean businessman who had been reportedly earning millions of pesos at the expense of the indigenous peoples of the province for a renewable energy project.
The three-term lawmaker said it has come to his attention that a certain Larry Kim who was the former majority shareholder of the Kapangan-based Cordillera Hydroelectric Development Corporation (COHECO) allegedly sold his shares to Filipino investors after his company was able to secure the free and prior consent of the affected indigenous peoples and the pertinent permits from the concerned government agencies that resulted in a juicy deal.
After being able to sell his shares and rights over COHECO, Kim allegedly established another renewable energy company which is now known as the Coheco Badeo Corporation which is proposing to operate a 500-megawatt pump storage hydro power plant in barangay Badeo being strongly opposed by affected land owners and indigenous peoples in the town’s ancestral domain.
“We should not allow this kind of practice of foreign businessmen who just want to enrich themselves at the expense of indigenous peoples in our province. We should join forces to put a stop to this illegal activities because it is the right of the indigenous peoples over their domain that is being compromised while the foreign investors and their Filipino cohorts are the ones enriching themselves,” Cosalan stressed.
He said he already wrote a letter to the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) to look into the validity and legality of Mr. Kim’s stay in the country and his potential interests in other renewable energy companies that intend to operate in the province so that if it warrants that Kim should be deported, then he will make the necessary representations with the concerned government agencies for his deportation to South Korea.
According to him, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) should also investigate the business interests of Kim to compel him to pay the right taxes due the national and local governments.
Cosalan pointed out government agencies should not allow the foreigners to be involved in illegal business activities in the different parts of the country because it is the Filipinos who end up suffering from the serious negative consequences of their environmental critical projects.
He called on government regulating agencies to be the first ones to protect the interests of Filipinos over their domain instead of being the ones to facilitate the circumvention of the existing laws, rules, and regulations to advance the interests of foreigners wanting to exploit, develop and utilize the country’s rich resources.
Cosalan is wondering why Kim wants to have another hydro project approved when the 60-megawatt project in nearby Kapangan has not yet started, expressing his doubts on the integrity, credibility, and capacity of the Korean businessman to pursue the project,
He added it is again likely that after Kim’s group will be able to secure the consent of the indigenous peoples in Kibungan and the permits from the concerned government agencies, they will again sell their shares at the expense of the embattled indigenous peoples in the area.
By HENT
