A JAPAN-BASED firm has cancelled its shipbuilding venture in Toboso, Negros Occidental.

Toboso Mayor Richard Jaojoco confirmed this to Sun.Star Bacolod, saying it may be due to politics.

Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co. LTD was supposed to set up a shipbuilding facility in the northern Negros municipality, which is part of the First District.

Jaojoco said he got a call from someone sometime in October last year, telling him that the project will be halted. Since then, he hasn’t heard from the company.

The mayor said the shipbuilding was supposed to be a major project in the town, as it is seen to generate thousands of jobs for Negrenses.

Earlier, Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said the provincial government had leased a portion of the Negros First Ranch in Murcia town for the dairy facility of Tsuneishi and that the company is also eyeing to establish a retirement home in the province.