THE banana industry of Davao Region had been shadowed over by several instances of security threats this year, thus causing a call for strengthened security measures.
One of the attacks made by the New People's Army (NPA) that had made noise through national and local news was the burning down of Lapanday Foods Corporation (LFC) box and plastic manufacturing plant in Mandug early this year.
A few months following that burning, plant equipment amounting to P15 million was also burned down by the same group.
In a separate interview with Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Associatio (PBGEA) executive director Stephen Antig, he said such instances of attack in Mindanao had caused companies to postpone expansion in several areas in Mindanao.
"It will put a lot of expansion on hold because the investors have fears of investing and then be attacked. We will have a problem with the recovery of your investment as most of them are loaned from the banks," Antig said.
He further noted that these damages are not covered by the insurance pay as they are under terrorist attacks.
According to Antig, the military had reported a P1.4 billion yearly revolutionary taxes shelled out by companies to the lawless groups. The amount includes those they have received from mining and construction companies as well.
Aside from attacks from lawless groups, the banana industry had also encountered a different kind of attack that Antig said can be considered as "economic sabotage." A 3-cm wire was found inside a banana in Kawasaki City, Japan imported from the Philippines. This was found after a voluntary inspection at the Dole Japan facility. After the incident, about 9,000 bunches of bananas were recalled.
"It is very clear that this is economic sabotage. We can't really pinpoint who are behind this...As of now, we can speculate that what they want is economic sabotage especially that this broke out just when President Rodrigo Duterte just came back from Japan. Whoever did this really want to ruin the banana industry of the Philippines," Antig said.
He noted that big banana companies in the region have metal detectors to help avoid such incidents from happening. However, smaller banana players that are also involved in exporting may have a hard time affording such technology as they have limited financial capacities.
On October 17 of this year, he revealed to the reporters the deployment of a Special Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit (Cafgu) in the banana plantation peripheries to help lessen the lawless attacks. PBGEA is now waiting for final advice from the military for the specific deployment date and the recruited members of the Cafgu.
In the midst of internal struggles of the Philippine banana industry in terms of security, there is also an export competition that it needs to keep up with especially with Ecuador.
The industry's dream of exporting to Russia was temporarily clouded over with dismay when Russia expressed disappointment with Philippines stop of export to Russia a few years ago due to plantation typhoon damages brought by Typhoon Pablo in 2012. Currently, Russia imports most of their bananas from Ecuador.
However, this did not at all discouraged Mindanao Banana Farmers and Exporters Associataion (MBFEA) president Richard Mark delos Reyes and said the Philippines will still continue exporting to Vladivostok, the eastern side of Russia which is much nearer to China where the Philippines also export bananas. Even if the volume is lesser compared to the western and the European part of Russia, delos Reyes said it could still be a start for the industry to come back to Russia.