PNGBLOGS

by SUSAN LOKUN The owner of RD Tuna company pretends to be a Christian as does the general manager. However the true feeling they have for the factory workers and for PNG in general is contempt. Look up that word if you don't understand the meeting of CONTEMPT. This is why RD Tuna parent company regularly dumps rubbish tuna onto the shores of PNG. The tuna from certain Dolores and Dolly types of tuna is fit for animal consumption only. However RD makes more money not by selling it as animal food in Australia. Instead they ship it to PNG from Philippines to sell as people food. Having known 2 people who have worked at RD tuna a few years back and heard stories about the way they treat their workers, I stopped thinking favourably of them and don't buy their products. I originally supported them because of the jobs I thought they would bring. I thought no further than jobs and that was my failure. In general you must understand that this company only does public

by SUSAN LOKUN It is amazing how our country could sell a resource that people around the world want and sometimes pay very good money for, then buy back the absolute garbage leftovers that the rest of the world doesn't want. We have some of the last remaining large resources of yellowfin tuna in the whole world.   It is one of our most precious resource.   RD Tuna was the first cannery built in PNG to supposedly develop PNG's tuna resource.   RD Tuna has always been a scam enterprise.     RD Tuna owner Rodrigo E. Rivera and his family who owns a heap of tuna canneries in General Santos and Cebu in the Philippines.   The RD group of companies began in 1976 as a pawnshop in General Santos City. Rivera owns a large fleet of tuna fishing boats named after his wife Dolly.   Those fishing boats go out all over the South Pacific, including PNG waters.   Very few of them dump their catch at the RD tuna cannery in Madang.  Most head straight for Philippines.   

by BERNADETTE W. WINGERE When the RD Tuna Canners Corporation first set foot in Madang in 1997, the Papua New Guinea government had envisioned that the company would create employments, landowners would get royalties, the spin of businesses will be distributed to the surrounding communities and as a result it will boost the economy and vital service delivery in the country. However, after 18 years of sucking all the resources in PNG soils, the innocent Pilipino girl has grew into a matu (leader) of businesses in the country. First it came as a RD Tuna canner, now she has her sister company RD Fishing PNG Limited and other small contractors from Philippines and they also have great influence in PNG politics and economic systems as well. The company now owns 12 fishing vessels, 7 fishing carriers and it employs more than 3000 people whom she does not see as her strong workforce or the backbone of the company but rather her slaves. During her establishment, the aim was to produce qua

by JOHN M TOHERA Growing unhappiness in Madang against the proposed Pacific Marine Industrial Zone (PMIZ) is beginning to make the scam promoters nervous. The PMIZ is nothing more than a sophisticated land grab to transfer the rights of a valuable piece of real estate into Chinese hands. If the PMIZ project goes through, a beautiful pristine piece of Madang Province near Alexishafen will be converted into a stinky collection of tuna canneries just like what you see today in the Philippines and Thailand. These are the kinds of projects that end up mostly exploiting local people instead of bringing 'development' to them. THE KINGPIN CONMAN IN THE LAND GRAB The main character in the PMIZ scam is Gabriel Kapris, former Somare government minister who long ago established his reputation as a whirlwind of corrupt activity. With respect to the PMIZ, Kapris was instrumental in pushing through a K202 million Chinese Exxim Bank Loan to the PNG government while