Today, about 400 landowners from Pomio in the Pomata and Ralopal SABL (Special Agriculture Business Lease) areas  gathered at Palmalmal District headquarters  to peacefully protest against the delay by the Prime Minister of PNG in implementing the recommendations of the SABL Commission of Inquiry Report. The landowners marched to the District Chamber with banners and placards highlighting the controversial land grabbing that is on going in their area. The landowners were blocked by the police to stage the peaceful protest aimed at the Landowner company yesterday at the Drina logging camp

Customary landowners across the country have lost 5.1 million hectares of customary land to the controversial SABLs and have waited too long for the government to decide on the fate of their land. It's now more than six months since the tabling of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) report in Parliament and the people are still waiting for the Prime Minister to take the action he promised.

Village leader of Bairman Village, Jacob Samo said: “We are now staging this peaceful protest to show we have given enough evidence to the Commission of Inquiry to prove our land was taken away from us through fraud.”

“While we are waiting for Hon Peter O’Neill to take the action he promised based on the outcome of the SABL Commission of Inquiry report, our environment is being destroyed at an alarming rate. We are seeing our forest being cleared and our rivers being crossed by the bulldozers. My beautiful Bairaman River is next on the line to be polluted.”

“The government has taken too long to deliver and action the recommendations. We cannot wait any longer. We've looked at all options to get our land back but as village people we cannot go further. Prime Minister of PNG, you have said you are going to ensure that we get our customary land back. When do we see this talk become reality?” Mr. Samo said.

“We are all in the dark. We don't know what is going on. We want the Prime Minister to take immediate actions to implement the findings of the Commission of Inquiry on SABL. He talked about taking a bold stand to stop the illegal logging that is happening on our land and revoke all the SABLs found to be leased out fraudulently. The people of Pomio have given overwhelming evidence and have testified at the Commission of Inquiry that their land was stolen from them without their consent. When is our Prime Minister going to take the action he promised and show us that he really is the leader of this country?”

Many of the West Pomio communities already have their own Land Use Plans, which they developed themselves in the mid-nineties, showing how they plan to sustainably manage their land and natural resources. The villages of Mauna, Lau, Bairaman and Drina have their own community eco-forestry businesses and are following Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, the highest international standard in sustainable forest management.  The communities were never consulted on the SABL and did not give their consent for the proposed logging and oil palm plantation operations.

The fact that Gilford Ltd. has been given the lease for all of the customary land of all the communities involved for up to 99 years, shows the blatant misuse of the SABL process, as leases under this system are only supposed to be given for limited parts of customary lands, on which all landowners involved have agreed that they don’t need this land for the period of the lease. 

“Our peaceful and direct action taken today is to show that we cannot wait any longer. Our land has been stolen and our forests are being cut down while we are waiting for the PM to implement the Commission of Inquiry recommendations. We are calling for the Prime Minister to honour the promises he made to the people of PNG, to consider the future generations over the profits of multi-national logging companies, and to give back our land,” said Samo.

For more information or to arrange interviews, contact:Sam Moko on telephone +675 7688 5250 or +675 73027620 or email sam.lion.moko@gmail.com