City tells CENECO:
Pay P166M in taxes
BY CHRYSEE SAMILLANO

The Central Negros Electric Cooperative has a total payable of P166 million in franchise taxes owed to the Bacolod City government as of February 24, 2006.

Bacolod City Treasurer Florentino Guanco has written Ceneco officer-in-charge Noriel Bermudez requesting the firm to settle the amount in order to avoid further penalties imposable under the revenue code of the city.

The total amount due is computed as follows - current real property taxes - P4,748.339.13; Mayor's permit, regulatory fees and community tax (corporation) covering 1997 to 2004 - P129,525,188.35; taxes and regulatory fees for 2005 to 2006 - P 31,856,213.65 less payment of regulatory fees for 2005 to 2006 amounting to P34,122.

'Rising oil prices make
sugar an exciting crop'
BY CARLA GOMEZ

"As oil prices continue to rise, sugarcane has become one of the most exciting crops not only in the Philippines, but in the world today," Sugar Regulatory Administrator James Ledesma said yesterday.

Yesterday oil prices hovered near $73 a barrel.

As oil prices rise and show no sign of dropping drastically the demand for alternative fuel like ethanol, which comes from sugarcane, will continue, Ledesma told the DAILY STAR.

As long as oil prices remain high, ethanol will become more and more an attractive alternative, that will help keep world prices of sugar up, Ledesma said.

Pulupandan fire
hits 18 houses
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

The fire that hit Brgy. Zone 1 in Pulupandan, Negros Occidental, destroyed and damaged 18 houses causing P1.755 million in loses, Mayor Luis Mondia said yesterday.

Of the 18 houses hit by fire 13 were destroyed and five were damaged, and 20 families composed of 82 persons were affected, Mondia told the DAILY STAR.

Police investigations also showed that the one-hour blaze, which started at 11:35 p.m. of Thursday and was put out by responding firefighters at past midnight yesterday, also led to slight injuries of four residents, including two minors, police investigations show. The slightly injured victims were identified as Natividad Torres, Letecia Alarcon and sisters, Mary Joy Torres, 10, and Shannel, 13, according to DYEZ reports.