EU sugar reform
boosts sugar price

On Wednesday, the world market price of refined sugar rose by $14 per ton from $442.40 on Monday to $456.50.

And that may be due to the impact of the European Union's farm ministers adopting radical reform of the EU sugar sector which will be effective on July 1. This was gleaned from the analysis of an XFN-Asian report on the EU agricultural ministers' meeting last week.

"I am absolutely delighted that the council of member-states has taken the courageous decision to back these long-overdue reforms," the Agence France Presse reported agriculture Minister Mariann Fischer Boel as saying.

That, in effect, translated into action the agreement last November among EU nations to slash prices guaranteed to EU farmers by 36 percent and make available 6.3 billion euros in aid to growers and refiners over a four-year period during which the reform is phased.

Thus, because of the erasure of the subsidy quotas to sugar producers, the EU recently announced that it was cutting down its export sugar from 4.5 million metric tons to only 1.5 million which have boosted the price of refined sugar.

In the case of raw world sugar, prices rose by 0.58 cents per pound from 17.68 to $18.26 per pound.

In the domestic scene, DOLE sold its "A" sugar Tuesday at P1,152.55 its domestic sugar sold at P1,233.

The Asociacion de Agricultores of La Carlota y Pontevedra, sold its "A" sugar at P1,165 "B" or domestic sugar sold at P1,318, an upswing of P117.09 more this week.

HPCO sugar sold at P1,165.90 while its B sugar sold at P1,331.94 per Lkg.

This was one time when market forces played the key role in the pricing of domestic sugar.

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A Dumaguete woman, although foolhardy, forced two holdup men to flee when she fought them off after they had grabbed her Nokia 3315.

As we pointed in this paper, the girl was Salvarita Agus, single, and a Bayawan City resident. She and companion, 19-year old Ivy Comawas, reportedly allowed one of two unidentified men to borrow her Nokia cellphone to inform their families that they had figured in a road mishap.

When one of the motorcyclist started his vehicle, Agus grabbed the vehicle and refused to let go of it even when she was hit three times by the two men, the report from Dumaguete said.

What happened later was that the duo fled on foot when they saw that Ms. Agus was determined to hold on to the motorcycle.

The owner of the vehicle was later identified. But the police did not state whether Wilfredo Magallano of Barangay Daro was identified as one of the two men who had grabbed the Nokia cellphone of Ms. Comawas.

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Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia is right - bring your donations for the Southern Leyte mudslide victims to the proper venue which is collecting donations. Don't give them to private persons soliciting for the mudslide victims.

In the case of the city government, the donations can be coursed directly through the Office of Sectoral Concerns at the Bacolod Plaza.

During tragedies, there are always those who take advantage of the situation. They go around and solicit assistance in the name of the victims - the survivors and the displaced residents.

They actually number by the thousands. And they really need help. That was pointed out by Fr. Mhao Buenafe, the head of the Diocesan Social Action Center.

But if we have to give, and we must, there is the parish donation center where assistance in cash or in kind can be turned over. So with the Philippine National Red Cross. So with the local government units which have designated offices or officials who can receive and issue receipts for your donations.

In short, just don't give them over to anybody. Remember, there are always vultures who take advantage of a situation to victimize do-gooders. And they invoke Christian charity.

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Well, it is good that Police chief Pedro Merced put up Task Force Lawin to control criminality in Bacolod City. Finally, he must have agreed to the need to control the upsurge of criminality in the city.

True, that is not only the problem of the police but also the population. But it must also be remembered that the citizenry will only act if they have trust and confidence in their police force.

In short, it's not enough to whip up popular support. That must be earned.*

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