Back where we started

Yesterday, the country went back to where we were 20 years ago. And it was an event that prompted President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to announce a state of emergency. What seems funny is that there was the rumored coup hatched by the very same people who had participated in several coup attempts in the past against then President Corazon Aquino.

But, it seems that the public did not respond to the call to "re-live EDSA Uno." Which, according to a lady-congresswoman, ended up only in the call for President Arroyo to vacate Malacañang.

Negros Occidental Governor Joseph Marañon had earlier predicted that another such attempt to forcibly eject Arroyo from the Palace will not succeed because the people have become tired of such antics.

Antique Governor Sally Zaldivar-Perez, chair of the Regional Development Council, yesterday issued a strongly-worded statement condemning "This latest destabilization plot."

She issued a public appeal for calm and normalcy in the six provinces of Western Visayas.

And she candidly stressed that "We continue to give our full support to the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, especially because her 10-point program is very much in place.

"We appeal to our brothers in the military to please think of our country first especially because our economy is now taking off," she added.

Ironically, she addressed a special appeal to former President Cory Aquino, the heroine of EDSA I, to "please help preserve and protect our democracy which we all fought for in EDSA."

At the time this piece was written, I didn't know the outcome of the events in Manila and its environs. But that, per se, is the best argument for federalization. In short, we cannot afford to have rest of the country paralyzed when trouble erupts in the national capital.

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Lately, there has been a series of anonymous letters circulated. Or those whose authors hide their true identities by assuming different names. Well, the ironic thing is that I was one of the recipients of such a letter posted the other day to Ms. Ninfa Leonardia.

As usual, I dismiss such antics as this. They are not worth answering. Just put it this way, the National Press Club last month bestowed on me an award for 50 years of journalism. And I have received numerous awards, including the "Ang Banwahanon" for my continued service to journalism and the community where I live in.

During my entire career as a journalist, I never had been accused of libel except once. But that charge was withdrawn voluntarily by the complainant when the investigating fiscal discovered that it had no basis.

While most journalists call libel cases as badges for courage, I never earned that distinction of having the most number of libel charges leveled against me. In short, most of my readers must have believed that I was fair and square in my writings and never had been guilty of being opinionated, although that is the privilege of an opinion writer.

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Well, the more important piece of news for Negrenses was the official notice of the allocation of an additional 30,000 metric tons of raw sugar as our share of the additional US Sugar Quota.

The Philippine Sugar Alliance had given the nod to the Sugar Regulatory Administration's acceptance of the additional quota, the third during the present crop year.

The Sugar Alliance of the Philippines endorsed the acceptance of the additional quota. The most recent consultations included Confed President Rey Bantug, and George Zubiri, Enrique Rojas of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters, UNIFED's Manolet Lamata, Philippine Sugar Millers Association's Francisco Varua, AIM's Timoteo Jr., and PanayFed's Francis Treñas.

The announcement by the US trade representative simply read - the USTR announced the allocation of the most TRQ increase. The Philippine share is 30,000 metric tons raw value.

The Secretary of Agriculture increased the in-quota quantity of tariff-rate quota for raw cane sugar for FY 2006-2007 by 226,796 metric tons raw value. It also said the USTR is re-allocating 35,126 metric tons that will be used by certain countries.

Now, the challenge confronting the sugar industry is whether we can really come up with the 30,000 Mts. we had committed to ship out to the United States which suffered a major shortage in both raw and refined sugar following three major hurricanes that devastated the sugar-producing areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, late last year.

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Incidentally, we just received word that Brazilian officials Wednesday approved the temporary removal of a 20 percent import tax on ethanol after they had approved pruning down the 20 percent ethanol mix from 25 to 20 percent. This is effective March 1.*

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