Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon yesterday said he does not believe the demand for Sugar Regulatory Administrator James Ledesma to resign is the best option at this time.

Reynaldo Bantug, president of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc., yesterday also reiterated CONFED's support for Ledesma.

It is premature to call for the resignation of Ledesma, Bantug said. Marañon said he does not think they should rock the boat as Ledesma seems to be doing a good job at the SRA, with sugar prices having gone up.

What we were asking for was that Ledesma release the sugar previously issued "C" or reserve quedans when production was low because of the rains, but that the reserve allocations should still be set for future production to prevent too much sugar from circulating in the market so millgate prices do not drop, he said.

Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines Inc., is calling for Ledesma to resign for failing to consult the sugar industry before lifting the allocation of 20 percent of the sugar produced in the Philippines as reserve, causing millgate prices to dip in the last week of December.

Lamata yesterday said his primary reason for calling for Ledesma's resignation is his failure to consult the Philippine Sugar Alliance. "James is not the owner of the sugar industry, there are stakeholders who have a stake in it," Lamata said.

Ledesma had earlier said that he lifted the "C" allocation to fulfill his mandate of ensuring that prices remain reasonably profitable to producers and fare to consumers.

Ledesma said that if millgate sugar prices went way above P1,000 per Lkg, retail prices would also go up and affect the consumers.

The SRA chief explained that he removed the reserve allocation because the projected rate in increase of this crop year's sugar production is relatively slower than expected due to weather delays in harvest and milling operations.

Ledesma said that if the prices of sugar went above P1,000 he would let it seek its level in the market, Lamata said, which Enrique Rojas, National Federation of Sugar Producers president, confirmed yesterday.

Lamata asked why, if Ledesma said he would let prices seek its level, he had withdrawn the "C" allocation when prices went above P1,000 per Lkg.

Bantug said CONFED still supports Ledesma because it was his prerogative to act on the "C" but they would have preferred to have been consulted.

A millgate price of about P1,000 per Lkg for RP sugar would give a little return to producers considering the increase in production costs, Bantug said.

But Bantug said his feeling is that prices will not change so much even with the removal of the "C" because of the tightness of sugar supply.

He also pointed out that prices of sugar in the world market are also going up and if it entered the Philippines, it would have a landed cost of more than P1,000 per Lkg.*CPG

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