Sugarcane as energy crop

Even as the nation confronts a new political crisis in the challenge by former President Fidel V. Ramos for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to relinquish the presidency by mid-year, sugar producers also are confronted by a newer challenge - the emergence of sugarcane as an energy crop with a food by-product.

The massive shift to the production of bioethanol by Brazil and other sugar-producing countries has presented the problem of a possible tight sugar supply and the emergence of higher-priced sugar sometime this year. Even a price range of 14 to 16 cents has been predicted by the International Sugar Organization during its last meeting in London.

What could compound the problem is the gene medication of sugarcane as the largest biomass agricultural mass to produce higher levels of biopolymers.

This is what Stevens Brumbley of BSES calls "polyhydroxyalhanoates" (PHAs). This has properties of themoplastics and elastormers.

The last ISO materials contained a report that Metabolix and Archer Midland have patented a fermentation process to produce the biopolymers at costs competitive with petrochemical-based plastics.

Another point - biodegradable plastic food packaging is but one of the 400 applications identified.

And, it should be noted, Procter & Gamble/Kaneka will soon produce "Nodas", a type of bioplastic.

And Toyota has also a program to make lactic acid, and then plastics, from sugarcane.

That's the reason why a banker coined the phrase - sugarcane is an energy crop with a food by-product. Yes, that is sugar.

In short, the world is moving towards an energy deficit. And the new battle cry now is - "be long in energy; with a little bit of "SUGAR."

And, yes, Brazil's higher ethanol mix helps run down world sugar stocks, points out Luis Tongoy, chair of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Associations Inc. Negros-Panay chapter.

With the shift to the commodities market, there are now an assumed $1 billion in sugar. And the commodity funds, points out Goldman Sachs, may cause sugar prices to be more volatile.

I'll write more extensively on these developments that may help sugar producers to formulate long-range policies insofar as their sugarcane production is concerned. But one thing is sure - energy is the future. In short, ethanol may soon become the principal product of sugarcane with sugar as just a byproduct.

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Kudos to Felix and Tess Yusay for the RTC Judge Ramon Delariarte ruling, that the Bacolod City and Provincial governments must pay Sugarland Hotel P21 million for the demolition of what remained of its fourth floor.

Felix and Tess had waited far too long for what they claimed should have been justice for both of them.

Actually, Delariarte considered the provincial government and the city government to have breached its promise to abide with the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding entered into between the Yusays and the two agencies with the Air Transportation Office under then Capt. Panfilo Villaruel.

Details of the judge's findings had been written about extensively in the news stories about that case. That includes the position by the provincial government and Bacolod City to appeal the ruling of the court.

Anyway, what is important is that the Yusays who had bought the Sugarland from its original owners - the Pijuans - had secured the permit to add the fourth floor to the hotel. And the City Public Works department had approved it. And the fourth floor of the hotel had never posed obstruction to aerial navigation.

But it was just the personal chagrin of Villaruel, (now dead), that prompted the ATO to undertake a unilateral survey in July 1994 which led to the order for the immediate demolition of the remaining portion of the fourth floor of the hotel.

That's the finding by the judge who had conducted a prolonged hearing on the case. The more important point now is that the Yusays have been vindicated. Whether they will be able to receive their indemnities from the province and Bacolod City seem no longer material. The most important thing to remember is that truth will come out in the end.

Kudos to Judge Delariarte.

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That was a masterful ruling by Bacolod RTC Judge Rodney Bolonia Monday dismissing the case of possession of illegally-cut lumber filed against Hinobaan Mayor Francisco Bilbao.

And kudos to lawyer William Mirano, Bilbao's defense counsel. The court saw through the masterful legal presentation of Mirano on behalf of his client to elicit the latter's declaration's innocent.

The judge merely upheld the principle that one cannot use inadmissible evidence against an accused.

Well, that settles one of the longest-running cases in court against a local government official. And it could be a precedent to other future cases.

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We hope that the Iloilo police will be able to solve soon the slaying of businessman Bobby Tan, his wife Cynthia Marie Zayco, and their six-year old daughter, Kathy.

Although police refused the media tendency to call it a massacre, it really was that the three were killed by person or persons unknown until now for reasons which still remains clouded by precisely the lack of suspects.

This is a case that not only shocked Ilonggos, including Mayor Jerry Treñas, but it must have roused the Zaycos, one of the most powerful family clans of Negros Occidental.

And PNP regional chief Doroteo Reyes II is now put against the wall. And the Iloilo police authorities are hard-pressed to solve the killings fast. Or….*

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