James Ledesma.*

The Sugar Board yesterday approved a special allocation of B2 sugar to ensure that cheap supply can be made available to the poor through National Food Authority rolling stores.

Sugar Regulatory Administrator James Ledesma said B2 requires the allocation of one half percent of the country's sugar production as reserve sugar to be sold to the NFA at P950 per Lkg. so that it will have a retail price of below P30 per kilo.

The B2 allocation is in response to the rising millgate prices of sugar that last week reached a high of P1, 407 per Lkg, Ledesma said.

VRESCO employees protest
BY NANETTE GUADALQUIVER

About 80 members of the Labor Organization of VRESCO Employees held a protest action at the V-M-C Rural Electric Service Cooperative compound in Manapla during their lunch break yesterday to oppose moves to block the release of their P11.7 million salary differential.

The Court of Appeals, through its 19th Division, has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the National Conciliation and Mediation Board from taking further action on the amount garnished from VRESCO for the payment of the amount.

LOVE secretary Leonardo Baranda told the DAILY STAR they are directing their call to VRESCO Board president Jose Alan Leonor, who had asked the Land Bank of the Philippines Bacolod Branch to hold the payment or clearing of the check.

Bank acts on
GSIS complaints
BY NANETTE GUADALQUIVER

The Union Bank of the Philippines, through its Government Service Insurance System eCards Customer Service department yesterday, said the bank is now addressing the problems encountered by GSIS members in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental in the withdrawal of their dividends.

In an emailed response to the query of the DAILY STAR, Bon Masibag Jr., associate customer service officer, said that "at the moment, we are experiencing minor network slowdown due to large volume of transactions we have been receiving lately in line with the crediting of dividends."

"Be assured however that the bank is already working round the clock to keep interruptions into minimum," he also said, adding that they apologize for the inconvenience.