Sugar producers applaud SRA

Negros Occidental, being the top sugar producer of the country, naturally applauds the Sugar Regulatory Administration for its drive against sugar smuggling. Important. If left alone, the smugglers could cause the collapse of the sugar industry.

Last week, the SRA anti-sugar smuggling Task Force helped the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group bagged 14,494 bags of imported refined sugar, believed to have originated from Thailand .

Worse, the bagged sugar were being repacked in fake Victorias Milling Co. sacks, according to Sugar Administrator Rafael Coscolluela.

The first site was reportedly in a compound at West Service Road in Bicutan. That yielded 6,607 bags. Later, the second raid grabbed 7,887 bags in another warehouse in Brgy. Ugong, Valenzuela City .

Another container of undocumented sugar was reportedly found near the premises of MIC at the Manila North Harbor and outside the warehouse in Valenzuela.

SRA deserves plaudits for their discovery of these smuggled sugar. It will surely help the de-escalation of the cost of domestic sugar.

But one thing that has been bothering most. Why were the identities of the warehouse owners and operators not mentioned?

A major break like the confiscation of smuggled sugar from two places should at least have the identities of the underlings mentioned and cases against them presented to the public. But nowhere in all the press releases of the SRA or the PASG were names mentioned, especially those responsible for the smuggling attempt?

The achievements of the SRA and the PASG may follow what has been happening with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration anti-drug smuggling drive. Large caches of shabu and chemicals intended for its manufacture had been announced. But, often, none of those behind them had been mentioned.

Undoubtedly, sugar men must support that move of the SRA to curb sugar smuggling. But both SRA and the PASG must be more transparent.

We know Lito and we are sure that he won't go along with the idea that only the small fries are behind the activities. There must be somebody or a group behind these smuggling activities which could net the smugglers at least from P200 to P300 per bag of sugar.

Next time, you can expect Coscolluela demanding that the identities of those behind the private warehouses and the smuggling be named.

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It may come as a surprise to Bacolod folk that while other cities of Negros Occidental and Bacolod have been going strong against the conversion of municipalities into cities, Iloilo cities have yet to mount its own campaign. Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas is the chair of the League of Cities of the Philippines which is mounting the campaign.

Well, just for your information, Mayor Treñas and Iloilo officials have set for February 4 the opening salvo of Iloilo 's protest.

The city is just rousing itself from the most successful Dinagyang Festival. And Ilonggos are now feverishly preparing for the Fiesta de Candelaria on Feb. 2. The Jaro Fiesta is considered a must for Ilonggos and others from all over the country. And the highlight is the derby which means millions of pesos at stake.

Candelaria usually draws to Iloilo some of the country's leading cockers. And for the elite of Iloilo and Negros , that is the time when they publicly display their wealth and their ladies display their high-end wardrobe so with the gentlemen. Admittedly, Iloilo can devote more time for last-minute preparations for the Candelaria. Hence, the delay in the protest by Iloilo .

In Bacolod , last night was the Talent Night at the Our Lady of Candles Parish in Capitol Heights , Villamonte, with Fr. Danilo Senal as parish priest.

Tonight will be the Gentlemen's Night. This means that the gentlemen of the parish may come out with their best wardrobes to prove to their Ilonggo counterparts they are as much up-to-date.

But the more important is tomorrow night's affair which is “Kapamilya-Share-A-Meal.” The poor families of the parish will have their chance to share their meal with the upper stratum of the society, the latter sharing their food with them.

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Anent a rejoinder by the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade that the eight gunmen nabbed by the Metropolitan police as having turned themselves as guns-for-hire, it was the police that claimed that they were RPA-ABB.

The only point I wanted to remind the police was that while they were quick in identifying them as guns-for-hire, they seem to have overlooked the more important point – identify those who were behind the killings attributed to them. Their identification as RPA-ABB was not mine, but of the police. I hope the police will rectify their claims and heed the rejoinder from RPA-ABB spokesman Victorino Sumulong.*

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