Breakthrough in fight vs sugar smuggling

The report hit Negrenses, especially the sugar producers, like a blockbuster. That was an achievement which they hope the National Anti-Smuggling Task Force under Secretary Angelo Reyes and the Sugar Regulatory Administration can sustain.

The story involved the interception of three ships loaded with 18,000 bags of smuggled sugar off Batangas last Monday. The task force that seized the smuggled sugar were composed of members of the Philippine Navy and the Batangas police.

Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, Batangas police chief, estimated the 18,000 Lkgs of sugar to be worth about P25 million.

SRA Administrator James Ledesma immediately dispatched a team of sugar experts to inspect the cargo. Although the bags of sugar were on board domestic vessels, there is a strong suspicion that they are foreign sugar.

Under a memorandum of agreement between the Customs bureau and the SRA, the boats must be furnished a permit to ship sugar from one port to another within the country. It has become a standard procedure by sugar smugglers to land their shipment somewhere in Mindanao, re-bag them and then transship them to Metro Manila. The usual route is via Batangas.

Earlier this year, a NAKTF team visited several big malls in Mindanao, notably in Davao and Cagayan de Oro, where they asked for sugar samples. These were brought to the SRA laboratory in Manila for examination.

But a previous report by the sugar industry’s anti-smuggling body indicated that some of the foreign sugar is placed in locally produced 50-kilogram bags. One of those seized bore the markings of Bukidnon Sugar Corp. But another proclaimed that it came from an unknown sugar refinery.

Negrense sugarmen are confident that this is a breakthrough in the continuing effort to curb the entry into the country of dumped foreign sugar. With world sugar priced low, there is a strong temptation for smugglers to bring in foreign sugar.

But there is a major problem. There has been a surplus production which has resulted in a drop in millgate sugar prices.

Maj. Jose Broso, chief of the Southern Unified Command based in Lucena City, said the supposed consignees of the smuggled sugar had been identified as dealers from Batangas and Sta. Ana, Manila.

But the more important question is who are the shippers? That can open a can of worms. There are those who contend that the shipment involved domestically produced sugar transported sans the necessary shipping permit. But why the clandestine way they were loaded onto barges from the three boats?

As per the MOA between the BoC and the SRA, the sugar shipment will be seized and put under the custody of the sugar agency. But the more important point now is to determine whether they are actually domestically produced or smuggled sugar.

There was also a clamor to have the three boats — MV Elisa, MV Claudio and MV Victoria — impounded.

Maj. Brozo claimed that MV Elisa had no registration certificate, no certificate of inspection and no cargo manifest of the last port of call before its apprehension. A certain Tony Bautista reportedly owns the boat.

MV Claudio, on the other hand, was reportedly operated by Edgardo Adriano and had 10 crewmen.

The MV Victoria, for its part, was reportedly skippered by Danilo Guillermo from Bacolod City, and Neil Ocana from Cebu City.

Incidentally, MV Claudio also tried to pass off as MV Erika. The team arrested its patron, Edgardo Montalbo, a Batangas resident, and several of his officers and crewmen.

Negrense sugar producers, who have been plagued by the low millgate prices of sugar, believe that this apprehension can now break open the sugar smuggling syndicate that has defied efforts to crack down on it.

The important thing now is to determine their ports of origin. One can easily deduce who are the brains behind the smuggling attempt.

Ledesma is expected to submit soon his findings on the intercepted sugar.

Active Says Farmers Wrong

The security guards of the Active Group of Companies foiled the takeover of the contested 48-hectare property in Eroreco, Mandalagan.

Adoniram Pamplona, Active defense counsel, pointed out that the land, part of the Eroreco Subdivision, was acquired by Active from the Philippine National Bank through a dacion en pago.

The transaction, he added, was initially questioned by the farmer-beneficiaries in Civil Case No. 97.9803. This was dismissed by Branch 45 of the Bacolod RTC and the order of dismissal has long become final and the so-called farmer-beneficiaries have not appealed that ruling. In effect, that upheld the transaction between Active and PNB.

In contesting the claim by the FBs’ lawyer, Pedro Diamante, that the beneficiaries have acquired the property by virtue of Presidential Decree 27, the latter applies only to land devoted to palay and corn.

Pamplona also furnished the undersigned a copy of the 1976 certification by Doning administrator Salvador Malibong of Bacolod attesting that the land is residential.

Malibong said the Don Enrique Village Subdivision (Eroreco), which has an area of 1,018,500 square meters, was approved as a residential subdivision in 1974 by the city planning board of Bacolod.

It was further certified for residential use under the 1976 Framework Plan of the City of Bacolod which was approved by the city council in Resolution 5153-A series of 1976.

Pamplona added that Active appealed to Malacañang the order of former DAR Secretary Horacio Morales Jr. — OP Case 001-A-94. This simply means that Active should continue to enjoy its possession of the land.

Comelec Upholds Leonardia

The first division of the Comelec dismissed the petition of Bacolod City Mayor Luzviminda Valdez to annul the proclamation of Evelio Leonardia as the new mayor of Bacolod City.

The poll body cited lack of substantial evidence presented and "utter lack of merit" in its six-page decision furnished to provincial Comelec supervisor Marsha Cordero.

The decision was signed by Commissioners Resurreccion Borra, Rufino Javier and Virgilio Garcillano.

The resolution said the failure of the petitioner to attach any supporting evidence to her petition is fatal to her case, adding this made it "outrightly dismissible."

"It is not for the Commission to adduce evidence in behalf of the petitioner nor can it in any way be expected to just swallow hook, line and sinker all that is stated in the petition," the resolution stated.

The poll body added that "all that the petitioner presented before this Commission are purely allegations which, at most, are considered self-serving."

Leonardia was proclaimed by the board of canvassers, with 95,843 votes against Valdez’s 89,974.

Later, because of Valdez’s allegations against the teacher-members of several boards of election inspectors, public school teachers staged a protest march and demanded that the losing mayor publicly apologize to them for the slur on their integrity.

Well, at least, the Comelec decision clears whatever lingering doubts among Bacolodnons that Leonardia is it.

Silay City residents, on the other hand, will have to wait for the Comelec ruling on the outcome of the balloting between re-electionist Mayor Carlos Gamban and Oti Montelibano.

Last weekend, the BOC bucked the order by regional Comelec supervisor Victor Gaborne that he had been directed by Commissioner Borra for them to proclaim Gamban.

The board decided to await the outcome of the motion for reconsideration.