Sugar surplus, diversification, and CARP

Very few outside of the sugar industry have been aware that sugar producers have been wracking their brains as to how to solve the problem of too big a success. Surplus production.

For the past week, Sugar Administrator James Ledesma has been holding a series of consultations with sugar producers, millers and traders on how to tackle the expected overproduction of sugar, expected to reach as much as 2.3-million metric tons this year. Demand remain static at only 1.9 million.

Yesterday, I attended the meeting of the national board of the Confederation of Sugar Producers (Confed) in Makati. The topic, which was tackled with urgency, was to draw up proposals on how to address the surplus problem. Joel Lopa, national president, and Nene Trebol, chairman of the Negros-Panay chapter, stressed both the need for crafting proposals that could help guide Administrator Ledesma on how to tackle the problem of more supply than demand.

The proposal is to be submitted to the Philippine Sugar Alliance for final assessment and discussion by Thursday.

In short, like the Educational Assistance Program (EDAP) of the Sugar Industry Foundation, the success of the Philippine Sugar Research Foundation, Inc. (Philsurin) and the mill district development councils in propagating higher-yielding sugarcane varieties plus gains in the adoption of modern agronomic practices contributed to a stunning success.

Phenomenal production gains by Mindanao and Luzon, aggravated by the favorable weather, brought groans from sugar producers that the output this year was going up meteorically and there was nothing that could be done to stop the gains.

New Mill Proposal

Another topic that occupied producers was the announced intent of the family of Steven Chan to put up another P1.6-billion modern and state-of-the art sugar mill and refinery project in Passi City, Iloilo.

Teresa Chan, said it will be funded by local funds and is expected to generate 8,000 new jobs.

Even Senate President Franklin Drilon urged the President to approve the project. "Our family is investing P1.6 billion fresh capital and we will be creating employment opportunities in line with the President’s program to create new jobs," said Jose Marie Chan, who owns the Binalbagan-Isabela Sugar Company (BISCOM) in Negros Occidental.

While the proposed mill is considered welcome by Panay sugar producers, there were cautious reactions from those of Negros Occidental in the face of the growing threat of surplus sugar.

"It is good for the producers and the populations of Passi and Iloilo," was how PanayFed president Francis Trenas welcomed the Chan move.

All the machineries and equipment are reportedly brand new. It will also be equipped with a sophisticated filtering system capable of a high extraction rate of sugar, and is environmentally friendly," was how it was described. The equipment, according to Trenas was made in South Africa and is brand-new, not just reconditioned and thus able to maximize extraction.

Another problem that caught the eye of sugar experts was that the mill site of the new central is barely two kilometers from the upper portion of the Passi mill site. The worrisome facet is that it could dam up the river which provides water to the older mill.

The thing is even the SRA, despite its reservation about the project, does not have any legal clout one way or the other to hold back the project.

But there was the ancillary impact of that new state-of-the-art mill, it could stimulate older mills to modernize their equipment and bring them up-to-date so that they can remain competitive.

Smuggled Sugar Imbroglio

At the same time, Administrator Ledesma yesterday was subjected to questions about how the Bureau of Customs was handling the interception of 18,000 bags of smuggled sugar in Batangas. Valued about at P21.5-million, the shipment was intercepted by a composite team of the Philippine Navy, the Batangas PNP and naval intelligence last June 5.

Ledesma said he had already asked the customs bureau to file forfeiture proceedings so that the sugar, still on board several boats, could be classified by the SRA as "D" sugar and ordered shipped out of the country.

The officers and crew of the three boats were arrested when the teams of lawmen chanced on them unloading the smuggled sugar onto motorized bancas in Batangas.

Samples of the sugar were found by the laboratory of the Central Azucarera de Pedro as having reportedly come from Thailand and classified as premium refined sugar.

Based on the statement of one of the officers of M/V Elisa, the shipment was reportedly to be brought to Indonesia. However, the boat developed engine trouble and drifted to Batangas. That raised eyebrows among producers.

Well, that’s one attempt that was aborted. And the follow-up is to determine who are behind the smuggling attempt. They should now be brought to court, pointed out sugarmen.

DAR Order Questioned

Negrense landowners are poised to ask the Provincial Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Council, headed by Governor Joseph Maranon, to thresh out with Agrarian Reform Secretary Jose Maria Ponce his controversial March 3 memorandum that was blamed for a series of controversial installations of farmer-beneficiaries.

The landowners pointed out that it is time for the DAR secretary to reconsider his order which brushed aside the availment of injunctions and TROs from regular courts. These, it stated, had been "unduly utilized as a strategy to obstruct, impede delay or otherwise render ineffective the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) to the detriment of the target farmer beneficiaries."

The various non-government organizations, including the PARCOM, last year signed a memorandum agreement that bound both the military and the PNP as well as DAR to clear contentious issues such as forcible but disputed installation of FB’s with local government units.

The point was that local government officials have to cope with violence and trouble that arise out of disputed moves of DAR, especially those which are still covered by cases pending before the courts.

Rep. elect Ignacio Arroyo (5th) who attended the meeting assured the landowners that he will bring the matter to the attention of President Macapagal-Arroyo.

Maranon’s chief of staff Jose Valencia said there is need to address the perceived issue of suspected connivance by DAR with the Mapalad.

Some of the landowners also questioned the role of the military in the installation of farmer-beneficiaries despite what they claimed were violations of the law.

The MOA incidentally, was signed by the heads of the three major sugar federations. That could result in a major row unless Ponce either withdraws the controversial memorandum or clarifies it with another that respects the courts.

Adieu Fr. O’Brien

Negrenses accompanied the ashes of the late Columban missionary Fr. Niall O’Brien to his resting place. Never did Negros witness the loving reachout to the Irish priest who served Negros almost his entire priestly life.

His brother, Fergus, 69, was touched by the massive regard and love for his brother who spent a great part of his life with Negrenses.

A long line of fans and friends made a beeline to the San Sebastian Cathedral where some 30 clerics of the Bacolod Diociese and the Columban Order concelebrated the requiem Mass for Fr. O’Brien. Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra led the clergy.

O’Brien succumbed to a rare blood disease in Pisa, Italy, last month. His remains were flown back to Ireland where he laid in statue for a while. Later, they were cremated and the ashes brought back to the country which he served and loved so much.

Strangely, nobody questions whether Niall had taken Filipino citizenship. Everybody just presumed that he had become Filipino.

Fr. O’Brien touched so many lives. He was the one who introduced the Samaria in the Kabankalan Diocese. And he inaugurated several livelihood projects for the poor. He won the hearts of Negrenses when, as a member of the Negros Nine (the priests who were arrested on a trumped up charge for the death of the late Mayor Pablo Sola of Kabankalan) Fr. O’Brien remained composed and smiling, his laughter punctuating the tense moments when he was incarcerated in the provincial jail.

Her is an example of how he had won the hearts of Negrenses. My own son, Rolando Jr., who is now in Dublin, Ireland, called me up and informed me that the O’Brien family had decided to bring his ashes back to Negros were he had requested that he be buried among the people he had served so lovingly.

He was buried in Kabankalan City yesterday after the 9 a.m. Mass.