GMA to lead ground-breaking of San Carlos ethanol plant

Amid the series of gloomy news such as the killings of political leaders and the unabated slaughter of the country’s journalists, there is a ray of light. President Arroyo will come to Negros Occidental on May 30 to lead the ground-breaking of the P1.5-billion ethanol and power plant in San Carlos City.

President Arroyo will also inaugurate the new P8-million public market of Escalante City and a Gawad Kalinga project.

Escalante City Mayor Santiago Barcelona said Mrs. Arroyo will also attend a symbolic inauguration of 68 schoolhouses with a total of 132 classrooms and function rooms. They are spread in 36 school campuses worth P135 million.

But the one event that has aroused keen interest is Brozooak Philippines’ San Carlos bio-energy project for ethanol production. Headed by Joe Maria Zabaleta Jr., it has the National Development Corp. and a foreign investor putting up the money to operate the integrated 100,000-liter ethanol distillery-cum-nine-megawatt co-generation plant. It will be located at the San Carlos Agro-Industrial Economic Zone.

Zabaleta earlier had told the local media that five megawatts that will be produced by the plant will be sold to the National Power Corp. and the remaining four percent will be used to operate the ethanol distillery.

By-products of the ethanol will be used to produce carbon dioxide for beverages, he added.

Roberto Montelibano, president of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), also said there are current negotiations for another plant involving a closed sugar mill. Talk among sugar producers in the province indicates that among the other parties interested in ethanol production are the Bukidnon Sugar Co. (BUSCO) in Bukidnon and the Tolong Central in Oriental Negros.

The latest buzzword in sugar circles is that sweet sorghum can be a better substitute to sugarcane in the manufacture of ethanol. In short, the proponents may have to either convert or open up new areas for this should it prove more feasible than sugarcane since it has a shorter life cycle.

But all that talk and speculation only indicate that ethanol may be the new and exciting business venture for some local entrepreneurs. Actually, it was the bill of both Rep. Miguel Zubiri of Bukidnon and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel mandating a five to 10 percent ethanol-gas mix that may have paved the way for exploring this new venture.

Brazil today produces the bulk of the world’s ethanol. But it is also produced now in the United States and other countries, including Thailand, as a move to ensure a sustainable source of energy in the face of the continuing rise in oil prices.

Kraft ‘Tang’ Imports

The euphoria over ethanol did not last long. It was Reynaldo Bantug, national president of the Confederation of Sugar Producers’ Associations Inc. (Confed), who brought to Negros Occidental the alarming report that Kraft may import the powdered sugar product "Tang" under a one to five percent tariff.

Bantug said that move, if granted by the Tariff Commission, could establish a precedent that could be invoked by other food processors and threaten the survival of the country’s sugar industry.

That could imperil the livelihood of 500,000 sugar workers and their five million dependents and those directly or indirectly dependent on the industry.

But what bothered Bantug and Confed trustees such as Rosendo Lopez, First Farmers Association president, and Roberto Cuenca of the Asociacion de Agriculturces de la Carlota y La Castellana, was Executive Order No. 295 which President Arroyo signed only last year.

The EO, upon the recommendation of the Tariff Commission after a public hearing, recommended the reclassification of premixes to a 48 percent tariff. This, after the outcry from sugar producers that in 2003, about 65,000 metric tons of premixes entered the country.

Sugarmen cited international standards that sugar produced with 65 percent or more sugar content should be classified as sugar. A laboratory examination by the Sugar Regulatory Administration showed that Tang Pineapple and Tang Orange had 90.12 percent and 91.67 percent sucrose content, respectively.

The President issued EO 295 following the Cabinet endorsement of the Tariff Commission’s recommendation.

In short, it mandated that all premixes containing 65 percent dry weight of sugar shall be classified as sugar under the heading 1701s.

A spokesman, purportedly of Kraft, called me up via long-distance yesterday and asked me to accommodate the firm’s position on the issue, citing the high cost of local production. But the promised position paper has yet to reach me.

Federico Locsin II, of Confed Panay-Negros chapter, pointed out that so far, there is no justification for the Kraft move which contravenes EO 295.

Bantug called for an emergency meeting yesterday among the Western Visayas chapter trustees (incidentally, they are presidents of planters’ associations affiliated with Confed) to brief them on the issues involved and to formulate an action plan to counter the move that threatens the sugar industry, particularly the sugar workers.

Watch out for the fireworks. Even the possibility of a mandamus case to be filed by Confed or the SRA.

Now, Rising Theft Of Game Fowls

It is common knowledge that Negrense-bred fighting cocks are considered among the best by aficionados all over the country. This is the reason why some 15,000 fighting cocks have been shipped out of Negros, according to provincial veterinarian Renante Decena.

Last Thursday, Villadolid Mayor Ricardo Presbitero reported that the province’s 500 cockbreekers have put up a P150,000 reward for the arrest of suspects in the unabated game fowl robberies.

Since the start of the year, Presbitero said there have been eight robberies of fighting cocks from an equal number of game fowl breeding farms in the fourth district alone.

Presbitero actually brought up the issue during the quarterly meeting of the Provincial Peace and Order Council, the Provincial Anti-Drug Council and the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council.

Presbitero said he was articulating the concern of local executives about the "alarming" robberies of game fowls in their respective areas.

The game fowl industry has often been tagged as the second export industry of Negros Occidental. It reportedly brings into the province as much as P2 billion per annum.

Among the major victims in the fourth district reportedly included Tony Trebol, Jacky Jalandoni, Jack Nava and Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. of ECJ Farm, according to the district mayors.

La Carlota City Vice Mayor Deny Honorado told local newsmen that Jalandoni lost 25 fighting cocks to robbers last month.

Presbitero said some of the robbers were armed with high-powered firearms.

Game fowl breeders claim that "intelligence reports" indicate that one of the syndicates is based in Cebu City and has local contacts.

Col. Fogy Leo Fojas, commander of the Army’s 30th Infantry Brigade, vowed to help augment security in areas where these robberies have reportedly been on the rise.

Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon admitted the Negros fighting cocks are considered the best fighters, hence they are avidly sought for.

Once, while traveling with Cuenca in Davao City, I was astonished to hear him grudgingly admit that an international derby in Metro Manila pitted in the final match his cocks against those of Trebol. "So it seems it’s La Carlota’s best against each other," he commented.

That’s why the issue has become a major problem that endangers the game fowl industry of Negros.

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ADDENDA: City prosecutor Augustus Rallos of Bacolod finds himself in real trouble. This time, regional state prosecutor Domingo Laurea said he has filed a personal complaint for alleged violation of Department Circular No. 46. This, after Laurea discovered some alleged violations committed by Rallos in dismissing drug cases filed with the Bacolod prosecutor’s office without submitting them to the regional state prosecutor’s office. Laurea said he has submitted his initial findings to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales... Last Thursday, Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. said arming mediamen will not solve the killings of journalists. Magsaysay said this when he inaugurated the Gawad Kalinga housing project in Murcia, Negros Occidental. That is the same position of local mediamen, especially the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.