Valentine’s Day message for Antique

If former Antique Gov. Evelio Javier were alive today, his message for Antiqueños would have been "love your province as I had loved Antique. Unite!"

This may seem irrelevant coming from a Negrense. But I was also among the many who had idolized Evelio as a statesman, a patriot, and an official committed to service and to his vision of a dynamic Antique.

But what prompted me to say this was the column of Belinda Cunanan mentioning how the inspirational message of Manila Mayor Lito Atienza during the commemorative rites of Evelio’s 20th death anniversary at the provincial capitol on Feb. 11 was disrupted.

Followers of Rep. Exequiel Javier, Evelio’s brother, reportedly played loudly the "Impossible Dream" that it drowned out portions of the paeans to the former governor given by the Manila mayor.

That may have been intended for the ears of Antiqueños, but that event was attended by people from various parts of the country and the impact must have clouded the reputation of Antique.

Earlier, Javier’s group had been taking potshots at Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez for the work done on the statue of the former governor, which was crafted by national artist Jose Abueva.

Dr. Zoilo Bernardo Tubianosa, chairman of the Antique Historical Council, however, said that "Rep. Javier is right in saying that anybody can’t just do what he wants with a work of art just because he wants to impress people. It will be vandalism indeed! But he was wrong because the vandalism referred to has actually restored the statue of his brother to its original state. Otherwise, it was already vandalized. It took the province, through the Provincial Historical Council, to have it restored to is previous splendor."

In short, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Majority floor leader pointed out that the workers simply removed the Valspar varnish (or black paint) and polished the bronze monument with the only kind of abrasive "that removes the varnish coating but not hard enough to scratch the bronze work.

"Now, we are doing a great job for Evelio’s statue and yet this is what we got," Tubianosa lamented.

Perez also had something to say about the controversy, especially on the point that all orders must emanate from him (Rep. Javier) and the Javier family regarding the preparation for the celebration.

"I am proud of what I am doing. I can’t understand the erratic behavior of our congressman. Instead of being grateful, he attacks us and seem to say: ‘Evelio does not belong to you.’ Well, he belongs to all of us Antiqueños. We have the right to commemorate his death anniversary. Even the whole of Panay declared Feb. 11 as a holiday."

Perez added that he had written all the provincial governors of Panay regarding the 20th anniversary celebration. "All the governors responded to this. You (Rep. Javier) are always attacking (us), when in fact, you didn’t even plan the activities for the celebration. Well, this governor has planned a very good program for the whole month of February. All provincial activities will be in honor of Evelio," she said.

"That’s why instead of attacking us, the Javier family should thank us. We do not deserve your attacks because we are doing what Evelio deserves. If you don’t like what we do, just let us be, instead of attacking us. We feel that his province must honor Evelio Javier," Perez said.

Well, that suffices for the moment. The most important thing is for Antique’s political leaders to bury their personal grudges, get together and pledge to work for Antique and the nation as one for the sake of former governor Javier.

Semirara oil spill

I have not written anything about the Semirara oil spill. It seems that most of the press statements about the disaster emanated mostly from the National Power Corp. (Napocor) and the Philippine Coast Guard in Manila.

But I got the shock of my life when I learned that the University of the Philippines in the Visayas (UPV) had just completed a study which shows that only 10 percent of the damaged 263 hectares of mangroves have been cleaned up based on estimates of the Coast Guard.

More important, though, was the designation of the UPV as consultant of the independent assessment and evaluation team organized by the provincial government of Antique and the Environment and Natural Resources Office with Barangay Semirara and the municipality of Caluya. The other agencies in the team are the Coast Guard, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of Energy, DENR and the National Power Corp.

According to UPV, the coral reefs, seaweeds and mangroves in the affected areas "are all dead and it will take 20 years for the area to be rehabilitated."

In short, we have here a major environmental disaster which will take almost a generation to mend, according to ENRO Vivian Barillo.

Worse, there is the claim by Napocor that only 39 hectares of mangroves were affected by the oil spill. But the Coast Guard, which is handling the clean up, estimates the damaged area to reach 263 hectares. Of course, there is the most recent claim that the oil had already seeped under the water and affected the soil beneath, which makes it doubly difficult to dredge.

Anyway, according to Perez, it is the assessment and evaluation committee that will determine how much damage the Napocor will have to pay local government units and the stakeholders, especially the fisherfolks affected by the oil spill.

The team now works as the technical working group of the LGUs and the national agencies concerned.

That, more or less, guarantees an impartial evaluation of the impact of the oil spill.

The disparity between Napocor and Coast Guard estimates of how much oil was spilled off Semirara is also a problem. The agency claims that it was only 198,000 to 200,000 liters. The Coast Guard, however, said its 364,000 liters. This presents a major problem in truly assessing the damage and determining how much effort the Coast Guard and the volunteer workers will have to extend.

The UPV is expected to come up with a more accurate estimate of the situation.

That was the point raised by Perez. It is time for the local government to initiate the setting up of an independent assessment and evaluation team with the UPV acting as consultant to the committee.

CONFED on sugar importation

The Confederation of Sugar Producers’ Association Inc. (Negros-Panay Chapter) commends the move of Sugar Regulatory Administration‘s James Ledesma to oppose plans for direct and duty-free sugar importation.

CONFED chairman Luis Tongoy said the position of SRA will definitely protect the local sugar industry, especially during the milling season when there is ample supply in the market.

Beverage companies, particularly Alfredo Yao of Asiawide Refreshments Corp., earlier called on the national government to allow them to directly import sugar at the time when sugar prices were affecting their production costs.

They, however, urged Asiaworld Resources and other industrial users to buy directly from planters association/cooperatives to ensure the availability of sugar for their manufacturing operations. Asiaworld Resources previously mentioned that they procure sugar from traders that dictate prices their own prices.

The CONFED officials explained that the current levels of domestic sugar prices are truly market-driven and not manipulated, as the NBI/SRA/DTI task force did not find any evidence of sugar hoarding.

Ledesma acknowledged that while the government cannot stop anyone from importing sugar, "we will ensure that they pay the corresponding tariffs and it will not be viable for anyone to import sugar."

CONFED opposed the request of Yao as detrimental to the sugar industry and its more than five million stakeholders, particularly the small sugar planters who comprise 80 percent of the industry.

"The industry and the SRA administrators stand on their belief that to import today is very impractical as domestic supply is at its peak and bringing in world sugar to the country will entail great loss for importers," Tongoy said.

Agreeing that nobody can stop importation, Tongoy also stressed that "such importation must only be allowed if they pay the corresponding levies and import duties."

"The sugar industry, with Mr. Ledesma, has worked so hard with President Arroyo and Sen. Mar Roxas III to urge the World Trade Organization (WTO) to provide a level playing field in terms of tariff. Any moves contrary to this will be disadvantageous, not only to the industry but to our government as well," he added.