Multiple raps filed
vs. DepEd official
BY ADRIAN NEMES III

Multiple charges for illegal drug use and violation of Republic Act 7610 or child abuse were filed before the Bacolod City Prosecutor’s Office yesterday against an official of Department of Education nabbed in an alleged drug den in Brgy. Banago, last week.

City Police Director Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz said the charges were filed against Joshua Santillana, 55, of Fortune Towne Subdivision in Brgy. Villamonte and the DepEd District Supervisor assigned in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.

Among the evidences presented against Santillana were the drug test results, showing him positive for shabu use, and the affidavits of the father of one of the two male teenagers, whom he allegedly brought to the drug den and induced to use illegal drugs before sexually assaulting them, De la Paz said.

The House Committee on Agriculture and Food is set to hear House Bill 6113 or the Sugarcane Industry Development Act of 2012 for the first time today, its author Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said yesterday.

Representatives of various government agencies have been invited to the hearing of the committee at the House of Representatives chairedby Rep.  Mark Llandro Mendoza (Batangas, 4th District), Benitez said.

Inputs will be solicited to furtherimprove the bill, he said.

Sugar Regulatory Administrator Ma. Regina Bautista Martin has issued Sugar Order No. 10 Series of 2011-2012 setting the guidelines on filing the additional US sugar quota for the current crop year.

The United States allocated an additional volume  of 75,540 metric tons raw  value  (MTRV)  of raw cane  sugar to the Philippines  under the U.S. Sugar Quota Program , which has to arrive in the US on or before Oct. 1, 2012, Martin said in the sugar order.

“It is in the national interest of the Philippines  to fill up and ship out the  additional  allocated volume  under the US Quota Program  as this will further solidify our country’s  hold over  the third largest share in the U.S. sugar quota and enhance our standing as a reliable source of exportable raw cane sugar,” the order said.