House committee
ok’s sugarcane bill
AFTER PASSING 1st READING - BENITEZ
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The House Committee on Agriculture and Food yesterday approved House Bill 6113 or the Sugarcane Industry Development Act of 2012, which was earlier passed on first reading in the House of Representatives, its author Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said yesterday.

The committee, chaired by Rep. Mark Llandro Mendoza (Batangas, 4th District), approved the bill subject to style, which means some of its wordings will have to be revised to be more precise, Benitez said.

The bill, however, still needs to pass the Committee on Ways and Means because of its tax provisions, he added.

Negros Occidental Board Member Emilio Yulo III revealed his intention to resign as chairman of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Committee on Laws, after re-assuming his old position as a SP member yesterday.

“I believe that such chair should enjoy the utmost trust and confidence of both the executive and legislative branch of the provincial government,” Yulo said in his privilege speech during the SP regular session.

“Delicadeza” dictates that I ask that I be relieved of such so that it may be reposed upon one who enjoys the most utmost trust and confidence,” Yulo, who had lost to Binalbagan Mayor Alejandro Mirasol in the 5th district congressional race, stressed.

The Bacolod MassKara contingent won first place during the 114th Philippine Independence Day Parade staged along Madison Avenue in Manhattan, New York, Sunday.

Nearly 100,000 people attended the event which featured more than one hundred Filipino-American organizations from all over the east coast, a press release from City Hall said.

The parade is considered to be the largest Philippine Independence Day Parade outside the Philippines. It is organized by the Philippine Independence Day Council, Incorporated headed by this year’s president, Fe Martinez. The MassKara contingent was organized by Imelda Gargarita.