Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 5th District) Saturday said today is the deadline for the consolidation of his Sugarcane Act bill to be filed before the House of Representatives.

He said the bill was being consolidated by the Sugar Regulatory Administration along with his staff, to include inputs from various sugar federations.

The bill aims to raise the value of sugarcane through the creation of integrated agro industrial economic zones that will not only produce sugar, but fuel, power and other by-products, to enable the industry to survive trade liberalization beyond 2015.*CPG

Overhaul of banking
policies pushed

The government should conduct a comprehensive review of its policies and the laws governing the banking sector, House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability Chair and Iloilo Rep. Jerry Treñas said in a press release from Congress Saturday.

"Both the Executive and Congress should coordinate a cleansing process to determine the integrity and financial viability of the existing banking institutions in the country," Treñas said.

He noted the current issue relative to the closure of the Export Import Bank which ruined the lives of many depositors,many of them small and struggling businessmen.

SIFI training conducted

Training in cosmetology was recently conducted by Sugar Industry Foundation Inc. at the SIFI Training Center in partnership with Victory Business College in Bacolod City.

The trainees were 24 sugar workers and dependents of sugar worker from Talisay, Silay, E.B. Magalona, Bago and Murcia areas.

More than half of them were mothers while some were out-of-school youth and a small portion college students, a SIFI press release said.