Changing of the guards
at Confed NPC

The most awaited change in the leadership of a sugar federation was the changing of the guards of the Negros-Panay Chapter of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Inc.

On Monday, the annual general assembly of the Negros-Panay chapter unanimously voted for Aurelio Valderrama Jr. of the Victorias Milling Company planters association as the new chair of the regional chapter of the Confed.

The immediate past chairman, Raymond Montinola of the APSSI, was named as his vice chairman, with Jose Maria Montinola as secretary and Lucio Ma. Barcelona, of the ISEFI-Mpac as treasurer and Anthony Hilado - assistant treasurer.

Named members of the executive committee were Valderrama, Montinola, Rafael Coscolluela, Bernardo Trebol, and Roberto Cuenca.

Valderrama, incidentally, is also chairman of the Philippines Sugar Institute - the one most responsible for gains by sugar industry with the establishment of the Mill District Development Councils, particularly in Negros Occidental.

The Negros-Panay chapter trustees elected Monday were Jose Maria Lopez, NPAI; Barcelona, Coscolluela, Cuenca, Valderrama, Hilado, Montinola, Trebol, and PSFAI’s Miguel Hinojales Jr., Negros Oriental Planters Association’s Jose Ramon del Prado, and Tolong Sugar Planters Association’s Preciosa Maturan.

Just an addendum, I discovered yesterday that the UNA or NPC provincial ticket may no longer be contested this election since Lito Coscolluela has virtually closed the door to such a move.

He pointed out that he will be too busy in the next two years attending to his duties as national chairman of the Confed. Lito, who is also slated to be the Negros-Panay chapter’s nominee to the presidency of the Confed, said he had already given up the idea of running again for the provincial position.

Incidentally, he was former administrator of the Sugar Regulatory Administration.

So, in short, the UNA and the NPC tickets may very well engage in an internecine strife without fear of an opposition group sneaking into power while they whale against each other.

***

So, do we see a changing of the guards in the provincial capitol? Or will it be another term for Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., with whoever he is paired with his vice governor?

While the United Negros Alliance mayors seem hell-bent on foiling a split in the UNA, it seems that Vice Governor Genaro Alvarez is determined to run for Governor under the auspices of the Nationalist People’s Alliance.

So with Marañon, despite the efforts by the 20 Negrense mayors to settle the issue of the gubernatorial bet for 2013 with the proposal for La Carlota City Mayor Juliet Marie Ferrer to be the common compromise gubernatorial bet. But apparently that had not been submitted to Marañon, nor the other proposal for EB Magalona Mayor David Albert Lacson to be her running mate.

The two protagonists appeared to have rejected the counter-proposal since both Alvarez and Marañon simply reiterated their determination to run for governor under auspices of both the NPC and the UNA.

Alvarez had named former San Carlos City Mayor Eugenio Jose Lacson as his vice gubernatorial bet, who reportedly has the blessings of Rep. Jules Ledesma (Neg. Occ., 1st District). But Ledesma was reportedly undergoing rehabilitation for a still unnamed ailment.

The issue between Marañon and Alvarez runs down simply to whether Marañon lived up to his promise of development.

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Why was the Negros Civil Government not given the accolade that deserved?

This was the subject of a forum among history teachers last week with the board of trustees of the Negros Occidental Historical Society Inc.

The issue seems to boil down to the fact that the writers of Imperial Manila had their hearts set on giving the pat on the back to resistance leaders in Luzon.

Despite the fact that the Negros Free Civil Government had about the most well-written history of its birth and descriptions of how it operated during the Japanese occupation.

Thanks to Dominador Zaragoza Sr., the secretary to the provincial board, who had given us a brief but well-written appreciation of how the civil government had operated despite the trials and sufferings of the later years.

Trustee Rollie Espina noted that even WBB Griffith had mentioned that the first person to have unearthed a 20,000 guerilla force operating in the Philippines was a marine General under the late General Douglas MacArthur.

He mentioned the discovery of the group of Col. Fertig of Mindanao.

But there was never any mention of the fact that it was the Planet Party of the late Col. Jesus Villamor who first landed in the Philippines. This was the Planet Party that landed at Obong Point of Hinoba-an where, later, Villamor and his party sought shelter in the Salvacion Cave.

The funny thing is that the Americans commemorated that event way back in 1972 with the Pilgrimage to Asia and joined the celebration of the Planet Party’s first arrival in the Philippines.

But that was something which historians overlooked. Or simply did not care for, was how Espina and Roque Hofileña Jr., executive director of the NOHCI put it.

In short, it is time that we, ourselves correct history and stress on the nation that we have also etched our mark in the history of the country but such affairs as the Peaceful Revolution of 1898, the Planet Party landing, and the Free Negros Civil Government.

It seems we have to do it ourselves.*

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