SRA moves to ensure
adequate sugar supply
PUTS EXPORT ALLOCATION ON RESERVE
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The Sugar Regulatory Administration has issued a new order putting 4.5 percent of the country’s sugar allocated for the world market on reserve to ensure enough domestic supply, SRA Administrator Rafael Coscolluela said yesterday.

This is contained in Sugar Order No 1-D Series of 2008-2009 amending Sugar Order No. 1-C which terminates the “Dx (world market export sugar)” and allocates 4.5 percent of the country’s sugar production for “Dr (world market reserve sugar)”

The rest of the country’s sugar is allocated as “A (US quota)” – 10 percent, B (domestic) – 68 percent, “C (reserve)” – 15 percent, and “De (sugar-based food exporters) – 2.5 percent.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been invited to join the launching of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino merger in the Western Visayas, her brother-in-law Rep. Ignacio Arroyo Jr. (Neg. Occ., 5th District) said yesterday.

Arroyo, who is KAMPI Region 6 chairman, said he has also requested that the WV launching be held in Bacolod City but is still waiting for a response from national party leaders.

On Thursday, he said they will have a Lakas-KAMPI merger before the end of this month in WV.

The Provincial Task Force on the Sugar Industry met yesterday to come up with a database of sugar workers in Negros Occidental and an inventory of resources for mitigating measures during the “dead season”.

The task force chaired by Board Member Enrique Miguel Lacson is putting together a comprehensive database of sugar workers and planters in Negros Occidental, which currently does not exist.

An initial estimate is that there are 300,000 to 360,000 sugar workers in Negros Occidental, and 500,000 t0 600,000 nationwide, Lacson said.