Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. yesterday called on President Benigno Aquino to help the sugar industry, saying sugar smuggling and the entry of sugar in the guise of premixes has become alarming.

Millgate sugar that reached a price high of P2,450 per Lkg this milling season has recently hit a low of P1,250 per Lkg, Sugar Regulatory Administration figures show, with milling expected to end by the end of June or early July.

The prices have plummeted and what is worst is there has been no sugar buying, the warehouses are full of sugar and there is a projected increase in sugar production this crop year, the governor said.

Complaints are mounting against the huge increases in electric bills being received by Central Negros Electric Cooperative consumers lately.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said this is the result of the failure of the CENECO board to exercise due diligence as well as failure to buy power from Green Core Geothermal Inc., that sells geothermal power at a cheaper rate than the coal power being purchased by the cooperative now.

What the consumers are experiencing now is what we have been warning about, Leonardia said.

Two suspected military deep penetration agents were executed simultaneously by the New People’s Army in Sipalay City and Cauyan town Negros Occidental Monday while another died in a gunfight with rebels in Escalante City on the same day, Col. Jonas Sumagaysay, assistant commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, said yesterday.

He identified those killed as “alias Rustom”, 35 of Brgy. Manlocahoc in Sipalay City, “alias Kennedy”, 30, of Brgy. Tomina in Cuayan town and “alias Warren”, of Brgy, Pinapagusan in Escalante City.

Sumagaysay said a rebel-informant told the military that “alias Rustom”, a member of the NPA’s regular force for about four years now, was executed at about 4 a.m. in Sitio Barasbarasan, Brgy. Manlocahoc after being tried by the NPA under their “Kampanyang Panghilamon (Weedingout Campaign)”.