18 WVisayas schools
seeking tuition hikes
BY ADRIAN NEMES III

Eighteen private and public colleges and universities in Western Visayas, including those in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, are seeking tuition fee increases for school year 2014-2015, Assistant Director Rex Casiple of the Commission on Higher Education, said yesterday.

Casiple added that more institutions are expected to apply for tuition fee hikes since the deadline for submission of applications is April 1 yet.

Casiple, one of the speakers at the ASEAN Economic Community Integration 2015 forum, said that, based on their records, Bacolod City and Negros Occidental have the most number of applications for tuition fee hikes.

SRA wants
smugglers prosecuted
BY ADRIAN NEMES III

Smugglers, who facilitate the illegal entry of imported sugar comingled with illegal drugs, should be arrested and prosecuted by law enforcement agencies, Sugar Regulatory Administrator Ma. Regina Martin, said yesterday.

The Sugar Alliance of the Philippines had earlier called on the government for action against the smuggling of sugar, which is often comingled with drugs.

Martin said this only goes to show how strong the partnership between SRA and non-government organizations is, and that they have one goal, and that is to protect the sugar industry.

‘Ethanol plant
acts on fish kill'
BY CARLA GOMEZ

The San Carlos Bionergy Inc. yesterday assured government officials that they will prevent further discharge of their waste water into the sea that has been blamed for a recent fish kill in San Carlos City.

The assurance was made at the meeting of a Multipartite Monitoring Team composed of representatives from the San Carlos City government, the ethanol plant and non-government organizations, lawyer Arthur Batomalaque, head of the Integrated Waste Management/Pollution Control Division of the San Carlos City Environment Management Office, said.

On March 11 a significant amount of fish died in the coastal areas of barangays 1,3 and 6 in San Carlos City, he said.