Pain and glory
Nietes triumphs
as Ceres FC stumbles
BY NIDA BUENAFE

A triumphant world boxing champion Negrense Donnie Nietes raised his hands in victory at the Mall of Asia Arena Saturday as members of the Ceres Football Club wept and stumbled out of the Panaad pitch, a couple of hours earlier, following a painful loss in the AFC President’s Cup Group B Qualifier.

Nietes retained his WBO title and sealed his status as the best light flyweight champion in the world after a technical knockout win in the 9th round of his rematch against Moises Fuentes. It was the best fight of Nietes’ career, Games and Amusement Board chairman Juan Ramon Guanzon said.

At the Panaad in Bacolod City, Ceres FC was seconds away from making history as the first-ever Philippine football club to advance into the championship round of the Asian Football Confederation President’s Cup, when Turkmenistan snatched the victory in injury time. Final score, 1-2.

PH sugar exceeds target
BY CARLA GOMEZ

Sugar Regulatory Administrator Ma. Regina Martin announced yesterday that the Philippine sugar industry has exceeded its target production for crop year 2013-2014.

 “We have already exceeded our estimated production of 2.357 million metric tons for crop year 2013-14. As of May 4, 2014, our production had reached 2.365 million metric tons, and with 13 mills still operating, we may hit at least 2.40 million metric tons by end of the crop year,” she told the DAILY STAR.

Although withdrawal of sugar has been resilient for most of the year, production has been catching up to demand, so we will have ample supply of sugar during the off-milling months, she said.

Cops seize more drugs
BY GILBERT BAYORAN

About P100,000 worth of suspected shabu was confiscated by the police from two suspects arrested in Candoni, Negros Occidental, Saturday, in the latest breakthrough in their campaign against prohibited drugs.

Inspector Junji Liba, deputy police chief of Candoni, who led the buy-bust operation, identified the arrested suspects as Domingo Teorima Ramos III and Jhero Taton Silangga, both residents of Kabankalan City.

Liba said their buy-bust operation on Saturday and the arrest of the two suspects, yielded seven big sachets of suspected shabu, with market value estimated at P100,000, and its paraphernalia, P3,090 in cash, as well as P300 in marked money, a cellular phone, and a motorcycle.