Business

Jul62026 by Nanette GuadalquiverNo Comments

Unified campus protocols eyed to protect schools in Negros, Siquijor

Department of Education-Negros Island Region Director Ramir Uytico (4th from left) leads the Powering Empathy, Acceptance, and Connection Everyday at the Bacolod City National High School on Monday.*DepEd-NIR photoThe Department of Education (DepEd) and the National Police Commission (Napolcom) are collaborating to come up with a unified strategy to ensure a safe and secure learning environment in Negros Island Region (NIR).Following a dialog on July 3, DepEd-NIR Regional Director Ramir Uytico said a comprehensive school crisis management initiative will be immediately prepared as education officials have been tasked to audit campus readiness and identify security gaps to guide long-term police and stakeholder interventions.“We have crafted a regional memorandum to this effec...

Jul22026 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Labor group urges immediate gov’t intervention as insect infestation threatens sugar industry

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A sugarcane farm hit by RSSI.* SRA photoThe General Alliance of Workers Associations (GAWA) on Thursday, July 2, called for immediate and direct government intervention to halt a Red-Striped Soft-Scale Insect (RSSI) infestation before it completely paralyzes and collapses the country’s sugar industry.GAWA Secretary General Wennie Sancho warned that further delay would worsen the crisis, noting that agricultural damage is already spreading rapidly across major sugar-producing regions, including Negros Occidental, South Cotabato, and Bukidnon.The labor group sounded the alarm over the severe social cost of inaction, warning that the demise of the sector would bring widespread despair, uncertainty, and social disorder to the families who rely on it.The organization e...

Jul12026 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Meeting with NegOcc mayors set on proposed aerial spraying of pesticides vs. RSSI

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A sugarcane federation is inviting Negros Occidental’s mayors to a meeting on July 10 to discuss the aerial spraying of insecticides to prevent the devastating and rapid spread of Red-striped soft scale insects (RSSI) in sugarcane fields.Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation of the Philippines (UNIFED), said on Wednesday, July 1, that they have invited Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and the mayors to listen to a proposal from a Davao-based group.The Davao group conducts the aerial spraying of systemic chemicals that are not harmful to humans, Lamata said.The governor said what makes the situation alarming is that the RSSI has returned just as the planting season has started, which is expected to lower crop production.“The RSSI pro...

Jun302026 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

Ledesma calls for massive scale-up of ‘Nature’s Army’: A biological defense to save sugarcane Industry

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Rep. Julio A. Ledesma IV (Neg. occ., 1st District) is calling for a massive, coordinated scaling of biological control measures to defend the country’s embattled sugar industry against the devastating impacts of the Red Stripped Soft-Scale Insects (RSSI).Ledesma, who chairs the House Committee on Science and Technology, on Tuesday, June 30, issued a rallying cry to mobilize what he terms "Nature’s Army"—a multi-pronged biological warfare strategy utilizing native predators, parasites, and fungi to suppress the pest populations that are currently threatening planters' livelihoods.“The Filipino sugar planter is under siege. RSSI has weakened his crop, increased his costs, and threatened his livelihood. But let us not count him out,” Ledesma said."The challenge before ...

Jun302026 by Carla P. GomezNo Comments

SP declares Negros Occidental under state of calamity due to RSSI

Business

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan officially declared the entire Negros Occidental under a state of calamity Tuesday, June 30, due to the outbreak and continuing spread of the highly destructive Red Striped Soft-Scale Insects (RSSI) in the province’s sugarcane fields that has reached “critical levels.”The Negros Occidental SP’s declaration of a state of calamity was in response to Resolution No. 5 of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) recommending the declaration, which was submitted by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson to the SP on June 26, Board Member Marxlen de la Cruz said.The entire province of Negros Occidental had been placed under a state of calamity due to Tropical Storm "Crising" and the RSSI outbreak affecting sugarcane plantations in July 2025....

Jun292026 by Digicast NegrosNo Comments

Sagay cold storage warehouse gets NMIS license, strengthens food safety standards

Business

Sagay City has strengthened its meat safety and storage system after the National Meat Inspection Service–Negros Island Region granted a License to Operate to the Sagay City Slaughterhouse and Stockyard Auction Market Cold Storage Warehouse.The formal turnover of the license was led by NMIS-NIR Regional Technical Director Dr. Maria Ancilia Zartiga during a courtesy visit with Meat Inspector III Marie Joy Moleño on June 24, a press release from Sagay City said Monday.With the approval, both the Sagay City Abattoir and Meat Processing Plant and the cold storage warehouse are now accredited by the National Meat Inspection Service and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.The double accreditation is expected to improve consumer confidence, strengthen regulatory compli...

Jun292026 by Digicast NegrosNo Comments

‘It can kill our industry’: Over 200 farmers mobilize against devastating sugar pest

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Tonette Ramos, SRA Administrator Paul Azcona, UNIFED Vice President Joseph Edgar Sarrosa and Dino Gutierrez (l-r)discuss RSSI protocols.* UNIFED photoWarning that a massive insect infestation could "kill" the sugar industry on Negros Island responsible for over 60 percent of the country’s production, the United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) mobilized more than 200 farmers Monday, June 29, for an emergency management forum.The Red Striped Soft Scale Insect (RSSI) Infestation Management and Stakeholders Forum, organized in collaboration with the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), was held at Nature’s Village Resort to address what leaders call a mounting regional crisis, a UNIFED press release said.UNIFED President Manuel Lamata emphasized the gravity of the situation, ...

Jun292026 by Digicast NegrosNo Comments

ALCPI, URC partner with SRA to fight insect infestation

Business

The largest independent planter’s group, Asociacion de Agricultures de la Carlota y Pontevedra Inc. (AALCPI) and the Universal Robina Corporation (URC) mills in Kabankalan and La Carlota cities gave their commitment help the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) fight the Red-Striped Soft Scale Insect (RSSI) infestation in Negros, an SRA press release said Monday, June 29.Former SRA Administrator and AALCPI Manager Dave Alba along with URC SURE Managing Director Rene Cabati, URC CAC head Mario Palma, URC Sonedco Christy Azuro, and La Carlota Mill District Development Chair (MDDC) Florencio Alonso, sat down with SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona and Board Member Ma. Mitzi Mangwag at the SRA Quezon City office, with Board Member David Andrew Sanson present online, on Thursday to discu...

Jun282026 by Digicast NegrosNo Comments

UNIFED lauds DA, SRA for strengthening laws vs, molasses importation, RSSI

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SRA Administrator Pablo Luis Azcona and UNIFED President Manuel Lamata (right) at a recent meeting at the Capitol on the fight against RSSI.*The United Sugar Producers’ Federation of the Philippines (UNIFED) thanked the Department of Agriculture and the Sugar Board for finally closing a loophole on the use of imported molasses—which was detrimental to the sugar industry—through Sugar Order No. 4.“This was an oversight that could have killed the industry had it not been amended,” UNIFED President Manuel Lamata said in a press release Sunday, June 27. He added that they find it “strange” that “despite two amendments to Sugar Order No. 14, Series of 2008-2009, no one bothered to correct Section 6 that allowed the importation of products derived from sugarcane and sugar as fee...

Jun272026 by Judy F. PartlowNo Comments

More red-striped soft scale insect infestation reported in NegOr

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The municipality of Mabinay in Negros Oriental reported that about 600 hectares of sugarcane plantations have been infested by the red-striped soft scale insect (RSSI), the sap-sucking pest that attaches to the underside of sugarcane leaves and weakens the crop.Mayor Ernie Uy disclosed on Thursday that seven villages in Mabinay have been affected, with personnel from the Sugar Regulatory Administration already conducting chemical spraying operations to contain the spread.He added that RSSI cases have also been reported in Bais City, Bayawan City, and the municipalities of Bindoy and Ayungon.According to Uy, the provincial government has dispatched assessment teams to the affected areas to determine the extent of the damage.Governor Manuel Sagarbarria committed to provide ch...