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The Sugar Regulatory Administration should provide safeguards to ensure that the volume and arrival of the buffer stock will be calibrated, so it does not depress domestic millgate prices, NFSP president Enrique Rojas said.*Ronnie Baldonado photoThe Sugar Regulatory Administration should provide safeguards to ensure that the volume and arrival of the buffer stock will be calibrated, so it does not depress domestic millgate prices, Rojas said.“A buffer stock is needed to supply the domestic market while sugar mills have not yet achieved peak production. The lack of a buffer stock is precisely what caused domestic sugar prices to increase to unprecedented levels last July 2022 up to now,” he said.The Sugar Regulatory Administration should provide safeguards to ensure that the vol...

A farmer who joined a drinking spree was stabbed to death at a friend’s house at Purok Caimito, Barangay Quezon, San Carlos City in Negros Occidental 7 p.m. Saturday, January 14.Killed was Jesus Bacalso Manaytay, 34, of Purok Caimito.The suspect Vicente Dagohoy Badoy Jr. of the same barangay voluntarily surrendered to barangay officials.The suspect had invited the victim to his house for a drinking session, the police said.While at the house the victim created alarm and scandal and the suspect advised him to calm down. However, they had a heated argument and a commotion followed, the police said.Badoy stabbed Manaytay several times on his back causing his untimely death, the police added.The suspect is now detained at the San Carlos Police Station.*

Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez turned over eight big motorcycles to the Bacolod City Police Office headed by Col. Joseph Martir on Friday.*Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the assistance of the Negros Occidental provincial government officials to Bacolod City does not need to be formalized anymore.Now that his administration has gotten through the six-month period, they feel that their assistance to the city does not have to be formalized, Benitez said at a press conference on Friday, January 13.The consultants were Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz for Administrative Matters and Systems Review, Provincial Economic Enterprise Development Division head Lucille Gelvolea for Special Projects and Economic Affairs, and Dr. Mary Ann P. Maestral, Teresita L. Jalandoni...

City DRRMO photoMayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez assured that the clearing of drainages and declogging of waterways in Bacolod City to prevent flooding remains a priority of the city government.Dr. Anna Maria Laarni Pornan, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office head, earlier said it could be delayed because of lack of DRRMO personnel.“If ever there is a need for additional manpower all she has to do is ask, which is how it was done before,” Benitez said at a press conference Friday, December 13.Benitez said he has asked Councilor Pao Sy “to find out exactly what is the required manpower needed by the DRRMO”.*

Three sugar planters federations have asked the Sugar Regulatory Administration and the Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSD) industry to show actual and projected sugar production and consumption figures that can shed light on their request for sugar importation.“Show us the figures,” replied Enrique D. Rojas of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP), Aurelio J. Valderrama Jr. of the Confederation of Sugar Producers’ Associations (CONFED) and Danilo A. Abelita of the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (PANAYFED), in their respective stands submitted to SRA.In a letter dated January 6 to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Coca-Cola Beverages, Pepsi-Cola Products and ARC Refreshments (manufacturer of RC Cola products) requested government “to put in place a supplemental imp...

San Carlos Mayor Renato Gustilo (left) overseeing the landslide clearing operations.*San Carlos LGU photoThe section of the Eco-Translink Highway at Upper Caticlan, Barangay Rizal in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, that was hit by landslides on Thursday and Friday, January 12 and 13, has been cleared of debris but commuters are cautioned against travelling through the area at night and during low visibility.It is still an active landslide area so there is a need to observe “care and caution” because there are still boulders and mud rocks that could fall, Joe Recalex Alingasa Jr., head of the San Carlos City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, said Sunday, January 15.“We are closely monitoring the area as rain or any movement of the ground could trigger a landslide,” ...