Negros Occidental Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer on Tuesday, August 9, said he is lobbying for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to revoke the appointment of Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama Jr. as acting member of the Sugar Board representing the planters.
He is also pushing for the removal of Hermenegildo Serafica as administrator of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) “to protect the sugar industry”, Ferrer said. There have been numerous complaints against Serafica, someone more qualified should be appointed in his place, he said.
The vice governor said he has recommended to the president that former Murcia mayor Esteban “Sonny” Coscolluela, who acted as Marcos’ Negros spokesman during the campaign, and Dave Alba, Asociacion de Agricultores de La Carlota y Pontevedra general manager, be appointed to the top SRA posts.
Marcos in an an order dated August 2 appointed Valderrama to the Sugar Board post in an acting capacity so its temporary in nature, Ferrer said.
Ferrer said he respects the decision of the president, he was thankful that a Negrense was appointed.
However, “Valderrama in a group chat on Viber claimed that the group led by me was lobbying for the revocation of his appointment even if I had not done so…he provoked me so I will find a way for his appointment to be revoked”, Ferrer said.
Valderrama, president of the VICMICO Planters Association Inc. and current director of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Association Inc., took his oath as member of the Sugar Board before Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez on Saturday, August 6.
But Ferrer said it was not Benitez who lobbied for Valderrama to get the post.
Ferrer said the president is a good man to appoint Valderrama even if during the campaign period he maligned him. Valderrama had campaigned for Leni Robredo for president, he said.
Valderrama should have had “delicadesa” and refused the position if he does not believe in the president, Ferrer said, adding that he is just protecting Marcos.
VALDERRAMA REPLIES
Valderrama said if they want his appointment revoked there is really nothing he can do.
On Ferrer’s statement that he provoked him, Valderrama said “why don’t you ask those people who told me that they will be lobbying for the revocation of my appointment”.
“”I was just reacting to what they were saying. I received several phone calls telling me that before you celebrate anything you have to remember that we’re working, we’re talking, we’re lobbying that the president would revoke that appointment,” he said.
Valderrama said he campaigned for Robredo but he did not malign the president. “I never said anything bad about the president, I was just campaigning for Leni,” Valderrama said.
He is a Christian and after the elections he told his group to check Romans 13 that says “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established”, Valderrama added.
“We respect the wisdom of the appointing authority,” Rep. Emilio Yulo III (Neg. Occ., 5th District) said on the appointment of Valderrama.
Yulo said he has no idea who recommended Valderrama but he hopes the president appoints an SRA administrator soon.
PANAYFED SUPPORT
The 5,000-strong Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers Inc., in a statement released Tuesday, said it welcomes the appointment Valderrama to the Sugar Board.
Danilo Abelita, chairman of the board and president of PanayFed, said his group believes that the naming of Valderrama to the post is timely and apt considering that he has been a long time industry leader, having served both private and public organizations within the sugar industry under various capacities.
“Mr. Valderrama has been and still is an advocate in the protection and advancement of small sugarcane farmers, including agrarian reform beneficiaries’ (ARBs) rights and welfare,” Abelita said.
“PanayFed looks forward to working closely and cooperating with Mr. Valderrama and the SRA for the improvement of the sugar industry in light of the current global economic and political landscape,” Abelita added.*