The newly appointed acting administrator of the Sugar Regulatory Administration and the two SRA board members are all from Negros.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed David John Thaddeus Alba as SRA acting administrator, and Pablo Luis Azcona and Ma. Mitzi Mangwag as board members, Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez confirmed on Saturday, August 20.
Alba is the general manager of the Asociacion de Agricultores de La Carlota y Pontevedra Inc. and the La Carlota Mill District Multi-Purpose Cooperative.
Azcona, who will represent the planters on the board, is a United Sugar Producers Federation director.
Alba and Azcona are from Negros Occidental.
Mangwag, who is from Negros Oriental, will represent the millers on the board. She is manager of Cagayan Robina Sugar Milling Company.
ALBA THANKS MARCOS
Alba thanked the president for appointing him and the other members of the board.
“At least now the SRA has a board that can start working already because the sugar industry is faced with a lot of problems,” he said.
They are asking the SRA personnel to provide them with all the data, especially on the country’s sugar supply situation, he said.
“Before we decide on anything, we need the complete facts…we cannot just move without knowing what’s really going on”, he said.
“We also need to take into consideration the fact that sugar milling has started in some mills,” he said, pointing out that five sugar mills have already began operating in Negros Occidental.
Production will be steadily going up, especially by September when more mills will begin operating, he said.
Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said the appointment of the three is really the call of the president and he wishes them well.
“Let’s give them our support,” the governor said.
UNIFED HAPPY
Manuel Lamata, president of the United Sugar Producers Federation, said UNIFED is happy with the appointment of the new SRA board members.
Negros Occidental Vice Governor Jeffrey Ferrer “has chosen the right people. All are from Negros Island,” Lamata said.
“UNIFED thanks the president for revamping the SRA. UNIFED will support any decision the president makes for the good of our sugar industry”, he said.
The new SRA officials will take their oaths before the president at Malacañang on Monday afternoon, Lamata added.
‘MAINTAIN CONSULTATIVE NATURE’
“We welcome the new SRA officers and we wish them well. We hope they maintain the consultative nature of decision-making at SRA,” the presidents of three planters groups said in a joint statement on Sunday, August 21.
Enrique D. Rojas of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters, Raymond M. Montinola of the Confederation of Sugar Producers, and Danilo A. Abelita of the Panay Federation of Sugarcane Farmers represent planters who produce 57.48 percent of the country’s sugar.
They said they hope the new SRA officials “will closely monitor the sugar supply and demand situation, and will make the necessary decisions, including the possibility of additional importation, to ensure stable sugar supply and fair sugar prices for both consumers and producers”.
“The President’s decision to import 150,000 MT of sugar is a step in the right direction, as well as his appointment of a new SRA Administrator and two Board Members so that SRA can resume its normal functions,” the sugar leaders stated.
Rojas said the new SRA administrator and board members “are all capable of the responsibilities of their respective positions”.*