news/updates
Food vs fuel issue not applicable to RP
THE SOUTHERN BEAT By Rolly Espina
Philippine Star
April 3, 2008
Western Visayas this week started out with major developments. Many of these were important national stories that send one in the throes of a dilemma – which one to dwell in first?
The most important was Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri stressing that the food-versus-fuel issue is non-applicable to the Philippines . He pointed out the vast tracts of idle lands, including those along sloppy mountainsides that could be cultivated because they are idle lands.
And, yes, he also paid tribute to the Sugar Industry Foundation Inc. (SIFI) led by president Edith Villanueva for having undertaken social outreach projects for sugar farm workers nationwide.
Let us keep sugar sweet for our workers, he emphasized. He bared that instead of 2,000 homes, the sugar farmers of Bukidnon actually constructed 3,000 houses for sugar workers in Paglaum Village in that Mindanao province. And he urged Negrense sugar farmers to follow the example by donating land for Gawad Kalinga homes.
But there was something more. For the first time, he bared that the rebates from the PhilHealth insurance system had enabled the provincial government of Bukidnon, headed by his father, Jose Ma. Zubiri, to build three hospitals. This was confirmed by Pablo Lorenzo III, a Confed trustee who attended the 37th anniversary of SIFI.
But it was the food-versus-biofuel issue that Zubiri focused on. The issue is not applicable to the Philippines , he pointed out. And he presented before the crowd of a hundred sugar farmers showing vast tracts of idle lands in Maguindanao and Bukidnon in Mindanao plus those in Cagayan Valley which are uncultivated.
Most of these, he said, are slopes of mountainsides and could be planted only to jatropha. And those in Maguindanao are mostly idle lowlands, which can be planted to sugarcane instead of being allowed to remain untilled.
He also quipped that Brazil , the world's biggest bio-ethanol producer, has been pilloried for cutting trees in the Amazon River area. “But we no longer have trees to fell,” he pointed out. And in the United States , the outcry is against the rising cost of corn, the main ingredient of ethanol.
Villanueva and the SIFI board also presented a posthumous award to the late Negros Occidental governor Alfredo Montelibano Jr. for his stewardship of the foundation during its infancy. This was received by his widow, Mrs. Jhay Montelibano.
Another major award was for former SIFI treasurer George Zubiri, who is bedridden, for having served for several years as sharp-eyed custodian of SIFI funds. The senator from Mindanao and Negros Occidental received the award.
No rice shortage in WV
The other piece of good news: Rep. Florencio Miraflores of Aklan and Sen. Manuel Roxas declared that there is no shortage of the prime staple in Western Visayas . Except for Negros Occidental, which has 20 percent rice deficit, all the other provinces in the region are producing enough grains for the region and more.
That, to a certain extent, dampened speculations by traders who seem to have taken advantage of the heralded rice crisis to jack up prices. And the DTI and the NFA are eyeing the possibility of some retailers taking advantage of the growing restiveness among consumers.
