San Carlos City to produce ethanol in 2007

The announcement did not come from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo but the good news about the P1.5-billion ethanol plant that will be operational by the second half of 2007 came from Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.

But he made the announcement during the President’s recent weekend visit to Negros Occidental.

This was a much-awaited solution to the sugar industry’s product diversification move. It is expected that the project will lessen the country’s almost total dependence on imported fossil fuel.

The project will be undertaken by Dronzeoak Philippines, headed by Jose Ma. Zabaleta, the executive director of the Philippine Sugar Millers Association and a sugar planter from the San Carlos mill district.

The project will be supported by the National Development Corp. and a foreign investor.

Actually, the local firm is named the San Carlos Bioenergy, which is now in the process of being incorporated. In the San Carlos milling district, most sugarcane farmers had reportedly agreed to convert their sugarcane plantations to produce ethanol which will be processed through conversion of pure sugarcane juices into alcohol.

San Carlos Milling Co. was closed several years back. Thus, the 400,000 metric tons of cane from the district’s 6,000 hectares have to be transported nearly 100 kilometers away to Victorias Milling Co., the Lopez Sugar Corp. mill in Sagay City and the Bais Sugar Central in Bais City, Negros Oriental.

According to Yap, Petron has reported that it is ready to mix ethanol with its gasoline. The plan is to mix either five to 10 percent of ethanol (often called here alcogas) with gasoline.

As planned, the distillery will process up to 1,500 tons of sugarcane juice to produce 100,000 liters of ethanol and generate nine megawatts of power.

Zabaleta said that the P1.5-billion plant will provide an additional 200 industrial jobs to the local community. It will be located at the San Carlos Eco-Zone. This was approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and will pave the way for the duty free processing of products for the domestic and export markets.

In addition, the plant will reportedly produce 50 tons of CO2 daily for the beverage industry, Zabaleta said.

The possibility of putting up other ethanol plants in Negros Occidental seem a bit problematic. The first hurdle is convincing sugar producers that ethanol is a more viable alternative to sugar production which is subject to the seasonal flux of millgate sugar prices.

The second problem is the standard mill-planter ratio of production which is placed at 70-30 instead of outright sale of farm produce as practiced in other countries.

In short, there are obstacles that must be hurdled. There is also the question as to which areas should be devoted primarily to ethanol and whether the present higher-yielding cane varieties are best-suited for ethanol production.

Presidential visit

Whenever the President visits a particular area, one can expect the inauguration of a major project or the announcement of a major policy pronouncement.

Her weekend visit to Negros Occidental was preceded by the switching on of the 7.5 megawatt diesel-powered plant of Mirant Philippines in Nabas, Aklan. That, plus the inauguration of another plant in New Washington, are boon to the hotel and resorts in the island-resort of Boracay.

The President also attended the groundbreaking of the multi-billion peso Shangri-La in Boracay, one that could bring in more foreign tourists to Aklan.

On a minor scale, she also switched on another power plant in Guimaras province.

A far-ranging decision will have to wait insofar as the proposed rehabilitation of the 30-megawatt diesel-powered power plant of the Maricalum Mining Corp. in Sipalay City.

Mrs. Arroyo prefers an out-of-court settlement for the ownership of the plant as its previous owners, headed by Teodoro Bernardino, reportedly have accrued debts with the Asset Privatization Trust and the provincial government in the form of taxes.

Besides, as pointed out of Energy Undersecretary Guillermo Balce, the power demand in the province will be easily met by existing power from the Palimpano Geothermal Power Plant. An additional 40 MGW will also be generated by the Northern Negros Geothermal power plant now undergoing completion in Bago City.

A pleasant surprise

So far, the most satisfying thing for the President during the visit was a briefing conducted by Charles Mosser, chairman of the Mosser Environment Corp. and wife, Anabelle, on what they have been doing to transform the southern portion of Negros Occidental into a "black forest." This is similar to that of Germany.

Mrs. Arroyo, accompanied by DENR Secretary Mike Defensor and Rep. Ignacio Arroyo, visited the fifth district city of Himamaylan headed by City Mayor Herminia Basson, shortly after Mrs. Arroyo’s visit to the Bacolod Burgos Market where she held a dialogue with market vendors and discussed her plans of turning Negros Occidental into a model agri-business community.

The Mosser Environment Foundation had reportedly already planted 3.5 million seedlings of various tree species in the denuded areas of Binalbagan, Isabela and Himamaylan in the last five years.

The couple said they are now promoting the use of organic fertilizers for vegetables and fruit trees as well as in sugarcane farms.

DENR’s Vicente Paragas admitted that Negros forest is gradually decreasing. He took the chance to launch Bantay Gubat, the equivalent of Bantay Dagat, among local government units.

Secretary Defensor, on the other hand, mulled the possibility of using "carabao loggers" as state witnesses to pin down big-time merchants of illegally-cut logs.

Defensor said he also favors increasing the penalty for illegal logging.

Transport strike

The President took time out on Saturday night to wow the crowd as Sagay’s Rizza Liz Catigan as Lin-ay sang Negros 2005. She was assisted by Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Maranon and Tourism Secretary Ace Durano.

Catigan, an 18-year-old second year nursing student of the Riverside College received P60,000 in cash. First runner-up was Kashika General of Kabankalan City and second runner-up was Rayschel Lagtapon of Ilog town. General received P40,000 and Lagtapon got P20,000.

But the event did not prevent the public transport workers of Negros Occidental from pushing through with their planned strike yesterday.

Mrs. Arroyo said, however, that there is now an ongoing review of the anti-cartel provision of the Oil Deregulation Law to control the monopolistic behavior of the oil industry.

The President reportedly had set up a five-man panel composed of representatives from people’s organizations, the legislative arm and the oil industry to review the Oil Deregulation Law.

MHDGC, led by secretary general Jessie Ortega and the Federation of Bacolod Drivers Associations joined hands in pushing through with the strike. Even Ceres buses stopped their operation.

The impact of the increase in transport cost prompted the President to state that "as long as transportation prices are down, the pressure on wage increases is less."

She added that when transport prices increase, "then we will really have to consider wage increases."

As of noon-time yesterday, most public transport in Bacolod kept off the streets. Will they get what they want? Will there be an increase in fare rates?