Iggy Arroyo offers to help Bacolod prelate

Rep. Ignacio Arroyo (fifth district), President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s brother-in-law, offered Thursday to help Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra ask Malacañang to address his concerns.

But Bishop Navarra earlier said he was going to present to the President that Negrenses want her to resign. That may not be included in the concerns that the Bacolod prelate may want submitted to GMA.

Even Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon pointed out that the rally organized by the Bacolod diocese drew a small crowd of only 8,000. This was considered even bloated by some mediamen as well as by the police.

That crowd, Rep. Arroyo said, was not representative of the entire Negros Occidental.

It is good that people aired their sentiments, but Marañon said it is time for us to move forward instead of blaming each other and arguing as this will not bring progress to the nation.

"The same people who called for former President Joseph Estrada to step down are now calling for Mrs. Arroyo to resign. What assurance do we have that they won’t do that to the next leader of the country?" was Marañon’s question.

Apparently the controversial statement by Navarra that Negrenses want GMA to resign dwindled to just two concerns during the Bacolod Plaza rally — the dismissal of the illegal logging cases in Don Salvador Benedicto and the suspension of human rights lawyer Francisco Cruz from law practice by the Supreme Court.

The Bacolod’s Catholic circle, however, buzzed with reports of an alleged confrontation between two polars of power among the Bacolod clergy. Many otherwise loyal followers of Navarra among Catholic organizations stayed away from the Wednesday rally. Among the most prominent absentees were members of the Christian Family Movement and some prominent Catholic leaders.

Some clergymen, identified as left-leaning, were also conspicuously absent during the rally. Among them were Fathers Gatia and Greg Patinio. It was not clear whether they were sympathetic to a more confrontational approach espoused by Fr. Irineo Gordoncillo, or they simply did not consider it worth their time to bring their parishioners to the rally.

But that sparked a debate among members of the Bacolod clergy as well as between some clergymen and the faithful.

Even Jimmy Araneta, one of the most prominent Catholic lay leaders, questioned the intrusion of Bishop Navarra into a purely political issue. So did Luis Tongoy, chairman of the Panay-Negros chapter of Confed. Normally even-handed, Tongoy murmured Wednesday: "I wonder who advised Bishop Navarra to issue his claim that Negrenses want GMA to resign."

In short, the Bacolod prelate may have unleashed inadvertently the genie that will be difficult to cap back into the bottle. As one of those hurt by his blast texted me Wednesday: "That’s one reason why I and my family have joined another religious group because of the obtuse Church interference into the political field."

Explosive twist to PRC test results’ release

Last week, there was widespread jubilation over the announcement that the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) was going to release the test results of the more than 500 nursing graduates of West Negros College.

The announcement immediately triggered a round of celebrations among the WNC graduates, many of them second-coursers. They also girded for their oath-taking on May 14.

But Mary Ann Baldago, PRC regional director, shot down the enthusiasm of the graduates. On Wednesday afternoon, she spoke on television that the PRC Manila had instructed that the successful candidates would not be issued their licensure papers until the termination of the administrative charges that are to be filed against the examinees and the West Negros College faculty. Specially targeted was WNC nursing dean Zenaida Hilado.

Baldago stressed that there is basis for the filing of the administrative charges of subject overloading against the examinees. That should also include the dean of nursing who reportedly exceeded the authority granted to the college by the Commission on Higher Education’s regional director.

She particularly cited the clinical practice. Baldago pointed out that there were serious discrepancies on the number of hours allowed the examinees who would have spent more than 10 hours just ministering to patients under their care.

Lawyer Nelia Gonzales, lawyer of 145 of the WNC examinees, earlier charged that it was a desperate face-saving move after both the PRC and the Board of Nursing had agreed with the House to release the results of the controversial examination but without prejudice to the filing of charges against the examinees and the WNC officials.

Until press time, neither the successful examinees nor Gonzales could be contacted for their reaction to Baldago’s announcement. But definitely, that is something that could trigger a backlash.

That was why Baldago pointed out that the examinees could save a lot of expenses for their families if they just settle down and wait for their licenses to be released — but post the termination of the cases against them. And that could be a more prolonged wait than what they had been subjected to in demanding the release of the exam results.

Sugar producers invest in tractors

Tongoy enthusiastically predicted yesterday that the next crop year might be a bumper crop for sugar.

That was substantiated by Sugar Board member Rafael Golez. He noted that many Negrense planters have been buying tractors, many shipped to the province from Manila aboard ships of Negros Navigation.

Tongoy quoted a tractor trader, Sammy Uy, as saying that while their firm sold 13 tractors in 2004, these rose to 16 last year. But by early March, producers had gobbled up six already. And Tongoy himself bought last week a Ford tractor, while two others from Silay and San Carlos City bought one each, while another one from Negros Oriental bought a brand-new Veltra.

Golez, who takes the boat in going to and from Manila, told me Wednesday that during his trip last week, he also saw four new tractors being unloaded in Banago.

That indicates that sugar producers remain optimistic on the world price of sugar. Although it plunged to barely over 16 cents a pound yesterday from the previous high of 19 plus cents, it seems that ethanol is another product that is pulling up sugar prices, Golez said.

He also noted that in his other trips, he invariably noticed tractor shipments from the metropolis aside from the reported brisk sales of tractors and other farm equipment in Negros Occidental.

Tongoy, however, said that betrays a possible mindset — that those who opt to remain in sugar are going for broke. In short, they have no alternative but to improve productivity.

Ethanol production by Brazil and other sugar-producing countries also may be driving sugar prices up. But the most important announcement was the European Union’s removal of its subsidies which cut down their exportable sugar surplus by more than four million metric tons.

In short, there is a climate of optimism that has gripped local sugar producers with the current millgate prices of raw sugar and the increase in the request by the United States for additional quota of Philippine sugar.

The government, on the other hand, must also cooperate with the producers. The first order of the day is for the President to direct the Department of Public Works and Highways to focus on the construction and improvement of sugar roads so that the main highways could be spared the wear and tear of heavy cane trucks. This is one that is raising the cost of production.

ADDENDA. The elite Scout Rangers stationed in Western Visayas have not been affected by the investigations involving some senior military officers allegedly involved in the coup plot against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. That was the statement to local media of Col. Gregorio Fajardo of the First Scout Ranger Battalion. That’s good news for Negrenses… The other major story is the appeal of Rosalinda Garcia Zayco for prayers, strength and support to bring the killers of her daughter and her family to justice. Iloilo businessman Francisco "Bobby" Tan and his wife, Cynthia Marie, and her daughter, Kathy, were brutally murdered in their posh home in Molo, Iloilo City last Jan. 9. The five other Tan siblings — aged 17, 15, 14, 11 and one — were left orphaned and "were forced by circumstances to leave their home with only the clothes on the backs, in slippers and with nothing to look forward to but a bleak future amid lawyers and court cases," Rosalinda told local media. Tan’s aunt Conchita is also claiming custody of the children. The CIDG has filed murder charges against Tan’s sons Archie, 22, and John Michael, 18, for the killings. The duo have still to be arraigned in court.