Migz gives Negros P42M, bares sugar industry help

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri said he has allocated P42.5 million for Negros Occidental, P16 million of which he turned over to local governments for priority infrastructure projects yesterday.

The P16 million brings to P32 million the amount he has turned over to the 32 town and cities Negros Occidental at P1 million each from his Priority Development Assistance Fund, he said, as he assured of more allocations for the province.

He has also allocated P5 million each for dialysis centers at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City and the Lorenzo D. Zayco District Hospital in Kabankalan City, Zubiri said.

Zubiri said he was also turning over to Himamaylan Mayor Carminia Bascon a school building project worth P500,000.

The P16 million funding released yesterday will cover 13 cities and 19 municipalities, which would be given P500,000 each to fund their priority projects.

It will be used for the construction of school buildings and multi-purpose halls and improvement of health facilities in the province, he said.

On Jan. 17, 2008, the senator had turned over the first tranche of P16 million.

Zubiri will speak today at the 29th Annual General Membership Assembly of the Negros Occidental Electric Cooperative Inc. and discuss how the cooperative sector would benefit from the new Cooperative Code he authored in the Senate.

At a press conference yesterday he also reiterated how the code would exempt sugar coops’ produce from VAT and how punitive measures would be imposed on those who violate the law.

The code also includes a provision that allows the filing of class suits for violations of the cooperative code, he said.

“I did this to answer the appeal of the sugar industry, most especially the sugar cooperatives, who suffer from the insistent demand of the BIR to pay advance VAT on their produce. Now they can sell their raw sugar or refined sugar to their members and non-members for a lower price because these are now VAT free,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said Negros can tap assistance for the dead season in the sugar industry from the P10 billion stimulus package of the government.

The Negros lawmakers if they unite can actually ask the President for additional bonds for food, rice and livelihood assistance, Zubiri said.

He also stressed the need for the sugar industry to work at finding alternative uses for its products. If tariff on imported sugar under the ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement is lifted by 2010 cheap sugar from Thailand will enter the province at P650 per 50 kilobag, he said.

“We are lobbying for the retention of the tariff but we are told it could be a very dangerous trade off for the country, because it could also mean allowing the entry of imported rice without restraints that could hurt the country’s rice farmers,” he said.*CPG

SOURCE: VISAYANDAILYSTAR