The reduction in the funds for the Sugarcane Industry Development Act (SIDA) should be blamed to concerned government agencies, Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said.
“If it was given to the province it could have been used for several projects. The ones to be blamed here are the agencies who manage the (SIDA) funds”, Marañon pointed out.
The SIDA fund allocation of P2 billion every year is intended for, P1 billion for infrastructure for farm to mill roads, P300 million for credit, P100 million for scholarship, P300 million for block farming of the land reform beneficiaries, and P300 million for shared facilities program.
The governor said that there are several sugar roads in Negros Occidental that need to be repaired and concreted.
The mechanization of the sugar industry is also an urgent need especially at this time when lack in sugar workers or laborers is one of the problems of the sugar industry, he pointed out.
The governor agrees with the move of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) of giving the unspent funds for other departments or agencies that could fully utilize the funds.
Meanwhile, Marañon expressed belief that the inflation rate would definitely go down because of the rollback on the prices of fuel and the decrease in the value of the dollar against the peso.
One thing, Marañon said, unlike in Metro Manila, the prices of rice in the provinces have also went down.
“The National Food Authority (BFA) should be blamed because they should have pre-empted the situation by bringing in imported rice because the situation worsened”, he said.* (Eugene Y. Adiong, NDB) photo by Richard Malihan)