Bacolod City – Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer recently said that he will push for the removal of Hermenigildo Serafica as the Sugar Regulatory Administrator, as well as the revocation of the appointment of Aurelio Gerardo Valderrama as SRA board member.
Ferrer said there were numerous complaints against Serafica while serving as SRA head.
While he had no intention earlier of working for the revocation of Valderrama’s appointment, Ferrer, the Personal Adviser for Western Visayas of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, said he will do it now, after being provoked.
Since his name was mentioned by Valderrama, Ferrer said he will find a way to revoke his appointment.
Valderrama explained that he was just reacting to what had been told to him.
“I received several calls, telling me that before you celebrate anything, you have to remember that we’re working, we’re talking, we’re lobbying that the president will revoke that appointment,” he told Digicast Negros.
Valderrama took his oath as SRA board member before Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, also a close ally of the President. He replaced Atty. Emilio “Dino” Yulo, who was elected as congressman of the 5th district of Negros Occidental.
While he thanked the position of SRA board member was given to a Negrense, Ferrer said the appointment of Valderrama is only in “acting capacity”, adding that his appointment could have been recommended by a sugar planters group.
Valderrama is the president of the Vicmico Planters Association Inc. and currently a director of the Confederation of Sugar Producers Association, Inc.
On the other hand, Yulo said he respects the appointment of Valderrama as his successor, hoping that the new SRA board member can deliver, amidst challenges being faced by the sugar industry.
But he reiterated his appeal for the President to appoint a new SRA head.
Meanwhile, Ferrer revealed that he recommended former Murcia Mayor Esteban “Sonny” Coscolluela, the Spokesperson of the supporters of BBM during the campaign in Negros Occidental and David Alba, General manager of the Asociación de Agricultores de La Carlota y Pontevedra Inc., the biggest independent sugar producers’ group in the province, to any position at the Department of Agriculture.
The SRA is under the supervision of the DA. (Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)