THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it is reviewing its memorandum of agreement with the Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA) to include a group of producers based in Mindanao, among other stakeholders, to join in the government’s fight  againt sugar smuggling.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales in a press briefing on Tuesday said that the Confederation of Sugar Producers’ Associations has already agreed to help the government in the move by deploying “observers” in the ports of Batangas, Cebu, Davao, Manila and Poro Point.

All of these ports were identified as potential sugar-smuggling hot spots, Morales said. He added that he had given the group’s president, Bukidnon Gov. Joe Zubiri, authorized access to all ports, customs areas and other documents that would assist the bureau to avert the bring in of sugar illegally.

SRA authorities, on the other hand, “will soon be deputized under the Tariff and Customs Code to perform sentinel duties,” Morales said.

Zubiri, citing production data, said there is no reason to import sugar as domestic output is enough to meet demand.

Raw sugar production rose from 2.138 million metric tons in the 2005-2006 cropping year to 2.232 million metric tons in the 2006-07 season, he said.

Sugar plantation, on the other hand, rose from 377,000 hectares in the 2005 cropping season to 388,000 hectares to 2006.

Zubiri, quoting SRA data, said that the average retail price of refined sugar went down form P38.73 per kilo toP36.18 last month, “despite the rise in sugar-production cost.”

On Tuesday the BOC presented to the media some 24 tons of refined sugar from Thailand, worth about P9 million.

The said cargo were passed off as tapioca starch in a move to prevent authorities from seizing the goods.

Morales said criminal charges will be filed against the importer, TES Transport International Corp., which brought in the cargo aboard M/V Ever Genius that docked in the Port of Manila in July. Importers declare sugar as tapioca starch since it falls under a customs classification called HS 1.03 with an ad valorem rate of 15 percent as compared with refined sugar, which is classified under HS 1701.99.11 with an ad valorem rate of 50 percent.

“Also, sugar is a regulated item which importation requires a prior import permit issued by the SRA. Tapioca starch is freely importable item,” Morales said.

MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) is set to offer to its customers with a monthly consumption of 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) its time-of-use rates by November.

STATE-RUN National Transmission Corp. (Transco) said Tuesday that technical investigations done by its personnel reported that malfunctioning transmission-line protective relay resulted in power interruptions in the adjacent incoming and outgoing transmission lines at its Kibawe substation in Bukidnon. This has caused power outages in some parts of Mindanao.

THE National Power Corp. (Napocor) will sit down with Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to study options how it can provide stable power supply at affordable rates.

THE extension of LRT Line 1 is now for implementation after the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Board has given its go-signal for it.

ELECTRICITY from nuclear power will be one way for the country to remain competitive in the next 10 to 15 years, said Arthur Young, chairman of the Semiconductors and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (Seipi).

A NEW rice variety, developed by a leading rice-research agency in Asia, for flooded, low-lying fields promises not only of enduring flood water but also of resisting the three known most dreaded rice pests—bacterial blast, tungro and stemborer.

THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it is reviewing its memorandum of agreement with the Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA) to include a group of producers based in Mindanao, among other stakeholders, to join in the government’s fight  againt sugar smuggling.