Tuesday, October 31, 2006 Dangcalan: Dacongcogon Central up for closure? By Danny B. Dangcalan
CAN we afford to close the sugar mill? So asked an executive of Dacongcogon Sugar Central in Kabankalan City as this sugar mill faces a threat of closure due to the financial crisis that plagued it for 7 months now.
Dacongcogon has been in the business for 35 years, said lawyer Rolando Parpa, a member of Dacongcogon Board of Directors, who is saddened by its imminent closure if the present mess is not resolved immediately.
Parpa alleged that the present financial crisis in Dacongcogon is due to the mismanagement by the Board and the apparent factions between its officers.
Wilfredo Miraflores, newly elected president of the Dacongcogon’s Board, refused to comment on the issue.
Miraflores, Parpa disclosed, is the current chairman, president and general manager of Dacongcogon Board.
The Dacongcogon management has reportedly failed to give the salaries and wages for four months of some 300 employees.
The death of Harry Jomen yesterday due to stroke was attributed to the tension building up at Dacongcogon.
Jomen, 40, married, was a sugar warehouse employee of the said mill.
This as the sugar mill, Parpa disclosed, has a total demandable loan of P50 million from the Philippine National Bank (PNB). The principal amount then was only P15 million but due to mismanagement, the sugar mill was not able to keep track of the regular payment, and the interests and penalties ballooned to such amount, he added.
On October 23, the Dacongcogon Board has reportedly approved the resolution requesting clearance from the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) to declare a “dead season,” practically closing the operation of the mill.
Effective yesterday, the workers were considered laid off, the report read.
This prompted around a thousand employees and planter-members of Dacongcogon Cooperative yesterday to write a petition letter to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to intervene and save the sugar mill from closure.
Based on record, the planter-members include 2,000 regulars and 7,000 associates.
President Arroyo’s intervention, the petition read, is the last resort to save the deteriorating state of the mill.
The same appeal is requesting President Arroyo to order the immediate takeover of Dacongcogon Sugar Central by Philippine Sugar Corporation (Philsucor) in cooperation with the Philippine National Bank (PNB).
It also requested President Arroyo to direct and authorize Philsucor to rehabilitate the mill and after payment of the rehabilitation costs, restore it to the owner, the Dacongcogon Producers Cooperative Marketing Association (DPCMA).
Pursuant to its mandate under PD 1890, Philsucor shall render assistance to sugar mills in forms of loans, investments in equity and suitable credit accommodations to provide for the redemption and or reacquisition of the said entities by the private sector.
Based on the memorandum of agreement between the PNB and the DPCMA in August 1996, the PNB shall appoint another company to operate the mill in the event that the Cooperative fails to operate the mill profitably, which results to a default of its loan.
In the past months, the PNB has reportedly expressed willingness to take over Dacongcogon and designate Philsucor to manage it.
At least 90 percent of the planters wanted a government takeover of the mill, said Parpa.
The letter of appeal was coursed through Governor Joseph Marañon yesterday, whom the employees requested to officially endorsed to President Arroyo.
Governor Marañon, on the other hand, told the employees and the members of the Board to secure first a maximum unity among themselves before the government could help them.
The Board should also consider the sorry plight of the Cooperative and its members once the mill is closed, he said.
Parpa said the financial problem started in April his year when the Board discovered a P20- million deficit in the sugar mill’s revenue.
He said the unproductive performance of the mill prompted them to prepare for other options to recover from the deficit, however, the management reportedly said it has a “redeemer” to help them.
Four months have passed, however, with no financier in sight, said Parpa.
On August 25, Parpa’s group decided to hold a General Assembly to inform the cooperative members of a possible PNB-Philsucor takeover.
On September 5, the management again told the cooperative members that they have another financier to save the mill, this time it’s the Army Technical Industrial Ventures.
To this date, however, the financier did not show up, Parpa said.
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