BACOLOD CITY — What lies at the bottom of the dispute between the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the sugar cooperatives is the problem of food security.

Some years ago when government saw our sugar industry facing stiff competition from Thailand, Vietnam, and Australia because of their government industry subsidy, our government saw fit to give incentives to sugar cooperatives to be competitive.

Thailand sugar, for example, costs around half or even less than half to produce compared with ours. Indonesia, the world’s fourth biggest country in population, is now self sufficient in both sugar and rice.

Their governments saw to it, their primordial concern is food security. And Indonesia now is also less corrupt than the Philippines.

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I wrote here last week that, unless the Senate acts, I dread the day when our people will be lining up to get a kilo of sugar from importation because our farmers are no longer producing enough sugar.

And, come to think of it, just a few decades ago we were the fourth biggest exporter of sugar in the world, after Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico.

The world’s rice research is in the Philippines where rice exporting countries sent their people to learn rice production. Now, we are pictured as a country with a begging bowl for rice.

This is the sad state of our Philippine economy. Our leaders do not think of food of our people, hoping, we are afraid, that by producing less we will be importing, and from the importation the sticky-fingered officials make killings for personal gains.

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BIR people redefined the cooperatives law just to collect money which is lost in corruption. In the Senate hearing last Tuesday, I was told, Sen. Migz Zubiri, asked BIR Director Rodita Galanto, why concentrate on sugar and not on pineapples? It was not answered.

The Senate hearing was very fruitful with the three Senators, Mar Roxas, Migz Zubiri, and Francis Escudero hammering at BIR people, but with the conspicuous absence of BIR Commissioner Lillian Hefti.

If you are a Senator, like Mar Roxas, Migz Zubiri, and Francis Escudero, you don’t think only of the votes of the people in the sugar industry. You think of the Philippine economy. You think of the sugar industry. And of our agriculture.

We ask our Congressmen in Negros island and in Panay, to file a counterpart bill in the House to support the cooperatives.

Congressmen Monico Puentevella, Kako Lacson, Jeffrey Ferrer, among others were reported to have been supportive of the coops.

They must support the industry too. Don’t expect Rodita Galanto to sign the much argued “authority.” She is hard-headed and said she would not sign that “authority.” Give it to her. I like hard-headed people. The only problem is we are not in the same boat.

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To defuse the tension here, Galanto should be promoted to be beside her fighting, feisty lady boss, Lillian Hefti. I like her hard-headedness, too.

They are the best, effective in their hard-headedness. The only problem is when they step on the toes of other hard-headed people, too.

There are people who cringe at the crack of a whip. But there are those also hard-headed who prefer to stand up and fight. That is why there is a clash.

We are working through Mar Roxas’ ally in Negros, Ms. Millie Kilayko, if we can have a video tape of the hearing and we will show it here. The whole hearing, if Millie can get it.

I also will have Toti Ramos on Feedback Friday to tell us what actually happened in the hearing. Almost everybody was impressed by the three Senators. And Jimmy Golez told me he was impressed by the presentation of Toti Ramos.

Now, the planters, especially the small ones, who thought of giving up the planting of sugar, have their spirit back.

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Many asked me, “Has Monico not answered your columns yet?” No! I said, Maybe, not yet. But I was not against Puentevella. I just voiced out the impracticality, granting that the law is passed, is signed by the President and has hurdled the court.

There is no media organization owner worth his salt who will not allow a reply from one who has been criticized or maligned. His readership or listeners or viewers will depend on his fairness. I repeat this, the public knows when you are not fair. You can’t hide it. Unless a media owner is a politician or politically connected or the organization is politically controlled.

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We are happy with the groundbreaking of the Bio-fuel Research and Development Center in Bago City today.

Bago City Mayor Monet Torres said DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes will lead the ceremonies at 9 a.m. today at the Bago Coliseum.

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