For Loney’s noble achievement, he is regarded as the “Father of the Sugar Industry” for making Panay and Negros the premier sugar region in the Philippines “catalyzing the development of sugar industry in the Visayas” and making the country a major world producer of sugar in the 1860s.
The Mascuñana brothers and Theresa, who saw the favorable prospects of sugar production settled in Negros island (i.e. Negros Occidental) and acquired some lands for sugarcane production. Don Ramon was the first of the sugarcane planters to procure and adopt iron plows for Hacienda San Ildefonso in Talisay and Hacienda Constancia in Bago, Negros Occidental. This he did to improve sugarcane production in the haciendas the family acquired.As more virgin lands were converted to sugarcane production, Loney also thought of establishing his own hacienda and engaging in large-scale sugarcane production in Negros.
