Farmers seek immediate appointment of SRA chief

MANILA, Philippines — More sugar planters are calling for the immediate appointment of a new chief to head the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) while appealing for previously appointed officials to vacate their post to resolve the looming sugar shortage expected next month.

In a statement, Associacion de Agricultores de la Carlota y Pontevedra Inc. (AALCPI) and the La Carlota Mill District Multi-Purpose Cooperative (LCMDMPC) called on former SRA administrator Hermenegildo Serafica to respect the directive of President Marcos for all appointed officials to vacate their posts as stated in his memorandum order No. 1.

“We are urging Mr. Serafica to follow the rule of law and allow President Marcos a free hand to have a clean slate and appoint his own team. This is crucial at this time when we need a fresh start amid the agricultural crisis we are in,” the groups said.

“If indeed Mr. Serafica has the best interest of the sugar industry in his heart, he must graciously leave the office and allow the new administration to appoint whom they believe is best suited for the position,” AALCPI and LCMMDMPC said in the joint statement.

In separate statement, Luzon Federation of Sugarcane Growers Association (LuzonFed) president Arnel Toreja echoed the calls of other planters’ federations for Serafica to step down  to allow the new administration to place their own team.

He said the group would respect and take cue from SRA deputy administrator and officer-in-charge (OIC) Ignacio Santillana as the rightful caretaker of SRA while waiting for the official appointment of a new administrator.

Toreja hopes that Marcos will appoint “someone who has malasakit for the industry and for our country.”

Luzonfed accounts for 70 percent of sugar producers in Luzon, mostly situated in Batangas area and about nine percent of the total sugar production in the country.

Last week, the United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED), one of the biggest federations of sugar planters in the country, backed the temporary appointment of Santillana as OIC of the agency until the official appointment from the president.

The mounting calls for Serafica to step down comes after the former SRA administrator issued a memorandum order dated July 12 stating that he is not covered by memorandum circular 1, which states all appointed officials must vacate their posts to give the new administration a leeway to appoint their own people.

In the memo, Serafica cited Republic Act 10149 or the GOCC Governance Act of 2011, which incorporated the hold-over principle “until the successor is appointed and qualified.”

The said memorandum was issued days after high-ranking SRA officials namely deputy administrators Guillermo Tejida, Ignacio Santillana and Brando Noroña issued a joint memorandum dated July 4, designating Santillana as OIC of the agency.

This is to ensure “the exigency of the service, its unhampered delivery to the public and to give effect to the intent of [the President’s] memorandum circular no. 1 Series of 2022.”

The SRA earlier projected the final crop estimate for the current crop year to drop further to 1.982 million metric tons (MT from an earlier estimate of 2.072 million M due to the onslaught of typhoons and effects of La Niña.

As of June 26, sugar production reached 2.044 million MT, 14 percent lower than the 2.389 million MT produced in the previous crop year.

For the next crop year, the United States Department of Agriculture expects the country’s raw sugar output to drop by 50,000 MT due to lower fertilizer usage amid rising costs.