Direct importation will kill sugar industry – lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines — Allowing industrial users to directly import their sugar requirements “will kill the sugar industry,” Negros Occidental 5th District Rep. Emilio Yulo III said yesterday, as opposition to the call of Finance Secretary Diokno continued to snowball.

Sugar planters’ federations in the country are opposing sugar liberalization which, according to Diokno, is a “reasonable compromise” following plans to raise taxes on sugary drinks.

Yulo disclosed that the plans to liberalize the sugar industry, which was also pushed in the past by industrial users, “will be largely felt by small sugar producers,” noting that the sugar industry is 90 percent composed of marginalized farmers.

“The sugar industry is the lifeblood of the province,” he stressed, citing also the statement of the National Economic and Development Authority that “liberalization will not favor any particular sector.”

Sen. JV Ejercito, United Sugar Producers Federation (UNIFED) and National Federation of Sugarcane Planters (NFSP) have aired opposition to the plan of Diokno.

In a separate statement, NFSP president Enrique Rojas said “allowing manufacturers of sweetened beverages to directly import sugar will wreak havoc on the long-established government regulations over the sugar industry, and it will further destabilize the livelihood of thousands of marginal sugarcane farmers.”

UNIFED president Manuel Lamata said they are “totally against the move of Diokno to liberalize importation in favor of a few industrial users,” as he sought the intervention of President Marcos, who is concurrent agriculture secretary.

Under the present system, the Sugar Regulatory Administration regulates the importation of sugar and determines the volume to be imported, after assessing the local industry’s capability to satisfy the country’s consumption demands.