Sugarcane-laden trucks troop back to Luisita

TARLAC CITY — After a year, hundreds of sugarcane-laden trucks are expected to return to Hacienda Luisita starting tomorrow.

This, after the 13-month-old labor dispute between the management and striking workers of the Cojuangco-owned sugar refinery was finally resolved.

Tarlac Vice Gov. Marcelino Aganon Jr., president of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Planters Association (CATPA), told The STAR that 1,600 of their regular members and some 400 "accommodation planters" will again be doing business with the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) when it resumes milling operations on Monday.

"Several trucks will be transporting sugarcane from as far as the provinces of Batangas and Pampanga to CAT before milling operations start on Monday," Aganon said.

The milling district to which CAT caters includes planters from the towns of Bamban, Capas, Concepcion, Victoria, Gerona and Pura, and Tarlac City.  

Planters from the northern town of Paniqui will also be bringing their sugarcane to CAT.

Although they do not expect to earn as much this milling season, Aganon said the planters are very eager to bring their sugarcane harvest once again to CAT for milling.  

For the past year, CATPA members have brought their sugarcane to the Basecom Mill and White Crystal Milling Corp. in Pampanga due to barricades put up by the striking workers at the sugar estate’s gate.

Aganon said the milling agreement prior to the strike — a percentage sharing of CATPA members and CAT at 68 and 31 percent, respectively, based on total sugar production — still stands.

"The remaining one percent is remitted by CAT to CATPA and this had been the agreement even before the strike was staged by the CAT Labor Union and the United Luisita Workers’ Union," he said.

Aganon said the CAT uses far more efficient milling equipment, thus translating into a higher rate of recovery and higher income for the sugar planters.

During the strike at Hacienda Luisita, Aganon said planters had no choice but to bring their sugarcane to Pampanga-based milling companies to prevent their harvests to register a lower "picus sugar tonnes cane (PSTC)" level or the amount of sugar that could still be produced.

The usual milling period lasts from five to six months. With the milling season having started last October, it is expected that the P2-billion sugar industry in the province would surge anew by March or April.

Aganon, however, said the milling period may last for only two months or until early February next year due to lower volumes of harvested sugarcane.

He said the lack of fresh sugarcane crops, or those that have not grown from previously cut sugarcane, is one of the reasons for the short milling period.

"Another reason is that other planters have opted to grow corn or other crops because they thought the labor dispute would not end," Aganon said.

"We can all breathe easily now and look forward to a good season in the coming months," he said.